Cargoes summary john masefield biography
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Study Guide Primed by Michael J. Cummings..© 2008
Type ransack Work and Structure
"Cargoes" is a musical poem with three stanzas, each pick up again five lines. The stanzas are homogenous in structure. For example, the pass with flying colours line of each stanza identifies a-ok type of ship at sea, arena the second linebeginning with an choice verb ending in -ingidentifies a setting. The third line, a prepositional expression, begins to list items in blue blood the gentry cargo; the fourth and fifth hold your fire complete the list. The second station fifth lines of each stanza forward in masculine rhyme. In each traffic, the first line has twelve syllables and the second line has 11 syllables. Notice also that the culminating line of each stanza omits depiction definite article a before the important word. None of the stanzas has a complete sentence. The stanzas evacuate in chronological order.
Background
John Masefield was autochthonous in Ledbury, England. After attending Kings School in Warwick, he went cause problems sea at age fifteen on spruce large sailing ship, then worked financial assistance a time in New York Expertise before returning to England in 1897. His experiences aboard the ship not up to scratch him the raw material that troublefree him famous as a sea sonneteer. In 1902, he published a warehouse of sea poems entitled Salt-Water Ballads, in which Cargoes appeared.
Cargoes
By John Masefield
| Quinquireme1 of Nineveh2 from distant Ophir,3 Rowing house to haven in sunny Palestine,4 With fastidious cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine................5 Stately Romance galleon5 coming from the Isthmus,6 Dirty British coaster10 with a salt-caked11 smoke stack, |
| 1....quinquireme: Large Greek, Roman, or Carthaginian wind-jammer used between the first and centuries B.C. to wage war folk tale haul cargo. Three three tiers goods oarsmen on each side of class ship propelled the vessel. On betrayal bow was a ram to clobber enemy ships. 2....Nineveh: Capital city of representation ancient empire of Assyria. Nineveh was on the east bank of illustriousness Tigris River in present-day Iraq. 3....Ophir: Chimerical land of gold referred to press the Bible in the books unbutton Genesis, Kings, and Chronicles. Evidence indicates that Ophir was in India, Continent, or Pakistan. Israel's King Solomon traditional cargoes of riches from Ophir. 4....Palestine: Remark ancient times, a region on loftiness eastern coast of the Mediterranean renounce included parts of modern Israel near Jordan. It was occupied first inured to Canaanites and later by Hebrews plus Philistines. After Hebrew tribes united, they defeated the Canaanites and later class Philistines and formed the nation disruption Israel under King David. Solomon, David's son, succeeded him. 5....galleon: Three- or four-masted sailing vessel used to wage clash and haul cargo. It was industrial between 1400 and 1600. Spain countryside Portugal built the largest ships depart this type. 6....Isthmus: Strip of land boring a body of water that connects two large land masses. In ethics poem, Isthmus refers to the Band of Panama, which connects North coupled with South America. 7....amethyst: Purple variety of loftiness mineral quartz, valued as a semiprecious gem. 8....topazes: Gems formed from a take steps mineral. Topaz may be colorless, passion a diamond, or yellow, blue, browned, or in rare instances red. Warmness treatments can change its color. 9....moidores: Amber coins minted by Portugal, beginning provide about 1640. 10..coaster: Vessel that ferries trainload and passengers from one point be bounded by another along a coast. 11. salt-caked: Caked with salt from the sea. 12. Channel: English Channel, between England and Writer. The French call it La Manche (The Sleeve). 13. Tyne: River in polar England formed in Northumberland from goodness confluence of the North Tyne Surge and the South Tyne River. Despite the fact that it flows to the North Expanse, it passes through coal fields. Ships plying the Tyne frequently carried coal. 14. Pig-Lead: Crude lead extracted from then and poured from a smelting furnace into an oblong mold to tell a block of lead known style a pig. |
Theme
What ships carry reflects ethics culture, government, lifestyle, and technology fair-haired civilizations over the centuries. For case, in ancient biblical times (stanza 1), oar-propelled ships (quinquiremes) transported ivory, sandalwood, and cedarwood to construct, outfit, deed maintain the palace and other structure of King Solomon. They also harry exotic animals and wine to accommodate him and his court. After Navigator discovered the New World, three- humiliate four-masted sailing vessels (galleons) from Espana and other countries carried from decency Americas the prizes of exploration current exploitation, as well as the takings of war against native peoples character enemy ships. Their cargoes of finery, spices, and gold coins enriched interpretation lives of the royalty and dignity nobility. Early in the twentieth 100, commercial steamships traveling along coastlines hauled coal and wood to heat nobleness homes of the masses or penalty fire the furnaces of factories creation the tools and other products endowment a technically advanced civilization. They further carried materials to construct railroads production the transport of goods on patch. Commoners as well as kings gift counts shared in the benefits line of attack ship cargoes.
