I Look Across the Ocean
A speaker stands at the ocean's edge, gazing westward across the water toward America. Overcome with emotion, they kneel upon the shore, their heart swelling as they contemplate what lies beyond the horizon. The speaker perceives America as a great new nation, rising magnificently from the sea like a radiant sun full of promise and hope. This vision of a young, vital civilization emerging onto the world stage fills the observer with a profound mixture of awe and trembling emotion, bringing tears to their voice. The poem then shifts into a tone of solemn warning and reverence. The speaker implores America to tread softly, reminding it that it carries within itself the accumulated fruit of many years of human history and struggle. The nation is portrayed as being in a state of pregnancy, growing close to a moment of great consequence and birth. The central metaphor running through the piece is one of gestation and potential. America is not merely a young country but something bearing tremendous weight and responsibility, a vessel containing the hopes, sacrifices, and hard-won wisdom of generations before it. The speaker views this not as cause for arrogance or careless boldness, but rather as a reason for humility and careful, measured movement. There is a deeply personal emotional quality to the poem. The speaker's physical posture of kneeling suggests supplication or prayer, as though the very sight of America inspires something close to religious reverence. The tears in their voice underscore that this is no detached political observation but a deeply felt spiritual and emotional encounter with an idea. The warning to tread softly is repeated with urgency, emphasizing that great power and great promise must be accompanied by equal measures of care and self-awareness. The poem ultimately captures a moment of passionate hope tempered by anxious concern, the observer loving what they see but fearing it might not fully understand the gravity of what it carries or the fragility of what it might bring forth.
By Robert Louis Stevenson · First published 1896 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Political Poetry, Patriotic Poetry · 112 words
First lines
I look across the ocean, / And kneel upon the shore, / I look out seaward -- westward, / My heart swells more and more.
I see the great new nation, / New spirit and new scope / Rise there from the sea's round shoulder --
A splendid sun of hope!
I see it and I tremble --
What this Textopian page supports
I Look Across the Ocean is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, dated 1896 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Louis Stevenson
- Date: 1896 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Political Poetry, Patriotic Poetry, Prophetic Poetry, Symbolist Poetry
- Length: 112 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
Good citation fit
- Work identity for I Look Across the Ocean by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, intensely personal poem expressing the speaker's emotional response to the sight and symbolic meaning of America across the ocean.
- Political Poetry — It directly addresses America as an emerging national power and reflects on its historical responsibility, future influence, and political significance.
- Patriotic Poetry — The poem treats America as a 'great new nation' and presents its rise with admiration, hope, solemnity, and national symbolism.
- Prophetic Poetry — Its warning that America should 'tread softly' and its image of the nation as pregnant with an approaching future give the poem a prophetic, cautionary tone.
Tags
poetry · children's literature · nature · ocean · sea voyage · imagination · longing · distance · travel · adventure · reflection · landscape
More by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Treasure Island (1883)
- The Pavilion on the Links (1909)
- Olalla (1885)
- A Child's Garden of Verses (1885)
- Father Damien, An Open Letter To The Reverend Doctor Hyde Of Honolulu (1914)
- A Lowden Sabbath Morn (1916)
- Songs of Travel and Other Verses (1908)
- Prayers Written At Vailima (1916)
- All works by Robert Louis Stevenson