analysis of a poem

[oriental_sun]

Hello,
Can anyone help me and tell what's the theme of the poem and what's the author's message?
Thank you!

Land, Ho!

I know ’tis but a loom of land,
Yet is it land, and so I will rejoice,
I know I cannot hear His voice
Upon the shore, nor see Him stand;
Yet is it land, ho! land.

The land! the land! the lovely land!
‘Far off,’ dost say? Far off—ah, blessèd home!
Farewell! farewell! thou salt sea-foam!
Ah, keel upon the silver sand—
Land, ho! land.

You cannot see the land, my land,
You cannot see, and yet the land is there—
My land, my land, through murky air—
I did not say ’twas close at hand—
But—land, ho! land.

Dost hear the bells of my sweet land,
Dost hear the kine, dost hear the merry birds?
No voice, ’tis true, no spoken words,
No tongue that thou may’st understand—
Yet is it land, ho! land.

It’s clad in purple mist, my land,
In regal robe it is apparellèd,
A crown is set upon its head,
And on its breast a golden band—
Land, ho! land.

Dost wonder that I long for land?
My land is not a land as others are—
Upon its crest there beams a star,
And lilies grow upon the strand—
Land, ho! land.

Give me the helm! there is the land!
Ha! lusty mariners, she takes the breeze!
And what my spirit sees it sees—
Leap, bark, as leaps the thunderbrand—
Land, ho! land.

Thomas Edward Brown

[JBI]

I don't want to poke you into a direction, but consider the poem in Christian terms - what does the land symbolize, and what does it relate to in Christian terms.

[oriental_sun]

Mmmm...there is the holy land which was promissed by God to the Israelitis and here the narrator is coming back from a long voyage and cannot wait to get home and for him his motherland is of the same importance as for the israelitis was the promissed land??...I am afraid I am not very knowledgeable in the Bible, would you please poke me more into the right direction? Then who is the narrator? I am completely mixed up by the poem...

[JBI]

I was thinking more along the lines of heaven.

[oriental_sun]

Oh boy, is he dying?

It’s clad in purple mist, my land,
In regal robe it is apparellèd,
A crown is set upon its head,
And on its breast a golden band—
Land, ho! land.

Dost wonder that I long for land?
My land is not a land as others are—
Upon its crest there beams a star,
And lilies grow upon the strand—
Land, ho! land.

Then in these two stanzas is it a reference to God? Why his land is different?

Sorry, but I just don't understand it completely.

[LostPrincess13]

hello there! when i read the poem, i also thought of heaven. I think the stanza with the purple mist signifies royalty since purple is well, the color of royalty. Those two stanzas in your last posts i think refers to God's land: heaven.
in my opinion, the author may not necessarily be dying. He may just be exultant at the realization that there is such a land so to speak.
Am i making sense?

[oriental_sun]

thank you guys, you helped me really

[Cat_Brenners]

I think this could mean so many things to many people. To me, it's someone getting closer and closer to home. He can hear and see more as he gets closer...if its heaven or just his home land I don't know for sure.
Cat

[NisreenS]

May be his beloved (a woman). I've read that mytapysical poets talk about their beloved in terms of land and they want to occupy it. But the "Him" and "His" in the first stanza may refer to God.