(Poem #1943) Dead Man's Chest Fifteen men on the dead man's chest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest-- Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! |
Given that "poetry included in works of fiction" is a genre that both Thomas and I rate very highly, it is surprising that this little scrap of verse has not been run before. Written as part of Stevenson's classic (and brilliant - if you haven't read it yet, do so!) "Treasure Island", it has become the canonical pirate song, with a fame and popularity that almost eclipses that of the book itself. Wikipedia has a bit of research on the song that is worth quoting in full: In the novel Treasure Island, the full song is not reported. The chorus is given in full. The book records only one other phrase from the song, near its end: "But one man of her crew alive, What put to sea with seventy-five." According to research done by Skip Henderson there is an actual "legend" behind the song. The legend, which was possibly devised by Stevenson himself, says that the rhyme tells the tale of a time when Edward Teach, also known as Blackbeard, marooned a shipload of mutineers on Dead Man's Chest Island, a barren rock in Deadman's Bay on Peter Island near Tortola. The island has high cliffs, no trees, sparse vegetation and no fresh water. The men were equipped with only a single cutlass and a bottle of rum each. The intent was, one would assume, that the men would either starve or kill each other in a drunken brawl. A month later Teach returned to find that despite the blazing Caribbean sun and lack of supplies, fifteen men had survived. The shanty tells in part what became of the rest. The richness and attention to detail involved in constructing an entire iceberg to push four lines of verse to the surface are reminiscent of Tolkien, and they give the song a similar appeal, making it both an integral and organic part of the book and an excellent piece of verse in its own right. martin [Links] The complete text of Treasure Island: http://www.literatureproject.com/treasure-island/ Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Man's_Chest An expansion of Stevenson's fragment: http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/45732-Young-Ewing-Allison-Derelict
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