- Joined
- Nov 20, 2002
- Messages
- 1,073
I'm posting this here because it doesn't involve buying, selling, or trading, though whoever can find this for me will earn my undying gratitude.
When I was a kid (back in the Pre-Cambrian era), my family owned a children's multivolume encyclopedia called THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE published by Grolier. It contained many fascinating articles and stories for kids, as well as some of the finest poems by the great poets of the English language.
Among the above was a wonderful story-poem by William Rose Benét, called simply WHALE. (The Benét brothers, William Rose and Stephen Vincent, were both prolific and distinguished writers of the early 20th century.) This poem, written in several quatrains, is a joyous depiction of a whale's canticle to God, ending with the great mammal returning to God on Judgment Day with all the other creatures of the deep in tow.
Long ago I memorized the first two verses, which went:
Of course, my set of THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE is long gone, but when something reminded me of the poem, I did netsearches for it on both AltaVista and Google -- figuring that you can find just about anything online. Well, I was wrong. There were several references to the first verse as a "famous quotation" about the sea, but neither the second nor any of the subsequent verses were anywhere to be found on the net.
I realize it isn't ceph-related, but I figured that the TONMO community -- with its high percentage of literate and ocean-loving members -- might be a good place to inquire about the entire poem. If any of you owns an anthology of sea poems, animal poems, devotional poems, story poems, 20th century American poems, or (even better) poems by William Rose Benét, please see if you can find the text of the entire poem WHALE, and either post it here or send it to me via the TONMO Private Message system.
I cannot promise you anything in return but a big cyber-hug, and the experience of reading this delightful poem in its entirety. Gentlepersons, to your libraries!
Many, many, many thanks in advance,
Tani, Mellow Fellow
Dept. of Biped Arts and Letters
Bikini Bottom 'Tooniversity
When I was a kid (back in the Pre-Cambrian era), my family owned a children's multivolume encyclopedia called THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE published by Grolier. It contained many fascinating articles and stories for kids, as well as some of the finest poems by the great poets of the English language.
Among the above was a wonderful story-poem by William Rose Benét, called simply WHALE. (The Benét brothers, William Rose and Stephen Vincent, were both prolific and distinguished writers of the early 20th century.) This poem, written in several quatrains, is a joyous depiction of a whale's canticle to God, ending with the great mammal returning to God on Judgment Day with all the other creatures of the deep in tow.
Long ago I memorized the first two verses, which went:
- Rain, with a silver flail;
Sun, with a golden ball;
Ocean, wherein the Whale
Swims, minnow-small.
I heard the Whale rejoice,
And cynic sharks attend:
He cried, in [or with] a purple voice,
"The Lord is my friend!"
Of course, my set of THE BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE is long gone, but when something reminded me of the poem, I did netsearches for it on both AltaVista and Google -- figuring that you can find just about anything online. Well, I was wrong. There were several references to the first verse as a "famous quotation" about the sea, but neither the second nor any of the subsequent verses were anywhere to be found on the net.
I realize it isn't ceph-related, but I figured that the TONMO community -- with its high percentage of literate and ocean-loving members -- might be a good place to inquire about the entire poem. If any of you owns an anthology of sea poems, animal poems, devotional poems, story poems, 20th century American poems, or (even better) poems by William Rose Benét, please see if you can find the text of the entire poem WHALE, and either post it here or send it to me via the TONMO Private Message system.
I cannot promise you anything in return but a big cyber-hug, and the experience of reading this delightful poem in its entirety. Gentlepersons, to your libraries!
Many, many, many thanks in advance,
Tani, Mellow Fellow
Dept. of Biped Arts and Letters
Bikini Bottom 'Tooniversity