"Full fathom five" is a catchphrase deriving from a verse passage, beginning with those words, in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Its original context, during a storm and shipwreck, is the drowning, in water about deep, of the father of the character to whom the lines are addressed and the physical metamorphosis that follows. This three-word phrase has been repeatedly used in English-language culture, alone or in the context of larger parts or the whole of the passage, or referred to via abridgements of it, over the four centuries since its composition.
Large portions
* The whole of the stanza was set for choir by Ralph Vaughan Williams as one of his Three Shakespeare Songs.
* Martin Amis's quotation of most of "Full Fathom Five", in his novel The Pregnant Widow, is among its many Shakespeare references.
*"The Fathom Five Matter" is a five-episode case in the radio serial Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar; it uses the poem in full in the first episode.
* The stanza was set to music and used as lyrics for the track "Full Fathom Five" on Marianne Faithfull's 1965 album Come My Way
*"Full Fathom Five" is an episode from the first season of the TV series Hawaii Five-O; a character recites the poem in full during the episode.
*May Sinclair's Mary Olivier: a life contains the first six lines of the song
*The stanza is quoted in, and provides the title for, the Doctor Who audio drama Full Fathom Five
*Used in the Interlude between chapters three and four of "Cibola Burn" - book 4 of 'The Expanse' series by James S. A. Corey
* Laurie Anderson's 1984 album Mister Heartbreak includes the track "Blue Lagoon", which contains the second stanza starting "Full fathom five thy father lies..." but replaces the end line "Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them — Ding-dong, bell." with "And I alone am left to tell the tale. Call me Ishmael."
*James Joyce's Ulysses contains the clause "Full fathom five thy father lies"
*Stephen King uses the clause "Full fathom five my father lies" in The Tommyknockers, when protagonist James "Gard" Gardner sees a demonstration of a special typewriter.
*John Cheever uses the clause "full fathom five my father lies" towards the end of the short story "Goodbye, My Brother".
*Luke Rhinehart uses the clause "full fathom five my father lies" in The Dice Man, when side character Eric Cannon is asked by the protagonist if he wants to remain present during an interview with his parents that leads to Eric's commitment to a mental hospital.
*Sting's song "Pirate's Bride" uses the modified clause "Full fathom five my true love lies".
*Full Fathom Five is the title of a 1947 painting by Jackson Pollock, containing dark blues that evoke the depths of the ocean.
*"Full Fathom Five" is the title of the B-side to the Stone Roses' 1988 single "Elephant Stone".
*Full Fathom Five is the title of a 1994 album by British band Sub Sub.
*Full Fathom Five is the title of the 1965 book by John Stewart Carter which won the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award.
* Barbara Kingsolver's novel The Poisonwood Bible refers to the poem' following the news of the death of patriarchal character Nathan Price.
* Edgar Freemantle's psychologist in Stephen King's Duma Key sinks "full fathom five" into his sofa.
* Gordon Comstock, protagonist of George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying, "was in the soup, full fathom five".
* "Full fathom five" are the opening spoken lyrics of Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich's song, "The Wreck of the 'Antoinette'".
* The song "Another Night Out" by UNKLE contains the lyrics "Drowning to die, down four fathom five."
* The song "Big News I" by American rock band Clutch contains the line "She's sunk full fathom, five, five, five." A live album by the band is also called Full Fathom Five.
*"Shake, Shudder, Shiver", a song from the Faces' album First Step, includes the lines "There's a man wants to show me the river / Full fathom five, I'll be more dead than alive"
* "Full Fathom Five" is a 1958 poem by Sylvia Plath.
* The phrase "Full fathom five" appears in Nadine Gordimer's 1999 short story "Loot".
* Full Fathom Five is a 2014 novel by Max Gladstone.
* "Full Fathom Five" is the title of Episode 1, Season 1 of the original Hawaii Five-O.
* "Full Fathom Five" is the title of Episode 21, Season 2 of Movin' On.
