

#Thalassa! O Thalassa!


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#### Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition


### Background details and bibliographic information


Thalassa! O Thalassa!
=====================


Author: Patrick Augustine Sheehan
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### File Description

Electronic edition compiled by Benjamin Hazard

Funded by School of History, University College, Cork and  
Private donation 1. First draftExtent of text: 1007 words#### Publication


CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork  
College Road, Cork, Ireland — http://www.ucc.ie/celt

 (2014) Distributed by CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.  
Text ID Number: E890000-015Availability [RESTRICTED] 
Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.


#### Sources


**Manuscript**2. [Details to follow].
**Canon Sheehan on the Internet**2. http://www.canonsheehanremembered.com
**Edition**2. Canon P.A. Sheehan, 'Thalassa! O Thalassa!,' The Irish Monthly, 27/310 (April 1899) 188–189.
3. Canon P.A. Sheehan, 'Thalassa! O Thalassa!,' in Cithara Mea; Poems (Boston 1900) 205–207.
**Literature**2. Herman Joseph Heuser, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile: the story of an Irish parish priest as told chiefly by himself in books, personal memoirs, and letters (New York 1917).
3. Arthur Coussens. P. A. Sheehan, zijn leven en zijn werken (Brugge/Bruges 1923).
4. Michael P. Linehan, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile: Priest, Novelist, Man of Letters (Dublin 1952).
5. James O'Brien (ed.), The Collected Letters of Canon Sheehan of Doneraile, 1883–1913 (Wells 2013).
6. James O'Brien, Canon Sheehan of Doneraile 1852–1913: Outlines for a Literary Biography (Wells 2013). [Bibliographical references 205-11.]
**The edition used in the digital edition**2. , Thalassa! O Thalassa! in The Irish Monthly: A Magazine of General Literature, Ed. Matthew Russell SJ. , Dublin, Irish Jesuit Province (April 1899) page 188–189

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The electronic text represents the edited version.


#### Editorial Declaration


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Text has been checked and proof-read once.


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The electronic text represents the edited text.


##### Quotation


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### Profile Description


Created: By Patrick Augustine Sheehan (1852–1913)
 (1899) #### Use of language


##### Language: [EN] The text is in English.


##### Language: [GR] Two words are in Greek.


### Revision History


* (2014-02-07) Beatrix Färber (ed.)

* File parsed and validated; TEI Header updated, wordcount made; SGML and HTML versions created.
* (2014-01-31) Benjamin Hazard (ed.)

* Header created; structural mark-up added; file proofed.
* (2014-01-27) Benjamin Hazard (file capture)

* Text scanned.




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#### Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition: E890000-015


### Thalassa! O Thalassa!: Author: Patrick Augustine Sheehan




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p.188


[1](javascript:footNote('E890000-015/note001.html'))1. Can you see the spine of yonder crest
  
Curved o'er the hillside lea?
  
Well, there the sun halts as he creeps to rest;
  
And beyond is the sea.
  
And beyond is the sea! Have you seen the sea?
  
Never! Dear Lord, you were never born, —
  
Never seen the sea, and its mystery,
  
And the gates of the Night and the Morn!
2. Ay, I have seen it, and memory
  
(For I was not always blind)
  
Paints on my darkened eyes the sea;
  
Here hath my God been kind.
  
Here hath my God been kind, for a wish
  
Summons the magic view,
  
And my ears lean down to the thunder and swish,
  
And the scream of the wild sea-mew.
3. Over the breakers that curl and toss
  
Their manes as they sweep along,
  
Till the foam of their crests is a silken floss
  
Green valleys among;
  
Green valleys among the white gull flits,
  
And his strong grey pinion dips,
  
And rocked on the breakers the diver sits,
  
The spume of the sea on his lips.
4. Do I dream, or is that the music of life
  
That bids me look up and rejoice?
  
For Nature's at best is a silent strife.
  
Yet she needs a voice.
  
She needs a voice, else why does she draw
  
The bolts of the caverned wind.
  
And let him sweep on, without leash or law,
  
Trailing her seas behind?


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p.189

7. Hark! to the thunder that shakes the ground,
  
Where the speckled sand-larks flee;
  
Were I dead, my heart would leap at the sound
  
And the scents of the sea.
  
And the scents of the sea, borne inland afar
  
Over the gorse and the heath.
  
My soul would leap through the gates ajar,
  
And the grey, grim portals of death.
8. Can you see aught yet? ‘Nought yet!’ Look afar,
  
For the sea is alive and strong;
  
'Nought but the spray of one bright star
  
Its peers among.
  
Its peers among, and set in the curve
  
Where the sun sinks to rest;
  
And a long, long line with never a swerve
  
From the East to the West.'
9. You must be deceived, for the sounds and the scents
  
Of the great baptismal wave,
  
Poured from the Godhead's affluence,
  
My senses lave.
  
My senses lave. If mine eyes are blind,
  
My veins are filled as with wine,
  
My hair is teased by the salt sea wind.
  
And my lips are kissed with his brine.
10. Look again and long, for I feel as a friend
  
Hath his hand locked in mine;
  
Look long, where the shadows gather and blend
  
At the day's decline.
  
'At the day's decline, vast meadows are green,
  
White swallows over them flee;'
  
Child, O my Child, thine eyes are keen!
  
Meadows? Why, that's the sea.
P. A. SHEEHAN









