Hmm? Yesterday's post evidently didn't make it through.

The New Zealand Bound Website is where I harvested Robertson's poems. There's a lot of interesting information there, and poems from other people as well.

I don't agree with the opinion that words such as "visage" should not be changed from "parlor talk" to what sailors might have said "aboard ship." It's not a question of "dumbing down" the language. It's a question of how sailors spoke to one another aboard ship or in sailortown. Robertson was, indeed, a master mariner and I really like much of how he describes the world from the Great Age of Sail. And he was a well self-educated man.

However, everyone has do decide how they want to adapt a poem for singing. Some do not change a word. Others change some words. Others drop entire verses, or add chorus or refrains. Eventually the folk music community decides what version they prefer to hear. Good luck!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble