Shakespeare by Herbert Trench (1865)
In "Shakespeare," Herbert Trench honors a daring explorer of the chartless world who, unlike most shipmen, returned. Wrecked often, he survived the maelstrom, polar sleep, madness and mutiny, came back rich from deadly isles to the Thames and Elizabeth, and became a circumnavigator of the soul.
By Herbert Trench · First published 1865 · Genre: Lyric poetry, Allegorical poetry, Maritime poetry · 174 words
First lines
If many a daring spirit must discover / The chartless world, why should they glory lack? / Because athwart the skyline they sank over / Few, few, the shipmen be that have come back.
Yet one, wreck'd oft, hath by a giddy cord / The rugged head of Destiny regain'd -- / One from the maelstrom's lap hath swum aboard -- / One from the polar sleep himself unchain'd.
But he, acquainted well with every tone / Of madness whining in his shroudage slender, / From storm and mutiny emerged alone / Self-righted from the dreadful self-surrender:
Similar titles
- The Merchantmen by Rudyard Kipling
- The Ballad Of The Bolivar by Rudyard Kipling
- The Tropics Vanish And Meseems That I by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Hudsons Last Voyage by Henry Van Dyke
- A Fourpenny Voyage by W. Clark Russell
- Try For Her In Fifty by W. Clark Russell
Genres
- Lyric poetry — Brief, musical verse in four ABAB quatrains of iambic lines that voices the speaker's admiration in a compressed, personal tone.
- Allegorical poetry — The exploration of uncharted seas stands for the exploration of the human mind, so the literal voyage carries a deeper meaning about the soul.
- Maritime poetry — Its imagery centers on ships, shipmen, skylines, maelstroms, polar seas, shrouds, and isles, placing the poem within sea and voyage verse.
- Poetry of tribute — The poem praises Shakespeare as a heroic discoverer and closes by calling him a circumnavigator of the soul, which is the form of an encomium.
Tags
exploration · maritime adventure · sea voyage · shipwreck · polar exploration · mutiny · survival at sea · endurance · heroism · madness · self-mastery · homecoming
What this Textopian page supports
Shakespeare is listed on Textopian as a poem by Herbert Trench, dated 1865 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Herbert Trench
- Date: 1865 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric poetry, Allegorical poetry, Maritime poetry, Poetry of tribute, Literary portrait in verse
- Length: 174 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Shakespeare by Herbert Trench
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