A steamer at sea after a storm
La Mer
"Gleams like an angry lion's eye"
Poem
A white mist drifts across the shrouds,A wild moon in this wintry skyGleams like an angry lion’s eyeOut of a mane of tawny clouds.
The muffled steersman at the wheelIs but a shadow in the gloom;—And in the throbbing engine-roomLeap the long rods of polished steel.
The shattered storm has left its traceUpon this huge and heaving dome,For the thin threads of yellow foamFloat on the waves like ravelled lace.
In brief
SummaryA night at sea on a steamship, caught in three quick stanzas. Mist drifts across the rigging, and a wild winter moon glares out of tawny clouds 'like an angry lion's eye'. On deck the muffled steersman is only a shadow, while below, in the throbbing engine-room, rods of polished steel leap. The storm has passed but left its mark: thin threads of yellow foam float on the heaving sea 'like ravelled lace'. The poem moves from sky to ship to water, setting an old sea-picture beside modern machinery.
Key themes
"Gleams like an angry lion's eye"
Summary
The first stanza looks up. 'A white mist drifts across the shrouds', the ropes of the ship's rigging, and the moon in the wintry sky 'Gleams like an angry lion's eye / Out of a mane of tawny clouds'. The single simile turns the whole night sky into a lion's head, with the clouds as its mane.
The second stanza comes down to the ship. The steersman at the wheel, muffled against the cold, 'Is but a shadow in the gloom', while 'in the throbbing engine-room / Leap the long rods of polished steel'. The still human figure on deck is set against the restless power of the engines below.
The third stanza looks out over the water. 'The shattered storm has left its trace / Upon this huge and heaving dome', for thin threads of yellow foam 'Float on the waves like ravelled lace'. The poem ends on a delicate, almost domestic image for the aftermath of violence.
Characters
The steersman
A shadow at the wheel
The only person in the poem, 'muffled' against the winter cold as he steers. He 'Is but a shadow in the gloom', a still, dim shape on deck set against the leaping rods of the engine below. He does nothing but hold the wheel, part of the scene more than its centre.
Themes
The old sea and the new ship
The ship has 'shrouds' and a steersman at the wheel, like any sailing vessel of the past, but it also has a 'throbbing engine-room' where 'Leap the long rods of polished steel'. The poem places the machine inside a traditional sea-picture without comment, and the leaping steel has as much life in it as the moon or the waves.
Violence and calm
The storm is over when the poem begins, yet its energy lingers. The moon is 'wild' and glares like 'an angry lion's eye', the engines throb, the sea is 'huge and heaving'. The last image softens it all: the 'shattered storm' leaves only 'thin threads of yellow foam' floating 'like ravelled lace'. Force gives way to fragility.
Quotes
Context
La Mer, French for 'The Sea', appears in Wilde's collected poems under the heading 'Impressions', together with Le Jardin. Like its companion it has three stanzas of four eight-syllable lines rhyming ABBA, and it records a scene through images alone, without a speaker's reflections. Its one modern detail, the engine-room with its rods of steel, places the scene aboard a steamship.
About this edition
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