What is the message of Robert Southey's poem "Inchcape Rock"?

The message of the poem is that the acts of evil men come back to haunt them, or more simply put, the wicked are justly punished for their evil deeds.

In this poem, the wicked Sir Ralph Rover decides, simply for spite, to cut the rope to the bell that sounds to warn sailors before they have a chance to wreck on the treacherous Inchcape Rock.

Sir Ralph cuts the rope simply to try to undo the good that the Abbot of Aberbrothok did in putting up the warning bell. Ralph does this to "plague" or torment the abbot, who he apparently dislikes or feels jealous of, and also to blacken the abbot's reputation. Ralph states:

“The next who comes to the Rock,
Won’t bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”

However, Sir Ralph is the one who pays the ultimate price for this spiteful act. His ship, filled with plunder, crashes into Inchcape Rock "with a shivering shock," sinking the ship and drowning Sir Ralph.

Sir Ralph's comeuppance for his evil deed is called "poetic justice," which is when a person receives a fitting punishment for his crimes. The moral of the story is "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," for if Ralph Rover had put himself into the shoes of the other ships he gleefully anticipated crashing, he never would have cut the rope to the bell.

"Inchcape Rock" by Robert Southey is based on a traditional Scottish folktale concerning a dangerous rock outcropping in northern Scotland. Southey follows the original in making a simple moral point.

The moral perspective of the poem is Christian. Robert Southey himself was a member of the Church of England and the poem is narrated in Christian terms, with the morally good character being an Abbot and mentions of Christ and the Devil.

In the poem, the Abbot of Aberbrothok is blessed for having placed to bell on Inchcape Rock attached to a float so that mariners will be warned away from the rock, which was a hazard to navigation. Sir Ralph sinks the bell so that he can profit from ships wrecked on the rock. One night, Sir Ralph's own ship ends up wrecked on Inchcape Rock because the bell is no longer in place to warn him away. The moral is straightforward, that one's bad deeds will come back to haunt one, a concept that in Buddhism and Hinduism is called karma. In the Bible, a similar idea is expressed in Galatians 6:7: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap."

What is the summary of "The Inchcape Rock" by Robert Southey?

First, in Inchcape Rock by Robert Southey, the story of the Inchcape Bell is told. It was anchored by the Abbot of Aberbrothok to a buoy atop Inchcape Rock. On mild days, like the one on which the poetic story begins, the waves might wash over the Inchcape Rock but they would not stir the buoy nor the Inchcape Bell. Therefore, the seas were calm and the ship captains, sailors and townspeople needed no warnings of rough seas, which was the function of the Inchcape bell--to give warning of rough and dangerous seas.

Anchored offshore was the plundering ship of Captain Sir Ralph the Rover who was in a boisterous, springlike mood and conceived a mischievous and wicked plan. His sailors rowed him to Inchcape Rock and he cut the Inchcape Bell from its fastening to the buoy (which he called a Float). Sir Ralph watched the bell sink amidst bubbles while thinking of the wicked jest he had played against the memory of the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

Sir Ralph went to sea to plunder merchant ships. When he had gained a full cargo of riches, he returned to Scotland's shores and Inchcape Rock. The skies on that day were dark and overspread with storm threatening clouds. The gale force wind of the daylight hours had died away at night and no sight was to be seen in the black stillness.

The rising moon gave Sir Ralph the Rover occasion to say that there would soon be light enough to see the land by. But the sailors replied that they wished they knew how near to the rocks they were because they could hear the breakers crashing on the rocks--and they sorely wished they could also hear the Inchcape Bell.

A jolt rocked the ship. They had struck the Inchcape Rock. As the ship is torn apart by the storming waves, Captain Ralph the Rover curses his wickedness and, as he faces his dying breaths, hears the Inchcape Bell rung from beneath the waves by the Devil's hand to toll Ralph the Rover's death knell.

How would you explain the seventh stanza of "The Inchcape Rock" by Robert Southey?

In the seventh stanza, we learn that Sir Ralph the Rover "felt the cheering power of spring." The good weather improves his mood, and he's happy to enjoy a sunny day on the seas. In fact, the spring weather makes Sir Ralph so happy that he's inspired to whistle and to sing.

In the next two lines, we learn that Sir Ralph's heart is "mirthful to excess." This just means that he is overwhelmed with happiness in his present condition. However, we are warned that this mirth is of a wicked quality. The line "the Rover's mirth was wickedness" possibly refers to the diabolical plans Sir Ralph has in mind. In other words, Sir Ralph is only extraordinarily happy when he's planning some wicked action; his chief purpose in life seems to be to bring suffering and sorrow on all he meets.

The eighth and ninth stanzas support this interpretation because we see that Sir Ralph's chief aim is to "plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok" and to cause the deaths of unsuspecting sailors. To support his fiendish goals, he's more than happy to cut the bell off the Inchcape Float so that no one will suspect they've crashed into the Inchcape Rock until it's too late.

