Basking Shark Flashcards
“To stub…
To have…”
Infinitive verbs
Suggests shock/surprise at the sudden appearance of the creature. The unusual sentence structure
captures our attention.
“To stub an ore on a rock where none should be”
Metaphor
Comparing the shark to a rock.
Suggests its solid bulk and shows the sudden surprise and fear of the poet.
It could also suggest shark is unfeeling/unintelligent.
“To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea”
“slounge”
Word Choice
Scots dialect to describe slow lazy lounge of vast shark coming out of the sea - not attacking.
Also an example of onomatopoeia to capture the noise of the waves being disturbed by the clumsy
movement.
“Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me”
Parenthesis/Humorous tone
This indicates that the tale is about to be continued, without revealing everything yet.
Although he is shocked, the poet is trying to make light of the situation.
“To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,
To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea,
Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me.”
Whole stanza
Monosyllabic words (simple language) used to set the scene in the first stanza.
“But not too often - though enough”
Light-hearted Tone
The poet is glad of the encounter but doesn’t want a repeat! It was unforgettable but scary!
“… enough. I count as gain,”
Caesura
Allows a pause before the poet reveals the exciting part of the story.
“I count as gain”
Suggests that the experience was valuable to the poet and that we will learn why later.
“That once I met…”
“met”
Word Choice
Now sounds like a friendly encounter, the poet is no longer scared.
“… on a sea tin-tacked with rain”
Metaphor
Compares the rain falling on the sea to someone tapping tacks into tin.
Onomatopoeia/Alliteration
The image also captures the sound of the heavy rain.
The image visually suggests marks made by rain on the
surface of the water - little holes.
“That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain”
Hyperbole/contrast
Emphasises how huge the shark’s body is compared to its tiny brain. It appears intimidating.
“roomsized” – suggests huge scale of the creature
“matchbox brain” - metaphor suggests its brain is tiny - creating a patronising tone.
Here, the poet sees it as low down on the evolutionary scale. Later, however, MacCaig suggests the shark is just as valuable as man.
This shows that the poet has had a major epiphany from this experience.
“He displaced more than water…”
Ambiguous
The shark doesn’t just move the water and boat physically; it unsettles the poet. It makes him consider his place on the earth.
“He shoggled me,
Centuries back…”
Word Choice
“shoggled”
Scottish origin. Suggests he is knocked off balance physically but also feels as if he is back in prehistory.
“Centuries back - this decadent townee,”
Word choice
“decadent“
Suggests mankind/MacCaig is in a state of self-indulgent decay.
“townee”
This is pejorative/critical, mocking himself as an
urban man who has lost touch with nature (inexperienced)
“Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree”
Metaphor
Poet feels shaken by the encounter but also imagines himself as part of the same ancestral family as the shark (humans left the water.)
The shark is seen as the better evolved species though, not humans: MacCaig is in awe of the shark.
“Swish up the dirt…”
“Swish”
Onomatopoeia
Describes the noise of the water being disturbed
This links to the previous idea of water being “displaced”.
