Sea-change or seachange is a poetic or informal term meaning a gradual transformation in which the form is retained but the substance is replaced, in this case with a marvellous petrification. It was originally a song of comfort to the bereaved Ferdinand over his father's death by drowning. The expression is Shakespeare's, taken from the song in The Tempest, when Ariel sings,
"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,
Ding-dong.
Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell."
The term sea-change is often used in a manner similar to Shakespeare's original context. For example, a character from literature may transform over time into a better person after undergoing various trials or tragedies, i.e. "There is a sea change in Scrooge's personality towards the end of the play." Likewise, a community might undergo a sea-change when faced with exposure of their petty jealousies or prejudices. Like the term Potemkin village, sea-change has also been used in business culture. In the United States, sea-change is often used as a corporate buzzword. In this context, it need not refer to a substantial or significant transformation, but can indicate a far less impressive change.
Famous quotes containing the words sea and/or change:
“The word-coining genius, as if thought plunged into a sea of words and came up dripping.”
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)
“All of childhood’s unanswered questions must finally be passed back to the town and answered there. Heroes and bogey men, values and dislikes, are first encountered and labeled in that early environment. In later years they change faces, places and maybe races, tactics, intensities and goals, but beneath those penetrable masks they wear forever the stocking-capped faces of childhood.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)