The Sea Took Pity
The sea took pity: it interposed with doom: ‘I have tall daughters dear that heed my hand: Let Winter wed one, sow them in her womb, And she shall child them on the New-world strand.’ . . . . . . . .
Gerard Manley Hopkins
The sea took pity: it interposed with doom: ‘I have tall daughters dear that heed my hand: Let Winter wed one, sow them in her womb, And she shall child them on the New-world strand.’ . . . . . . . .
The sea itself speaks in these four lines, stepping in with a strange mixture of compassion and judgment. It offers its “tall daughters”—perhaps waves, storms, or seasonal powers—to Winter as a bride.
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