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{{Short description|1916 poetry collection by John Masefield}}{{Infobox book
| image             = SaltWaterPoemsAndBallads.jpg
| author            = [[John Masefield]]
| pub_date          = 1916
| illustrator       = [[Charles Pears]]
| publisher         = [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]
| genre             = Poetry
}}
{{italic title}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}
'''''Salt-Water Poems and Ballads''''' is a book of poetry on themes of [[Seamanship|seafaring]] and [[maritime history]] by British future Poet Laureate [[John Masefield]]. It was first published in 1916 by [[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]], with illustrations by [[Charles Pears]]. The collection includes '''"Sea-Fever"''' and '''"Cargoes"''', two of Masefield's best known poems.
Many of the poems had been published in Masefield's earlier collections, ''Salt-Water Ballads'' (1902), ''Ballads'' (1903) and ''Ballads and Poems'' (1910). They were included in ''The Collected Poems of John Masefield'', published by [[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] in 1923.
=="Sea-Fever"==
"Sea-Fever" first appeared in ''Salt-Water Ballads'' – Masefield's first volume of poetry, published in 1902 in London by [[Grant Richards (publishing house)|Grant Richards]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/saltwaterballads00maserich|title=Salt-water ballads|first=John|last=Masefield|date=27 August 1902|publisher=London, G. Richards|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
{{blockquote|<poem>I must go down to the seas 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.</poem>}}
In ''The Collected Poems of John Masefield'', the opening line was changed to the text now more commonly anthologised: "I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky". The first lines of the second and third stanzas retained the form "I must down to the seas again [...]".<ref>Masefield, John (1923). ''The Collected Poems of John Masefield''. London: Heinemann, pp. 27–28.</ref>
=="Cargoes"==
"Cargoes" first appeared in ''Ballads'' – Masefield's second volume of poetry, published in 1903 in London by [[Elkin Mathews]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/ballads00maserich|title=Ballads|first=John|last=Masefield|date=27 August 1903|publisher=London : E. Mathews|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
{{blockquote|<poem>[[Quinquereme]] of [[Nineveh]] from distant [[Ophir]]
Rowing home to haven in sunny [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]],
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
[[Sandalwood]], [[cedarwood]], and sweet white wine.<ref>The reference is to 1 Kings 10,22 in the Bible "For the king [Solomon] had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks". Nineveh, however, was a land-bound city which had no share in such trade.</ref></poem>}}
==Musical settings==
"Sea-Fever" has been set to music by many composers, including John Coventry, on his EP "The Roots of Folk Volume 2" and [[Patrick Clifford (musician)|Patrick Clifford]] on his album ''[[American Wake (album)|American Wake]].'' The most famous version is by [[John Ireland (composer)|John Ireland]]. The poem has also been set for boys' emerging voices in a score by [[Oliver Tarney]], published by [[Oxford University Press]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://global.oup.com/academic/product/sea-fever-9780193417724?lang=en&cc=sa|isbn = 978-0-19-341772-4|title = Sea Fever|series = Emerging Voices|date = 21 July 2016|publisher = Oxford University Press}}</ref> and by [[Kavisha Mazzella]], a Western Australia-born musician and artist. [[Andy Vine]], a Welsh-born Canadian folk musician, has also set the words to a folk melody of his own invention.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/release/making-waves-mr0001993905|title=Making Waves - Andy Vine |website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbTFoeG-GVo|title=Sea Fever|date=6 December 2008|via=YouTube}}</ref>
English composer [[Frederick Keel]] (1871-1954) set three of the poems for voice and piano in his 1919 collection ''Three Salt-Water Ballads'': "Port of Many Ships", "Trade Winds" and "Mother Carey".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action;jsessionid=6ECE2423D673FDB58D9DBC441789E13E?institutionalItemVersionId=8680 |title=Three salt-water ballads |website=[[University of Rochester]] |accessdate=9 January 2019}}</ref>
==Cultural references==
"Sea-Fever" is quoted by [[Willy Wonka]] in the 1971 film ''[[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory]]''.
The poem is quoted in part by [[Captain James T. Kirk]] in both the ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' episode "[[The Ultimate Computer]]" and the film ''[[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier]].'' It is also quoted in the 2004 film ''[[Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow]]''.
"Sea-Fever" is also recited during the [[Last Supper]] scene in the 12-hour [[Facebook Live]] event episode of [[The Third Day (miniseries)]], Part 2: Autumn.
The line "All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by" is quoted on the ship plaque of the USS ''Defiant'' in ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]].''
The sailor Sir [[Peter Blake (sailor)|Peter Blake]]'s headstone, at [[Warblington]] Cemetery, near [[Emsworth]] on the south coast of England, bears the first stanza of Sea-Fever.
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
* [[Constance Babington Smith|Babington Smith, Constance]] (1978). ''John Masefield: A Life''. Oxford University Press.
==External links==
{{Wikisource|1=Author:John_Masefield#Salt_Water_Ballads_.281902.29|2=Text of many of the poems}}
* [https://archive.org/details/saltwaterpoemsa00masegoog ''Salt-Water Poems and Ballads'' online at the Internet Archive]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salt Water Poems And Ballads}}
[[Category:English poetry collections]]
[[Category:1916 books]]
[[Category:Macmillan Publishers books]]