The Sands of Dee

The Sands of Dee

Charles Kingsley

"O Mary, go and call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

And call the cattle home,

Across the sands of Dee."

The western wind was wild and dank with foam,

And all alone went she.

The creeping tide came up along the sand,

And o'er and o'er the sand,

And round and round the sand,

As far as eye could see.

The rolling mist came down and hid the land;

And never home came she.

"Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair,—

A tress of golden hair,

O drowned maiden's hair.

Above the nets at sea?

Was never salmon yet that shone so fair

Among the stakes on Dee."

They rowed her in across the rolling foam,

The cruel crawling foam.

The cruel hungry foam,

To her grave beside the sea;

But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home,

Across the sands of Dee.

Short answer questions:

1) Who is the main character mentioned in the poem?

2) What task was Mary asked to do?

3) Where was Mary supposed to call the cattle home?

4) What was the condition of the western wind?

5) How was Mary described as she went across the sands?

6) What natural phenomenon is described as "creeping"?

7) What obscured the land in the poem?

8) What ultimately happened to Mary?

9) What did the speaker mistake for a tress of golden hair?

10) What is described as "cruel crawling foam"?

11) Where was Mary buried?

12) What do the boatmen still hear?

13) What animal is mentioned in the lines about the nets?

14) What river is central to the poem's setting?

15) How is the foam personified in the poem?

16) What word is repeated to emphasize the foam's nature?

17) What imagery is used to describe the tide on the sand?

18) How does the poem describe Mary’s hair?

19) What emotion does the poem evoke about Mary’s fate?

20) What theme does the poem explore through Mary's tragic story?