The call of the running tide / Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;” writes Masefield in Sea-Fever. Likewise, the Marshall Islands’ claim to a liveable future in the face of rapidly rising tides is – or ought to be – irresistible. The first of the five sections of ‘The Dry Salvages’ is especially worth reading for its comparative analysis of the river and the sea. The ‘strong brown’ river is the Mississippi, which is ‘untamed and intractable’, and has served as a frontier and as a conduit for commerce. But unlike the river, which is within us, the sea is all about us. The river is a ‘god’, but the sea has ‘many gods’ and ‘many voices’: a polytheistic force of nature. The ocean has played an important part in poetry from its inception, which explains why there are so many ocean poems in literature. It’s simple to understand why. ‎

The ocean has had a very significant role in poetry since the dawn of poetry itself. It’s easy to see why. The ocean — both wild and calm, dangerous and beautiful — is a made up of contradictions and mystery. Ocean poems can not only be dedicated to capturing the heart of sea, but to metaphors for love and trauma, among many other things. More than that, the ocean has played a role in the history of many cultures, making it a setting that is both intimately personal, and vastly universal.Ocean poems that rhyme can encourage you to be more empathetic and connected. You are likely to encounter sensations of wonder when in the calm, meditative mood associated with connecting with water, which can boost your ability for connectedness and compassion. ‎

Get ready to be swept away by a poetic journey where the mysteries of the sea meet the tender whispers of affection, leaving you spellbound and yearning for poetic shores. “How Like the Sea” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox There are billions of species hidden in the ocean that interact in ways that we will never fully comprehend. Adiba Jaigirdar is an Irish-Bangladeshi writer, poet, and teacher. She resides in Dublin, Ireland and has an MA in postcolonial studies. She is currently working on her own postcolonial novel and hopes that someday it will see the light of day outside of her computer screen. Ponder the profound connection between life’s fragility and the eternal vastness of the ocean with these verses that weave a captivating tapestry of emotions. “Crossing the Bar” by Lord Tennyson Alfred

Take a look at some of our other poetry writing frames and templates to use with your children in class or at home: Reading Nezhukumatathil’s poems is a practice in keenly observing life’s details. The poet writes with a romantic sensibility about a world saturated with a deep sense of loss. Recommended for all poetry readers, especially those interested in ecopoetry.” — Library Journal Hear the whispers of the ocean’s salt air through these renowned poems that have captured its essence in words. Marshallese poet Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner’s collection Iep Jaltok confronts the existential challenge of sea-level rise for island nations. In 2 Degrees, her infant daughter’s fever prompts a bitter reflection on the arrogance of fossil fuel-consuming nations: the difference between 1.5C and 2C “Seems small … just crumbs / like the Marshall Islands / must look / on a map”. Jetn̄il-Kijiner was the Marshall Islands’ climate envoy at Cop27, and criticised the failure to phase out fossil fuels even as developing nations celebrated the loss and damage fund. The oceans always give you a sense of being alive. It is a treatment that purifies you bodily, mentally, and emotionally. Many deep short ocean poems throw emphasis on the truth that the ocean aids in the restoration of a person’s physiological, intellectual, and emotional well-being. ‎ 1. Deep Sea

We’ve gathered these ocean poems from a range of sources to help you open your head and soul to the wide unknown. Whether we are nervous and need to be peaceful, anxious and want to be cheerful, or sensitive and need to be reminded of your power, ideas of the ocean bring this into our heart and spirit. ‎

And yet, the cleverness of the imagery is that the pools of fir could be a description of the green sea (resembling fir trees) or a description of actual fir trees whose green pine needles are washing over the mountains. This ambiguity is doubtless deliberate, because it fuses the land and the sea, the water and the trees, in one seamless image, suggesting the longed-for meeting of the two. Set sail on a poetic odyssey where the vast expanse of the ocean becomes a metaphor for the journey of life. We ride in ships on the surface of the ocean and relax on beachfront watching the waves crash against the shore. One of the wonderful aspects about the ocean is that we cannot build on it. In “Secrets of the Sea,” Assan provides commentary on the Syrian refugee crisis. The poem is for Alan Kurdi , a three-year-old Syrian boy whose name made global headlines in 2015 after he drowned in the mediterranean sea, but it is also for all the other refugees that lost their lives. Assan says Kurdi’s name changed the world, while others’ names remain “secrets of the sea.”