SOURCE: “The English Romance with the Sea,” in Victorian Myths of the Sea, Ohio University Press, 1977, pp. 11-23.

In the following excerpt, Behrman focuses on the many sea myths prevalent in late Victorian England and discusses how these myths were represented in the literature of the time.

I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by 

I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied 

Masefield

Who hath desired the Sea?—the sight of salt water unbounded— The heave and the halt and the hurl and the crash of the comber windhounded? 

Kipling

Masefield's lines, so familiar that they are almost trite, reflect the deep and intimate English love affair...