Can you explain the lines of Robert Southey's poem The Inchcape Rock?

The poem The Inchcape Rock by Robert Southey refers to a bell which has been placed on a reef after many sailors have presumably lost their lives on this notorious stretch of sea. The poem begins calmly and the reader is unaware of the significance of the rock as ships remain apparently safe with their "keel [was] steady in the ocean" suggesting that the ships are upright and not in any apparent danger. However, this misleads seamen who are oblivious to the dangers they cannot see beneath the waves and "Without either sign or sound of their shock", the rock threatens their existence. This is why seamen are so grateful to the Abbot of Aberbrothok who placed a bell on the rocks and, when the sea is calm the rock is visible and bell stays silent but when it is stormy "on a buoy in the storm it floated and swung / And over the waves its warning rung." As the bell moves with the waves, it rings and this warns sailors. When sailors hear the bell, they know to steer clear of it because of the rocks and they are grateful to the abbot and thank or "blest" him. 

This angers Sir Ralph the Rover and so on a clear day when "The Sun in heaven was shining gay", Ralph thinks of a plan. He "fix’d his eye" on the "speck" and feels immediately invigorated at his wicked plan. Sir Ralph intends to "plague" or upset the abbot by loosening the bell so that it sinks to the bottom "with a gurgling sound." Having done this, Sir Ralph goes about his business and "scour’d the seas for many a day." He is apparently a pirate as he intends to return home with "plunder’d store," meaning that he has stolen goods from his escapades. On the return, it is dark when they approach home and one of his men comments that he wishes he could hear the bell because he can hear "the breakers roar", suggesting that they are near the shore. As the boat drifts, it hits the rock "with a shivering shock." 

Too late to do anything about it, Sir Ralph berates himself "in his despair" and finds his ship is sinking. As he is drowning, Sir Ralph does think he hears a bell just like the Inchcape Bell but it is the Devil "ringing his knell." In other words, Sir Ralph will be going to Hell.

Can you explain the poem "Inchcape Rock" stanza by stanza?

The first stanza describes a ship on still water. With no wind, the sails "from Heaven" are motionless. Inchcape Rock is a section of land or a reef in Scotland that sticks out only inches above the water during low tide and is completely submerged during high tide. So, a bell was attached to the rock by Abbot of Aberbrothok so sailors would be made aware of the submerged reef. This is explained in the third and fourth stanzas. However, in the second stanza, the speaker notes that the waves were so weak that the bell was not sounding. 

On this particular day (fifth stanza) the weather is pleasant. In the sixth stanza, Ralph the Rover (possibly a pirate) spies the buoy of the bell. In the next stanza, the speaker notes his joy but adds that Ralph's intent is actually full of wickedness. In the eighth stanza, he commands his men to put him on a row boat so that he might approach the bell. In the ninth stanza, he approaches the bell and cuts it from its float. The bell sinks and he claims that the next sailors who approach will not bless the Abbot. (Evidently, Ralph is jealous that so many sailors bless the Abbot rather than himself.) 

The eleventh stanza tells of how Ralph sails away, accumulates riches, and sails back toward Scotland. In the next stanza, Ralph's ship sails into a fog and there is no visibility. In the following stanza, it is night and Ralph says to wait for the light of the moon in order to see. In the following stanza (14th) one of Ralph's sailors can hear waves crashing and he wishes he would be able to hear the Inchcape Bell. 

In the fifteenth stanza, their ship strikes Inchcape Rock. In the following stanza, Ralph curses himself as his ship begins to sink. He realizes his wicked decision to remove the bell has led to his own disaster and presumably his death. In the final stanza, Ralph hears or believes he hears Death's bell, comparable to a funeral bell: a fitting end considering he cut the bell that saved sailors like himself. 

How does Robert Southey describe the Inchcape Rock?

In his poem "Inchcape Rock," Robert Southey does not describe the rock itself at any great length. He notes simply that it is "perilous," but the story of the poem makes it clear why this is.

The "Inchcape Bell" has been put on the rock so that sailors will hear it ringing and therefore know that they are coming close to the rock. Without the bell, it is very difficult to see the rock in time to be aware of its presence and to avoid it. In this poem, Southey describes how Sir Ralph has his men cut down the bell so that other sailors will run aground on the rock. However, when he later returns after many years with the "plunder" from his piracy, he forgets that he cut down the Inchcape Bell himself. Expecting to hear it, he does not notice Inchcape Rock until it is too late, and his ship has run aground on it. He has reaped the rewards of his own villainous behavior.

In reality, Inchcape Rock is often also called Bell Rock because of its association with the story of the Inchcape Bell. It is off the east coast of Scotland near Dundee, and today its lighthouse serves the same function the Inchcape Bell once was supposed to.