The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port”
In both Alec Derwent Hope's and Christopher Brennan's poems, the sea is fraught with multiple meanings. Both poets play with the ideas of journey by sea, exile, isolation and home in vastly different ways. A. D. Hope infuses it with the resonances of exile, barriers, division, and finally,...
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| Publicado en: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles, |
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| Autor Principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado: |
Angles
2020
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| Sujets: | |
| Acceso en liña: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_1209 |
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| record_format |
openedition |
| collection |
OpenEdition Journal |
| language |
Anglais |
| format |
Article ou chapitre numérique |
| building |
0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
mer exil isolement chez-soi poésie Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher sea exile isolation home poetry Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher |
| spellingShingle |
mer exil isolement chez-soi poésie Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher sea exile isolation home poetry Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher Mathur, Malati The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| description |
In both Alec Derwent Hope's and Christopher Brennan's poems, the sea is fraught with multiple meanings. Both poets play with the ideas of journey by sea, exile, isolation and home in vastly different ways. A. D. Hope infuses it with the resonances of exile, barriers, division, and finally, home. The poem begins from where Daniel Defoe leaves off his tale, taking up the story of Man Friday after he is brought by Robinson Crusoe to live in ‘England’s Desert Island’. The completely alien culture that Friday now encounters requires a massive readjustment of his mental and spiritual compass and the sea runs like an undercurrent through the entire poem even when it is not mentioned in so many words. The gradual acceptance of the way of life that is thrust upon him, his transformation (and quiet resignation) into an upper class servant and subsequent marriage and children take him farther and farther away from his memories and encase him within an artificial persona — until the day he accompanies his master to a sea port and hears the ocean’s beckoning roar after many years. The song of the ocean, the rush of memory and Friday’s response to the call of the sea crystallize in the ending of the poem. The poem not only raises issues of choice, ‘savagery’ versus ‘civilization’ and the arrogation of power over lives, it also envisions the sea as both a dividing barrier leading to exile and a welcoming bosom into the embrace of which to return is to go ‘home’. Brennan’s poem can be interpreted as addressing the very core of the Australian experience — the waves of migration from the farthest points of the earth which have shaped the culture and ethos of this continent in myriad ways. It is the sea that has conveyed the hopeful migrants hence and is invoked in terms of a cleansing — something that has ‘charmed away the old rancours’ and allowed them to see the new land with a ‘freshen’d gaze’. The poet wishes to set sail too, not to see many lands and peoples but to find a place of rest perhaps, such as what the people arriving in the long ships aspire to and will find in this new country. For them, in stark contrast to Friday’s voyage to England, the voyage does not signify exile but a coming home, a land full of promise with the potential for great happiness and peace. |
| author |
Mathur, Malati |
| author_facet |
Mathur, Malati |
| author_sort |
Mathur, Malati |
| title |
The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| title_short |
The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| title_full |
The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| title_fullStr |
The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” |
| title_sort |
sea as metaphor in alec derwent hope’s “man friday” and christopher brennan’s “each day i see the long ships coming into port” |
| publisher |
Angles |
| publishDate |
2020 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.1209 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/angles/1209 |
| _version_ |
1877293947929231360 |
| spelling |
