.
Ships in Distress in a Raging Storm: Ludolf Backhuysen, c. 1690, oil on tinplate, 150 x 227 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Thomas Wyat[t]: Sonnet: My galy charged with forgetfulness
My galy charged wth forgetfulness
..Thorrough sharpe sees in wynter nyghtes doeth pas
..Twene Rock and Rock and eke myne ennemy Alas
..That is my lorde sterith wth cruelnes
And every owre a thought in redines
..As tho that deth were light in suche a case
..An endles wynd doeth tere the sayll apase
..Of forced sightes and trusty ferefulnes
A rayn of teris a clowde of derk disdain
..Hath done the wered cordes great hinderaunce
..Wrethed wth error and eke wth ignoraunce
The starres be hid that led me to this pain
..Drowned is reason that should me confort
..And I remain despering of the port
Thomas Wyat[t] (1503-1542): Sonnet: My galy charged with forgetfulness (transcription from Egerton MS 2711, British Museum)
Watercolor illustration of the Ship from Marot's Visions de Pétrarque, based on Petrarch's Canzone 323: artist unknown, 16th c. Manuscript Phill. 1926 at Berlin Staatsbibliothek. from Bildindex der Kunst und Arkitektur; image by Michael Hurst, 27 November 2011
Frank O'Hara: To the Harbormaster
I wanted to be sure to reach you;
though my ship was on the way it got caught
in some moorings. I am always tying up
and then deciding to depart. In storms and
at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide
around my fathomless arms, I am unable
to understand the forms of my vanity
or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder
in my hand and the sun sinking. To
you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage
of my will. The terrible channels where
the wind drives me against the brown lips
of the reeds are not all behind me. Yet
I trust the sanity of my vessel; and
if it sinks, it may well be in answer
to the reasoning of the eternal voices,
the waves which have kept me from reaching you.
Frank O'Hara: To the Harbormaster, 1954, from Meditations in an Emergency, 1957
I wanted to be sure to reach you;
though my ship was on the way it got caught
in some moorings. I am always tying up
and then deciding to depart. In storms and
at sunset, with the metallic coils of the tide
around my fathomless arms, I am unable
to understand the forms of my vanity
or I am hard alee with my Polish rudder
in my hand and the sun sinking. To
you I offer my hull and the tattered cordage
of my will. The terrible channels where
the wind drives me against the brown lips
of the reeds are not all behind me. Yet
I trust the sanity of my vessel; and
if it sinks, it may well be in answer
to the reasoning of the eternal voices,
the waves which have kept me from reaching you.
Frank O'Hara: To the Harbormaster, 1954, from Meditations in an Emergency, 1957
Illustration of the Ship from Marot's Visions de Pétrarque: artist unknown, c. 1540s; manuscript SMM2 at Univ. of Glasgow; scanned from Les Poetes Francais de la Renaissance et Petrarque; image by Michael Hurst, 20 September 2011
John Berryman: Sonnet 15
What was Ashore, then?... Cargoed with Forget,
My ship runs down a midnight winter storm
Between whirlpool and rock, and my white love's form
Gleams at the wheel, her hair streams. When we met
Seaward, Thought frank & guilty to each oar set
Hands careless of port as of the waters' harm.
Endless a wet wind wears my sail, dark swarm
Endless of sighs and veering hopes, love's fret.
Rain of tears, real, mist of imagined scorn,
No rest accords the fraying shrouds, all thwart
Already with mistakes, foresight so short.
Muffled in capes of waves my clear signs, torn,
Hitherto most clear,—Loyalty and Art.
And I begin now to despair of port.
.............................................(AFTER PETRARCH & WYATT)
John Berryman: Sonnet 15, from Sonnets for Chris, 1952, published as Berryman's Sonnets, 1967
Watercolor illustration of the Ship from Marot's Visions de Pétrarque, based on Petrarch's Canzone 323: artist unknown, 16th c. Manuscript Phill. 1926 at Berlin Staatsbibliothek. from Bildindex der Kunst und Arkitektur; image by Michael Hurst, 27 November 2011
Petrarch: Rime CLXXXIX (Passa la nave mia colma d’oblio)
Passa la nave mia colma d’oblio
..Per aspro mare, a mezza notte, il verno,
..In fra Scillo e Cariddi; et al governo
..Siede 'l signore, anzi ’l nimico mio.
A ciascun remo un penser pronto e rio,
..Che la tempesta e ’l fin par ch’abbi a scherno:
..La vela rompe un vento umido, eterno
..Di sospir, di speranze, e di desio.
Pioggia di lagrimar, nebbia di sdegni
..Bagna e rallenta le già stanche sarte,
..Che son d’error con ignoranzia attorto.
Celansi i duo miei dolci usati segni;
..Morta fra l’onde è la ragion e l’arte:
..Tal ch’i’ ’ncomincio a desperar del porto.
Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca), 1304-1374: Rime CLXXXIX
illustration of the Ship from Marot's Visions de Pétrarque: artist unknown, c. 1540s; manuscript SMM2 at Univ. of Glasgow; scanned from Les Poetes Francais de la Renaissance et Petrarque; image by Michael Hurst, 20 September 2011
My ship loaded with oblivion
..Passes through sharp seas, in the middle of night, winter,
..Between Scylla & Charybdis; and at the rudder
..Sits the lord, [who is] also my enemy.
And every oar [is] a thought ready and evil
..Which seems [to hold] in scorn [both] the tempest & the goal:
..The sail bends with an eternal wet wind
..Of sighing, of hope & of desire.
Rain of tears, clouds of disdain
..Drench and drag at the already wearied shrouds
..That are twisted by ignorance & error.
Shut out, my two sweet accustomed signals;
..Dead beneath the wave are reason & art
..So that I begin to despair of reaching port. 
Seashore with Shipwreck by Moonlight: Caspar David Friedrich, 1825-1830, oil on canvas, 77 x 97 cm (Nationalgalerie, Berlin)
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