Which poem expresses a restless, chosen longing to return to the open sea?

Which poem expresses a restless, chosen longing to return to the open sea?

• A. Carl Sandburg, Window, 1914
• B. John Masefield, Sea Fever, 1902
• C. W. B. Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium, 1927
• D. Richard Russo, Just Drive, 1992

Answer: (B)

The idea being tested is a narrator’s intense, voluntary pull back to the sea—an undeniable, chosen longing rather than a casual curiosity. Sea Fever by John Masefield nails that exactly. It opens with “I must go down to the seas again,” signaling a decisive inner mandate to return to the open water. The speaker dreams of a tall ship, a guiding star, and the wind’s song, painting the sea as home and a force that calls him unavoidably. This restless pull is presented as something the speaker chooses and must satisfy, even if others might stay ashore. The other poems don’t capture that specific mix of restlessness and deliberate return to the sea. One focuses on looking out from a window into life elsewhere, another turns on aging and a search for permanence beyond earthly existence, and the last centers on driving forward in life rather than returning to the ocean. Sea Fever stands out because it centers a voluntary, eager return to life at sea as a defining impulse.

The idea being tested is a narrator’s intense, voluntary pull back to the sea—an undeniable, chosen longing rather than a casual curiosity. Sea Fever by John Masefield nails that exactly. It opens with “I must go down to the seas again,” signaling a decisive inner mandate to return to the open water. The speaker dreams of a tall ship, a guiding star, and the wind’s song, painting the sea as home and a force that calls him unavoidably. This restless pull is presented as something the speaker chooses and must satisfy, even if others might stay ashore.

The other poems don’t capture that specific mix of restlessness and deliberate return to the sea. One focuses on looking out from a window into life elsewhere, another turns on aging and a search for permanence beyond earthly existence, and the last centers on driving forward in life rather than returning to the ocean. Sea Fever stands out because it centers a voluntary, eager return to life at sea as a defining impulse.