RRS Discovery left Britain in 1901 carrying Robert Falcon Scott's first Antarctic expedition. From its base in McMurdo Sound, the expedition conducted extensive scientific work and travelled farther south than previous parties. The ship was trapped in ice for two winters before being freed in 1904.

Discovery helped establish the Antarctic world that later shaped poems about Scott, polar exploration and heroic failure. Expedition members read, quoted and wrote verse, using poetry to sustain morale and translate an unfamiliar landscape into inherited literary forms.