“O pretty ship, my memory
Isn't this far enough to sea,
And the sea not fit to drink?
Haven't we drifted far and lost
From fair dawn to dreary dusk?”

—  Guillaume Apollinaire, book Alcools

Mon beau navire ô ma mémoire
Avons-nous assez navigué
Dans une onde mauvaise à boire
Avons-nous assez divagué
De la belle aube au triste soir
"La Chanson du Mal-Aimé" (Song of the Poorly Loved), line 51; translation by William Meredith, from Francis Steegmuller Apollinaire: Poet Among the Painters (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973) p. 95.
Alcools (1912)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "O pretty ship, my memory Isn't this far enough to sea, And the sea not fit to drink? Haven't we drifted far and lost…" by Guillaume Apollinaire?
Guillaume Apollinaire photo
Guillaume Apollinaire28
French poet 1880–1918

Related quotes

“This was the greatest invasion in this war so far – probably the greatest in human history – and the sea was crowded to the horizon with uncountable ships, but we were as lost and ineffective as babes in the wood.”

Norman Lewis book Naples '44

Naples '44

Richard Henry Horne photo

“Far out at sea,—the sun was high,
While veer'd the wind and flapped the sail,
We saw a snow-white butterfly
Dancing before the fitful gale,
Far out at sea.”

Richard Henry Horne (1802–1884) English poet and critic

Genius; reported in Hoyt's New Cyclopedia Of Practical Quotations (1922), p. 88.

“As two floating planks meet and part on the sea,
O friend! so I met and then drifted from thee.”

William R. Alger (1822–1905) American clergyman and poet

"The Brief Chance Encounter", p. 196.
Poetry of the Orient, 1865 edition

Robert Browning photo

“Some unsuspected isle in the far seas,—
Some unsuspected isle in far-off seas.”

Robert Browning Pippa Passes

Part II.
Pippa Passes (1841)

Clive Barker photo

“Life is short,
and pleasures few,
and holed the ship,
and drowned the crew,
But O! But O!
How very blue
the sea is!”

Clive Barker book Abarat

Abarat, Book One

Douglas Adams photo

“A fragrant breeze wandered up from the quiet sea, trailed along the beach, and drifted back to the sea again, wondering where to go next. On a mad impulse it went up to the beach again. It drifted back to sea.”

Douglas Adams (1952–2001) English writer and humorist

Source: The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide: Five Complete Novels and One Story

Tania Raymonde photo

“Take it from me, underwater deep sea diver extraordinaire, driving with my Mom on the freeway is far more dangerous.”

Tania Raymonde (1988) American actress

Source: Interview: Tania Raymonde, Star Of Deep Blue Sea 3 https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/2020/7/7/interview-tania-raymonde-star-of-deep-blue-sea-3 (July 27, 2020)

John Masefield photo

“I must down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face, and a grey dawn breaking.”

John Masefield (1878–1967) English poet and writer

The first line is often misquoted as "I must go down to the seas again." and this is the wording used in the song setting by John Ireland. I disagree with this last point. The poet himself was recorded reading this and he definitely says "seas". The first line should read, 'I must down ...' not, 'I must go down ...' The original version of 1902 reads 'I must down to the seas again'. In later versions, the author inserted the word 'go'.


Source: https://poemanalysis.com/sea-fever-john-masefield-poem-analysis/
Salt-Water Ballads (1902), "Sea-Fever"

Wallace Stevens photo

“It is the sea that whitens the roof.
The sea drifts through the winter air.
It is the sea that the north wind makes.
The sea is in the falling snow.
This gloom is the darkness of the sea.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

The Man With the Blue Guitar (1937)

Robert Seymour Bridges photo

“Whither, O splendid ship, thy white sails crowding,
Leaning across the bosom of the urgent West,
That fearest nor sea rising, nor sky clouding,
Whither away, fair rover, and what thy quest?”

Robert Seymour Bridges (1844–1930) British writer

Bk. II, No. 2, A Passer-By http://www.bartleby.com/101/835.html, st. 1 (1879). <br class="br">Shorter Poems (1879-1893)

Related topics