Wreck of the Hesperus

“You look like the wreck of the Hesperus!” It means you look “disheveled, ragged, dirty, hung over, or otherwise less than your best.” It may sound like an odd phrase, but it made perfect sense to generations of schoolchildren familiar with this Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem about a ship in a storm-tossed sea. Here’s an early edition of the poem, along with some splendid old-fashioned illustrations. This is part of a complete episode.