openedition-oai:revues.org:angles_1209 https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.1209 urn:doi:10.4000/angles.1209 en https://journals.openedition.org/angles/1209 2020-07-16T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/9mzl https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The Sea as Metaphor in Alec Derwent Hope’s “Man Friday” and Christopher Brennan’s “Each Day I See the Long Ships Coming into Port” Angles Société des Anglicistes de l'Enseignement Supérieur info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2274-2042 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/angles Mathur, Malati mer exil isolement chez-soi poésie Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher sea exile isolation home poetry Defoe Daniel Hope Alec Derwent Brennan Christopher In both Alec Derwent Hope's and Christopher Brennan's poems, the sea is fraught with multiple meanings. Both poets play with the ideas of journey by sea, exile, isolation and home in vastly different ways. A. D. Hope infuses it with the resonances of exile, barriers, division, and finally, home. The poem begins from where Daniel Defoe leaves off his tale, taking up the story of Man Friday after he is brought by Robinson Crusoe to live in ‘England’s Desert Island’. The completely alien culture that Friday now encounters requires a massive readjustment of his mental and spiritual compass and the sea runs like an undercurrent through the entire poem even when it is not mentioned in so many words. The gradual acceptance of the way of life that is thrust upon him, his transformation (and quiet resignation) into an upper class servant and subsequent marriage and children take him farther and farther away from his memories and encase him within an artificial persona — until the day he accompanies his master to a sea port and hears the ocean’s beckoning roar after many years. The song of the ocean, the rush of memory and Friday’s response to the call of the sea crystallize in the ending of the poem. The poem not only raises issues of choice, ‘savagery’ versus ‘civilization’ and the arrogation of power over lives, it also envisions the sea as both a dividing barrier leading to exile and a welcoming bosom into the embrace of which to return is to go ‘home’. Brennan’s poem can be interpreted as addressing the very core of the Australian experience — the waves of migration from the farthest points of the earth which have shaped the culture and ethos of this continent in myriad ways. It is the sea that has conveyed the hopeful migrants hence and is invoked in terms of a cleansing — something that has ‘charmed away the old rancours’ and allowed them to see the new land with a ‘freshen’d gaze’. The poet wishes to set sail too, not to see many lands and peoples but to find a place of rest perhaps, such as what the people arriving in the long ships aspire to and will find in this new country. For them, in stark contrast to Friday’s voyage to England, the voyage does not signify exile but a coming home, a land full of promise with the potential for great happiness and peace. Aussi bien dans le poème « Vendredi » d’Alec Derwent Hope que dans « Chaque jour, je vois de longs navires accoster » de Christopher Brennan, la mer est chargée de significations multiples. De manière très différente, les deux poètes jouant avec les idées de voyage par mer, de l'exil, de l'isolement et du chez-soi. Le poème d'A.D. Hope commence au moment où Daniel Defoe termine son récit, reprenant l’histoire de Vendredi après qu’il a été emmené en Angleterre par Robinson Crusoé. La culture complètement étrangère que Vendredi rencontre exige un réajustement important de son compas mental et spirituel, et la mer coule comme un courant sous-jacent à travers tout le poème, même si elle n'est pas mentionnée dans des termes concrets. L'acceptation progressive du mode de vie qui lui est imposé, sa transformation (et sa résignation discrète) en un serviteur à la disposition de la classe supérieure et le mariage par la suite et la venue des enfants éloignent Vendredi de ses souvenirs et l'enferment dans un carcan artificiel. Un jour il accompagne son maître dans un port maritime et entend le grondement de l'océan après bien des années. Le chant de l’océan, le flot des souvenirs et la réaction de Vendredi à l’appel de la mer se cristallisent à la fin du poème. Le poème soulève des questions non seulement par rapport aux choix à effectuer, mais aussi par rapport à la « sauvagerie » contre la « civilisation » et à l’appropriation de pouvoir sur les vies. Il envisage la mer à la fois comme une barrière qui mène à l’exil que comme un giron protecteur. Y retourner signifie retrouver sa demeure. Le poème de Brennan peut être lu et interprété comme un texte qui traite du cœur même de l’expérience australienne — les vagues de migration venant des coins les plus reculés de la terre qui ont façonné de multiples façons la culture et l’ethos de ce continent. C’est la mer qui a permis aux migrants porteurs d’espoir d’être transportés ce qui est invoquée en termes de « purification », quelque chose qui a « fait disparaître les vieilles rancunes comme par magie. » C'est encore la mer qui leur a permis de voir la nouvelle terre avec un « regard frais ». Le poète veut aussi prendre le large non pas pour voir beaucoup de pays et des peuples, mais pour trouver un lieu de repos, tout comme les gens qui arrivent dans de longs navires à ce nouveau pays. A la différence du voyage de Vendredi en Angleterre, le voyage ne renvoie pas à l’exil dans ce poème, mais bien à un retour chez-soi, à une terre pleine de promesses et à de possibilités de bonheur et de paix. |