Basking shark quotes

Question 1

Themes

Answer 1

• shared ancestry
• isolation
• human ‘superiority’

Question 2

shared ancestry

Answer 2

• “Slime” suggests primordial slime, common ancestor
• “everything”
• “he shoggled me centuries back” enjambement draws attention to word centuries highlighting evolutionary past and time taken for humans to evolve

Question 3

Human ‘superiority’

Answer 3

• “so who’s the monster?” Rhetorical question
• contrast between “tall fin slid” and “rock”
• “met” equals
• “sail after sail”
• “room sized monster with a matchbox brain
• “once (too often) to me”

Question 4

Isolation

Answer 4

• “a rock where none should be”
• “decadent townee” he’s out of place/isolated from others

Question 5

Links to other poems

Answer 5

• isolation (beggar in Assisi)
• superiority (not following St Francis’ teachings in Assisi)