Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the amusement and delight of the few.
John MasefieldRead
I must go down to the sea again For the call of the running tide It's a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a deep yearning to reconnect with the sea and its inherent beauty and power.
John Masefield's quote reflects the irresistible urge to return to the ocean, portraying the sea as a force that cannot be ignored or denied. The imagery of the 'running tide' and the 'wild call' signifies the allure and vitality of nature, suggesting that human beings are drawn to the natural world in ways that resonate with their inner selves.
In practice
This quote could be used during a speech about conservation and the importance of preserving our oceans.
Since the printing press came into being, poetry has ceased to be the delight of the whole community of man; it has become the amusement and delight of the few.
Commonplace people dislike tragedy because they dare not suffer and cannot exult.
What am I, Life? A thing of watery salt Held in cohesion by unresting cells, Which work they know not why, which never halt, Myself unwitting where their Master dwells?
I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over.
Poetry is a mixture of common sense, which not all have, with an uncommon sense, which very few have.
Once in a century a man may be ruined or made insufferable by praise. But surely once in a minute something generous dies for want of it.
The life in us is like the water in the river. It may rise this year higher than man has ever known it, and flood the parched uplands; even this may be the eventful year, which will drown out all our muskrats. It was not always dry land where we dwell. I see far inland the banks where the stream anciently washed, before science began to record its freshets.
It was a cold day but the sun was out and the trees were like great bonfires against gray distant fields and hills.
Why use up the forests which were centuries in the making and the mines which required ages to lay down, if we can get the equivalent of forest and mineral products in the annual growth of the hemp fields?
Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.
The airplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth.
Not till we are completely lost, or turned round, do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature.
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