Ariane Slater 
Hymns about the Sea and Maritime Metaphors 

Scientific Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Musicology – Miscellaneous, University of Greenwich (Greenwich Maritime Institute), course: 5th International Congress of Maritime History (IMEHA2008), language: English, abstract: Maritime hymns are part of what is generally referred to as ‘maritime literature’ – a term used for fictional and non-fictional texts about the sea. Maritime hymns are not just Christian hymns written for sailors. They take us on a metaphorical sea journey which surpasses any national and denominational boundaries. Comparing maritime hymns from Germany with those from England and the U.S. has revealed that the sea journey of the soul is an archetype which forms an intrinsic part of our European cultural and spiritual heritage.

About the author

Ariane Slater is a linguist, lecturer and translator with a master's degree in comparative literature und a Ph.D. degree in contrastive linguistics. From 1992 to 2000, she worked as a lecturer for linguistics at Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, and Roehampton Institute London. She later specialised in military language and published articles and a book on the historical development of the language of the German Armed Forces. As a reserve officer, she was deployed to Afghanistan and took part in different military exercises. Since 2009 she has been teaching English with Bundessprachenamt, the Federal Language Office. In her spare time, she goes bird watching and occasionally plays the organ in church.