On the sea

• Structure

  • Petrarchan sonnet - the text is contained within one block, but can be separated into two sections.
  • iambic pentameter
  • The rhyme scheme - ABBAABBACDEDEC, also characteristically Petrarchan. The same can be said about the meter. 
  • feature of Petrarchan sonnets - ‘volta’ between the first eight lines and the following six. In the octet, the speaker discusses the unmanageable power and surprising gentleness of the ocean - addresses one listener in particular and tells this unknown person they would benefit from the sea
• Themes


  • Human suffering
  • time
  • transcience
  • power of nature.
• "It keeps eternal whisperings around desolate shores with its mighty swell"


  • opening is sudden - subject of the poem is indisputably the sea and the poet doesn’t intrude.
  • Keats personifies the waves, the sound they make described as ‘whisperings’.
  • The description of the shores as ‘desolate’ is characteristically Keats, who often explored in his poems the subject of melancholy.
  • Sibilance - mimics the sound of running water
  • recognition the power of nature and glorifies it - ‘sublime’ imagery celebrates nature, and takes the reader beyond the ordinary to a world of grandeur.
• "till the spell of Hectate leaves them their old shadowy sound"


  • Hecate - Greek Goddess of witchcraft, magic and the moon. ‘The spell of Hecate’ refers to the pull of the moon which causes the tides. When the tide is low and its just gentle waves that is the ‘shadowy sound' - not full force of the sea.
  • onomatopoeic, soft ’s' and ‘sh’ in ‘shadowy sound’, echoing the ‘whispering’ in line one - sibilance
  • Keats refers to specifically female mythological figures (nymphs, Hecate, etc.) creates a thematic link to the Romantic perceptions of Nature, especially the ocean, as a powerful feminine force.
• "eyeballs vexed and tired feast them upon the wideness of the sea"

  • acknowledges pressures of life - ‘eyeballs vexed and tired’ - references suffering that Keats Romantic poets knew of - conditions were appalling
  • imperative command ‘feast’ echoes ‘gluts’ suggesting sensual gorging - poet is aware that the Sea has healing properties, its qualities can provide comfort to a weary individual. The ‘wideness’ suggests its pervasiveness
  • The Sea is capitalised to suggest abstract idea of the Sea, the essence rather than reality, a reference to Plato’s Theory of Forms.
• "near some old Caverns Mouth and brood until ye start"

  • Keats personifies the sea - mouth, whisperings, temper, eyeballs, ears - ‘Cavern’ and ‘Mouth’ are capitalised as if the depiction represents a universal sanctuary where weary people can escape.
  • verb ‘brood’ is unexpected, and perhaps a reflection of the troubled mood that still afflicts the listener. He is not yet in a state of contentment.
  • ‘Until ye start’ is unexpected. The healing nature of the sea works abruptly, as if the listener is suddenly awakened.
• "sea nymphs quired"


  • The mythical ‘sea nymphs singing — or quired’ (choir) — that achieves this calming resolution.
  • The honouring of women was a key inspiration for early romantic era works. Keats has referenced both a Goddess and a group of female deities in this poem, perhaps linking the beauty and wonder of the sea to women.