Ninevah
These are meant to be short accessible selections from longer collections. Reflecting on the overarching question, how much is enough, Masefield’s wonderful poem Cargoes came to dominate the choice. In each of the stanza’s the vessels carry six items, but poems starts with the most memorable phrase, Quniquereme of Ninevah., morphed here, without justification into:-
Five key rhymes of No_Never
The concept of a collection of five poems (Italian cinque rime) can be justified by a number of spurious arguments. However Masefield’s poem teaches a number of important lessons, including the distinction between truth and poetic truth, with one being more important than the other. The very idea of rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine is so compelling that the contradictions are excusable. Quinquereme of Ninevah from distant Ophir. Ninevah, an ancient city on the banks of the Euphrates was close to the site of present day Mosul and Ophir is thought to have been a port in the Indian Ocean and before the Suez canal the route to Palestine would have been round the Cape of Good Hope. The cargo is one described in the Old Testament as a triennial tribute to King Solomon, whilst the quinquereme is thought to be a high powered trireme, a military vessel designed to ram and sink enemy ships at high speed. Whilst the trireme had three banks of oars, each powered by a single oarsman, the quinquereme is thought also to have three banks of oars, but powered by five oarsmen in a 1,2,2 configuration.
The No_Never format is likewise 5 poems on a related theme in a 1,2,2 configuration in an 8-
