What Roger and David said. This was a favorite of mine when I was young, but so was tuna casserole and Milton Berle, and now I demand more. Many of the other poets I discovered as a kid - Sandburg and Kipling most notably - have stayed with me and I still love them, but the Masefield hasn't aged aswell. Technically, I think the poem is extremely well done - the rhythms and the long lines are terrific - and the essay and many of the accompanying responses elaborate on this. My problem is that it now seems shallow, too one-dimensional, and there's not enough of the sailor-at-heart in me or my youth to get past that. It is, however, an interesting choice, and plays nicely against some of the others. What a diversity!
|