Sea Longing
Sara Teasdale’s “Sea Longing”, the sonnet on which this piece was written, describes a complex longing for the ocean. The poet’s words express a strong desire to be enveloped by the sea; it is perhaps intentionally ambiguous whether she intends for the imagery to convey a deep serenity or, quite differently, drowning oneself. This juxtaposition of death and beauty, loneliness and desire, is a common feature of Teasdale’s poetry. Many of her poems portray an awestruck wonder at the beauty of the natural world—a beauty that is as heartbreakingly overwhelming as it is life-giving.
Having been raised on a Pacific Northwest island, I resonate with Teasdale’s longing for the steady and immutable sea. This choral setting of Sea Longing reflects a variety of characters found in the ocean, from a still and peaceful opening to a brooding piano interlude and the rolling wave-like phrases of the climax, which gradually drift into stillness again. The character of the music evokes Teasdale’s mingling of dark undertones and a surface of light, much like the shimmering sea.
The recording featured on this page is from a performance by Renova New Music Ensemble at a CU Boulder SoundWorks concert.
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Sea Longing -- Sara Teasdale
A thousand miles beyond this sun-steeped wall
Somewhere the waves creep cool along the sand,
The ebbing tide forsakes the listless land
With the old murmur, long and musical;
The windy waves mount up and curve and fall,
And round the rocks the foam blows up like snow,—
Tho’ I am inland far, I hear and know,
For I was born the sea’s eternal thrall.
I would that I were there and over me
The cold insistence of the tide would roll,
Quenching this burning thing men call the soul,—
Then with the ebbing I should drift and be
Less than the smallest shell along the shoal,
Less than the sea-gulls calling to the sea.