Imagery Quotations

Question 1

How does McCaig use imagery in the phrase “on a rock” to describe what he encounters? (stanza 1)

Answer 1

McCaig uses a metaphor which compares the shark to a rock - being bulky/solid, without feeling or intelligence.

This fully encapsulates who the shark really is as it is introduced to the poem.

Question 2

How does McCaig use imagery describing the shark as a “room sized monster” to emphasise his feelings? (stanza 2)

Answer 2

The metaphor of “monster” shows that McCaig feared the shark, and emphasises the fact that it is low down on the evolutionary scale.

Question 3

How does McCaig use imagery describing the shark as having a “matchbox brain” to emphasise the sharks course in evolution? (stanza 2)

Answer 3

The metaphor “matchbox brain” describes the shark as basic, having a small brain, which contrasts it’s “room-sized” nature.

This also links to the theme of evolution in the sense that humans contrast this notion having a “large” brain, with a smaller, more innocent looking body.

Question 4

How does McCaig use imagery in the phrase “Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree” to show an evolutionary link between the shark and the poet? (Stanza 3)

Answer 4

The metaphor of “shook on a wrong branch of his family tree” reminds the poet that the shark too is part of our family tree, and is inextricably linked to us in much of the same way as any other ancestor.

Question 5

How does McCaig use imagery in the phrase “slime” to show a link between the shark and himself?

Answer 5

This is referring to a primitive so called ‘slime’ from which we and all other living organisms were created.

This shows to us that both the human and the shark under the same conditions grew so far apart from one another.