# What is meant by the term 'whale's acre' in Ezra Pound's modern English version of "The Seafarer"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-meant-by-the-term-whales-acre-in-ezra-pounds-modern-english-version-of-the-seafarer/960652>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** books-writing-myths\
**Created:** [March 8, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-meant-by-the-term-whales-acre-in-ezra-pounds-modern-english-version-of-the-seafarer/960652 "2022-03-08T03:52:23Z")\
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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-meant-by-the-term-whales-acre-in-ezra-pounds-modern-english-version-of-the-seafarer/960652/1 "2022-03-08T03:52:23Z")

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What is meant by the term ‘whale’s acre’ in Ezra Pound’s modern English version of “The Seafarer”?

Is it simply a metaphor for the ocean? I couldn’t find a definition for it.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-meant-by-the-term-whales-acre-in-ezra-pounds-modern-english-version-of-the-seafarer/960652/2 "2022-03-08T04:02:06Z")

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It helps to compare translations.

[Here’s a more direct translation of that passage](http://www.thehypertexts.com/The%20Seafarer%20English%20Translation%20Michael%20R.%20Burch.htm):

> [@](#):
>
> Swylce geac monað Now the cuckoo warns  
> geomran reorde; with her mournful voice;  
> singeð sumeres weard, the guardian of summer sings,  
> sorge beodeð boding sorrows  
> bitter in breosthord. bitter to the breast-hoard.
> 
> Þæt se beorn ne wat, This the normal man knows not,  
> sefteadig secg, the warrior lucky in worldly things,  
> hwæt þa sume dreogað unaware of what others endure,  
> þe þa wræclastas those who brave most extensively  
> widost lecgað. earth’s exile-paths.
> 
> Forþon nu min hyge hweorfeð Now my spirit soars  
> ofer hreþerlocan, out of my breast,  
> min modsefa my mind floods  
> mid mereflode, amid the waterways  
> ofer hwæles eþel over the whale-path;  
> hweorfeð wide, it soars widely  
> eorþan sceatas— through all the far reaches of the earth—

[Here is Pound’s:](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44917/the-seafarer)

> [@](#):
>
> Cuckoo calleth with gloomy crying,  
> He singeth summerward, bodeth sorrow,  
> The bitter heart’s blood. Burgher knows not —  
> He the prosperous man — what some perform  
> Where wandering them widest draweth.  
> So that but now my heart burst from my breast-lock,  
> My mood 'mid the mere-flood,  
> Over the whale’s acre, would wander wide.

So yeah, this is just Pound’s version of a very typical Old English [kenning](https://www.britannica.com/art/kenning) of the form “whale-road”, “whale-path” etc. to mean the ocean.

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**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2022, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-meant-by-the-term-whales-acre-in-ezra-pounds-modern-english-version-of-the-seafarer/960652/3 "2022-03-08T04:09:05Z")

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Thanks Kimstu.