Basking shark Flashcards
“To stub an oar on a rock where none should be.”
Onomatopoeia- suggests force and shock. - shark is a force to be reckoned with. - highlights size and solidity.
“Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me”
(Too often) - parenthesis. - sees the experience as positive, thoughtfulness after the event. Reflective.
“Sea tin tacked with rain”
Visual and sound - water flying down the calm water. - T = plosive. - suggests sea is calm as you can hear the rain.
“Roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.”
Contrast - makes shark sound ridiculous. Shark is huge and brain is small. - humour.
“He displaced more than water he shoggled me.”
W/c imagery onomatopoeia. - the sharks movement caused water to move, violently shifting the boat. - shark caused poet to question his place in evolution.
“Wrong branch of his family tree.”
Reflection - sees himself as a part of sharks family tree. - the world isn’t just about humans.
“Emerging from the slime of everything.”
W/c - rising above - he has evolved further than the shark has.
“So who’s the monster? The thought made me grow pale.
Rhetorical question- makes audience think about whether mankind is cruel or the shark is. - realisation he may be guilty.
“For twenty seconds while, sail after sail.
Visual image - shark disappears from view. - comparison to a sail boat moving into horizon leaving poet alone. - quiet moment contemplating the gentle movement of the shark.
“The tall fin slid away and then the tail.”
Poet is left unsettled, asking questions about whether humans and creatures are the monasters.
