What’s this?

BY MEREDITH HINDLEY

Since first dipping a toe into its blue waters, man has been enchanted, challenged, and humbled by the sea. In this edition of Who Said It?, we ride the waves of literature and history to see what secrets the tides reveal.  

3. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land, and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime.

4. At last the anchor was up, the sails were set, and off we glided. It was a short, cold Christmas; and as the short northern day merged into night, we found ourselves almost broad upon the wintry ocean, whose freezing spray cased us in ice, as in polished armor.

5. In the immutability of their surroundings the foreign shores, the foreign faces, the changing immensity of life, glide past, veiled not by a sense of mystery but by a slightly disdainful ignorance; for there is nothing mysterious to a seaman unless it be the sea itself, which is the mistress of his existence and as inscrutable as Destiny.

6. Full fathom five thy father lies:

7. The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.

8. Absolute freedom of navigation upon the seas, outside territorial waters, alike in peace and in war, except as the seas may be closed in whole or in part by international action for the enforcement of international covenants.

9. The water was deep, but she lifted her white body and reached out with a long, sweeping stroke. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

ANSWERS

1. B. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798). Coleridge’s most famous poem, which features the shooting of the albatross and the bad luck that follows, uses the ballad form for structure. The poem has become a popular cultural touchstone, lending plot points and dialog to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie trilogy and inspiring a song of the same name by heavy metal band Iron Maiden.

2. D. Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952). Hemingway’s last major work, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novella recounts the battle between an aged fisherman and a monster marlin. The story first appeared in Life magazine, which paid $40,000 for the rights. The September 1, 1952, edition, which featured Hemingway on the cover, sold more than five million copies at twenty cents a pop.

3. C. Winston Churchill, “Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat” speech, May 13, 1940. Three days after becoming prime minister, Churchill delivered his first speech to the House of Commons, telling his colleagues, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Two weeks later, Britain staged a massive evacuation of troops from the beaches at Dunkirk after they were cut off by the German army.

4. A. Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851). As a young man, Melville worked on whaling ships, an experience he called “his Yale College and his Harvard.” His familiarity with the ocean, blubber, and rum—along with intense reading of philosophy and natural science—informed his tale of Captain Ahab’s pursuit of the white whale.

5. B. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (1902). In 1889, Conrad, an old hand of both the French and British merchant marines, fulfilled a childhood dream of going to Africa when he accepted a commission to captain a Congo River steamboat. His four-month tenure at the helm, which left both psychological and physical marks, became the basis for Heart of Darkness.

6. D. William Shakespeare, The Tempest (1611), act 1, scene 2. Washed up on an island after his ship was destroyed by a tempest, Ferdinand, Prince of Naples, is stunned to hear a voice sing of the death of his father, whom he believes to have perished in a watery grave. The haunting voice belongs to Ariel, a spirit enslaved by Prospero, magician and ousted Duke of Milan, who raised the storm to seek revenge on Ferdinand’s father.  

7. B. Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea (1955). After the death of her mother, Lindbergh sought solace at a Florida beach house, spending time away from her renowned aviator husband, Charles, and their children. The shells she found on her daily walks served as inspiration for her meditations on life, love, and family. The book became one of the biggest bestsellers of the 1950s.  

8. C. Woodrow Wilson, Fourteen Points (1918). Throughout World War I, Britain and the United States had clashed over Britain’s blockade of Germany. Britain believed it had a right to stop any ship sailing to a neutral port carrying goods that could be used to bolster the German war effort. The United States disagreed, arguing that the blockade interfered with its right to “freedom of the seas.” Wilson’s inclusion of freedom of the seas in the Fourteen Points, which served as the basis for the armistice with Germany, rankled fellow allies Britain and France. The concept of “freedom of the seas” was first proposed by Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius in 1609.   

9. A. Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899). Although a successful writer of short stories for publications such as Vogue, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Century, Chopin’s foray into novel writing was ill-fated. Critics disliked The Awakening’s sexual themes, portrayal of interracial marriage, and the heroine’s rejection of home and hearth. The novel was out of print for fifty years before being “rediscovered” by critics in the 1950s, who praised its frankness and lyrical writing.

10. B. Homer, Odyssey. These lines, translated by Alexander Pope (1726), recount Odysseus’ battle to return home to Penelope. Author of the mock-heroic epic Rape of the Lock, Pope drew on his knowledge of Greek and facility with verse to produce a landmark translation of the Iliad (1715–1720). When it came time to tackle the Odyssey, Pope felt daunted by the task and recruited two collaborators. Pope took sole credit for the translation, keeping his collaborators secret. When Pope’s deception was revealed, his reputation plunged temporarily, but book sales continued apace.