Salt - Water Poems and Ballads - wikipedia Salt - Water Poems and Ballads First edition cover Salt - Water Poems and Ballads is a book of poetry on themes of seafaring and maritime history by John Masefield. It was first published in 1916 by Macmillan, with illustrations by Charles Pears. Many of the poems had been published in Masefield 's earlier collections, Salt - Water Ballads ( 1902 ), Ballads ( 1903 ) and Ballads and Poems ( 1910 ). They were included in The Collected Poems of John Masefield published by Heinemann in 1923. Salt - Water Poems and Ballads includes `` Sea - Fever '' and `` Cargoes '', two of Masefield 's best known poems. Contents 1 `` Sea - Fever '' 2 `` Cargoes '' 3 Musical settings 4 Cultural references 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External links `` Sea - Fever '' `` Sea - Fever '' first appeared in Salt - Water Ballads -- Masefield 's first volume of poetry published in 1902 in London by Grant Richards. I must down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel 's kick and the wind 's song and the white sail 's shaking, And a grey mist on the sea 's face and a grey dawn breaking. In The Collected Poems of John Masefield the opening line was changed to the text now more commonly anthologised : `` I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky ''. The first lines of the second and third stanzas retained the form `` I must down to the seas again (... ) ''. `` Cargoes '' `` Cargoes '' first appeared in Ballads -- Masefield 's second volume of poetry, published in 1903 in London by Elkin Mathews. Quinquereme of Nineveh from distant Ophir Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine, With a cargo of ivory, And apes and peacocks, Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine. Musical settings `` Sea - Fever '' has been set to music by many composers, including Stephen DeCesare and Patrick Clifford on his album American Wake ; the most famous version is by John Ireland. The poem has also been set, for boys ' emerging voices, by Oliver Tarney and published by Oxford University Press. and by Kavisha Mazzella, a Western Australia - born musician and artist. `` Trade Winds '' has been set to music by Frederick Keel. Cultural references `` Sea - Fever '' is quoted by Willy Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The poem is quoted in part by Captain James T. Kirk in both the Star Trek episode `` The Ultimate Computer '' and the film Star Trek V : The Final Frontier and is also quoted in the 2004 film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. References Jump up ^ Salt - Water Ballads ( 1902 ) at the Internet Archive Jump up ^ Masefield, John ( 1923 ). The Collected Poems of John Masefield. London : Heinemann, pp. 27 -- 28. Jump up ^ Ballads ( 1903 ) at the Internet Archive Jump up ^ The reference is to 1 Kings 10, 22 in the Bible `` For the king ( Solomon ) had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram ; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks ''. Nineveh, however, was a land - bound city which had no share in such trade. Jump up ^ ( 1 ) Further reading Babington Smith, Constance ( 1978 ). John Masefield : A Life. Oxford University Press. External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : Text of many of the poems Salt - Water Poems and Ballads online at the Internet Archive Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salt-Water_Poems_and_Ballads&oldid=751660114 '' Categories : English poetry collections 1916 books Macmillan Publishers books Hidden categories : EngvarB from January 2014 Use dmy dates from January 2014 All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2016 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Polski Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 27 November 2016, at 03 : 13. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: who wrote the poem i must go down to the sea again
Answer: John Masefield