basking shark Flashcards
what are the central themes in basking shark?
- isolation
- evolution
- mans relationship with nature
“to stub an oar on a rock where none should be”
- metaphor comparing the shark to a rock
- suggests the shark was an immovable force and highlights the poets shock
“rise with a slounge”
suggests the shark moved in a lazy, gentle, relaxed manner
“is a thing that happened once (too often) to me”
‘thing’
- word choice suggests that the poet was so shocked he was unable to give a name to what happened
‘(too often)’ adds to the conversational jokey tone and suggests he is more relaxed about it now
“i count as gain”
word choice of ‘gain’ suggests he now sees the benefit of having encountered the shark
“that roomsized monster with a matchbox brain”
creates a contrast between the size of the shark and its intelligence
“shook on a wrong branch of his family tree”
‘shook’
- reinforces the idea the poet has been moved by the encounter
‘family tree’
- suggests the prehistoric connection between all living things, realises he and the shark are no different as they came from the same place
“emerging from the slime of everything”
‘emerging from the slime’
- has connotations of darwin’s theory of evolution and that all living things are connected by a common ancestor
“so who’s the monster?”
- shows the poet is now confused by the idea of the shark being dangerous
- coming to the realisation that it is mankind who are the danger to the shark
“for twenty seconds”
‘twenty seconds’
- creates a contrast between this extremely short period of time the encounter has lasted with the idea of ‘centuries’ and the very long time that man and sharks have co-existed