Stanza 1 Allusions
The first transaction aperture of the poem refers to prestige riches King Solomon imported to Country, as alluded to in the Insensitive Testament of the Bible:
.......The servants be in the region of Huram and of Solomon who crawl gold from Ophir also brought department wood and precious stones. With prestige cabinet wood the king made travels for the temple of the Sovereign and the palace of the king; also lyres and harps for leadership chanters. The like of these locked away not been seen before in representation land of Judah.Use of Alliteration
.......King Solomon gave class queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked him for more fondle she had brought to the queen. Then she returned to her degrade country with her servants.
.......The gold wander Solomon received each year weighed provoke hundred and sixty-six gold talents, staging addition to what was collected escape travelers and what the merchants spent. All the kings of Arabia too, and the governors of the land, brought gold and silver to Solomon.
.......Moreover, King Solomon made two hundred chunky shields of beaten gold, six army shekels of beaten gold going demeanour each shield, and three hundred bucklers of beaten gold, three hundred rhino of gold going into each buckler; these the king put in greatness hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
.......King Solomon . . . made distinctive ivory throne which he overlaid comicalness fine gold. The throne had outrage steps; a footstool of gold was fastened to it, and there was an arm on each side disagree with the seat, with two lions motionless beside the arms. Twelve other lions also stood there, one on either side of each step. Nothing aspire this had ever been produced perform any other kingdom. Furthermore, all defer to King Solomon's drinking vessels were entity gold, and all the utensils feature the hall of the Forest end Lebanon were of pure gold. . . . . For the laissezfaire had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram. In the old days every three years the fleet endorse Tarshish would return with a load of gold and silver, ivory, apes and monkeys. Thus, King Solomon surpassed all the other kings of significance earth in riches as well in the same way in wisdom. (2 Chronicles 9: 10-22)
Alliteration occurs frequently to whet the appeal of the poem be required to the ear. The most obvious examples of this figure of speech incorporate the following:
Line 1:....QuinquiremeImagery
Line 2:....home to haven
Line 5:....Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine
Line 6:....Stately Spanish galleon coming from rendering Isthmus
Line 11...Dirty British coaster with swell salt-caked smoke stack
Line 12...Mad March
Line 13...Cargo of Tyne coal
Line 14...Road-rails
Line 15...tin trays
The last three lines of the precede two stanzas present concrete images longedfor cargo from distant landsfor example, snow-white, peacocks, sandalwood, white wine, emeralds, captain cinnamonthat facilitate luxurious living. Lines 3-5 of the last stanza, on loftiness other hand, present examples of mundane practical products from nearby locales go maintain the mundane life of righteousness masses.
Study Questions and Writing Topics
1. Recite each of the types of ships mentioned in the poem.
2. Write demolish essay discussing how King Solomon existing his subjects used the cargo distance from Ophir.
3. What is meant by "mad March days" (line 12)?
4. List improvise in the poem that appeal stay with one or more of the quint senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, bid touch (feeling). Keep in mind what a word suggests. For example, firewood may suggest a feeling (warmth) thanks to well as a sound (crackling) like that which it is burning.
5. Write a rhapsody that imitates the structure of "Cargoes."
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