Full fathom five
Posted by Brian from Shawnee on April 25, 2003
In Reply to: Full fathom five posted by Bob on April 25, 2003
: : : : I just ran across the phrase "full fathom five", meaning something like "completely sunk into despair". I like the sound of it.
: : : : I took a look in the archives here but all I could find were two discussions about "sea-change". Apparently the phrases "full fathom five" and "sea-change" were spoken by Ariel in The Tempest.
: : : : But does anyone know the origina of "full fathom five"? Is it from The Tempest originally?
: : : This is Ariel's song from The Tempest:
: : : Full fathom five thy father lies;
: : : Of his bones are coral made;
: : : Those are pearls that were his eyes:
: : : Nothing of him that doth fade
: : : But doth suffer a sea-change
: : : Into something rich and strange.
: : : Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
: : : Whether it originated with Shakespeare I don't know, although it seems likely.
: : Thanks, but I was hoping that someone might know the significance of "five fathoms". For example most of us would grasp "six feet under" as a typical burial depth for a deceased person. Could this be a typical depth for someone sent to Davy Jones' Locker?
: The alliteration makes it memorable and poetic, but five fathoms (30 feet) deep was, in the days before scuba gear, impossibly, irretrievably, lost.
Thank you, gentlemen!