And the ship is more than the crew!
The subtitle to this poem is ‘1914-1918’ and the whole poem is a call for steadfastness during the First World War through the time-honoured metaphor of the ‘Ship of State’. It is a hymn to team spirit. Any of us who has been a member of a game team, a task force or a military unit can identify with the lines – “The game is more than the player of the game / And the ship is more than the crew“.
However, the sense of service has its dark side, if taken to extremes. It may make one feel that people were created to serve institutions rather than institutions to serve people.
The history of the First World War calls into question the virtue of such unquestioning readiness to sacrifice oneself. Many historians argue that if the Allies had been willing to achieve a negotiated end to the First World War, there would have been no Second World War. But whatever the political or moral considerations, the poem expresses forcefully the sense of determination to hold on in difficult times.
A Song in Storm
Be well assured that on our side The abiding oceans fight, Though headlong wind and heaping tide Make us their sport to-night. By force of weather, not of war, In jeopardy we steer: Then welcome Fate's discourtesy Whereby it shall appear How in all time of our distress, And our deliverance too, The game is more than the player of the game, And the ship is more than the crew! Out of the mist into the mirk The glimmering combers roll. Almost these mindless waters work As though they had a soul - Almost as though they leagued to whelm Our flag beneath their green: Then welcome Fate's discourtesy Whereby it shall be seen How in all time of our distress, And our deliverance too, The game is more than the player of the game, And the ship is more than the crew! Be well assured, though wave and wind Have mightier blows in store, That we who keep the watch assigned Must stand to it the more; And as our streaming bows rebuke Each billow's baulked career, Sing, welcome Fate's discourtesy Whereby it is made clear How in all time of our distress, And our deliverance too, The game is more than the player of the game, And the ship is more than the crew! No matter though our decks be swept And mast and timber crack - We can make good all loss except The loss of turning back. So, 'twixt these Devils and our Deep Let courteous trumpets sound, To welcome Fate's discourtesy Whereby it will be found How in all time of our distress, And our deliverance too, The game is more than the player of the game, And the ship is more than the crew! Be well assured, though in our power Is nothing left to give But chance and place to meet the hour, And leave to strive to live, Till these dissolve our Order holds, Our Service binds us here. Then welcome Fate's discourtesy Whereby it is made clear How in all time of our distress, As in our triumph too, The game is more than the player of the game, And the ship is more than the crew!