Six Sailors By Irving Feldman

Six Sailors By Irving Feldman Nicholas R. Coulbourn Prd. 1B Mr. Marine’s English

Introduction to Six Sailors The poem Six Sailors by Irving Feldman brings together several aspects or attributes that I find very interesting, the first of which is a way of speaking that relates to ‘older English’, second is the fact that is talks of adventure, and lastly it’s set on the sea. This work is extremely good to me and I like it a lot simply because it is different, where as most adventure poems speak of the adventure itself this poem is more about the adventures on the ship itself, what crew members go through in their journey and that is my definition of a good poem: something different but true.

Biography of Irving Feldman Irving Feldman was born on September 22nd in 1928 and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He was educated at both the City College of New York and Columbia University. After receiving his master’s degree in 1953 he traveled to Peurto Rico where he taught at the University of Puerto Rico and then travelled to France where he taught at the Universite de Lynon. In 2004 he retired from the State University of New York where he was a Distinguished Professor of English. Through his education in New York he worked as a merchant seaman, farmhand, and factory worker.

Poet’s History Irving Feldman witnessed the atrocities of World War II as a teenage boy and multiple other wars throughout his life. During his education at the City College of New York he worked as a seaman, farmhand, and factory worker, all of which set the background for the tone of the poem Six Sailors which talks a lot of hard work. His experiences as a seaman help to give him an inside look at the life of a sailor and so he writes from the perspective of himself, creating a much more truthful poem.

Poet’s Culture Irving Feldman grew up in New York city and would hence have, or at least know of, the style of living in a city. It is very fast paced, loud, and if one is not used to it confusing. This lifestyle is reflected in his poem Six Sailors by the crazed ‘adventures’ taken on by the characters. It is extremely fast paced, creating an almost tense and dangerous feeling, as if to show how volatile the atmosphere on the ship really is.

Poet’s Society Feldman grew up in a metropolitan society, a place where rudeness or terseness are common place, people rushing off to one place or another in a hurry. This feeling can be found in his poem by the chaos experienced during his travels with the crew.

Poem’s History This poem takes place in June, 1951 by which time the Korean War is in full swing, presidents are limited to only two terms, and the command to create a hydrogen bomb was given. One can observe from the poem that little of this has anything to do with the general theme of it, being a crew on a boat. However, 1951 would be two years before Irving Feldman earned his masters degree, meaning that he could have been at the time or recently had been working on a freighter boat.

Poem’s Culture The culture of this poem relates back to the culture of a 1951 sailing crew. They are a rowdy and rag-tag bunch of men who love both their drink and their fun. As a freighter crew they would transport good for others and in this case it was the Union Sulphur Company, the cargo being coal. This would result in a rather dirty ship. Next is the fact that the crew came from the “scourings of the seven saloons of Hoboken, Mobile, Camden, and Pedro”, all being described as an “average sort of monster”. Basically, the culture of these men made for an exciting if hostile ship.

Poem’s Society The society in this poem or the society aboard a ship is portrayed as fragile at best. The crew is made up of braggers, brawlers, thieves, bullies and a plethora of other personas. They see themselves as bottom feeders to other men, giving a slightly dark feeling that is offset by the excitement of fights, thievery, drunkards and stowaway. Not to mention an instance of near mutany. Essentially, it’s a hectic environment.

Works Cited • http://www.wikipedia.com/ • http://www.poets.org/ • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

Six Sailors By Irving Feldman