From The Wave

The First Stanza of the poem is relatively literal, using descriptive imagery to present the movement of the surfer. Although the poetic devices of personification and simile are used, the

This contrast serves to communicate the scattered nature of our consciousness with the unity, elegance and fluidity of our subconscious. Furthermore, these drawn out sounds serve to also further the imagery of the tide’s “uninterrupted sweep” which is particularly effective in conveying the image of the wave rushing to envelope the shore, the word “uninterrupted” conveying this sense that the wave of inspiration is all smooth and relentless. This imagery is furthered by the 3 line-long segment, uninterrupted by punctuation. Yet, the central point made in these four lines is when the speaker states that “(he) heard” the waves. The description of the sea gives you a mental image, but Longfellow stresses upon the fact that the speaker only hears the tide, as this can be seen reflected in the title of the poem “The Sound of the Sea”. Hearing is an auditory action that allows one to be aware of the presence of the object through the sound, but not visually or physically grasp it. This suggests that inspiration is similar, in the sense that one can be aware of it but cannot consciously grasp, control or dominate it.

The poem I will be analysing today is Song of the Surf by Dan Ashlin. Ashlin is a born and bred Australian poet who writes modern poems. I believe that I have a strong connection with this poem because of how much I personally love the beach with the soft sand and the ferocious waves. In my opinion this poem isn’t just about the waves in the ocean, but how the ocean has its own life and story to tell.

The narrator begins this story stating, “None of them knew the color of the sky” (338). He refers to the cook, the correspondent, the captain, and the oiler, the main characters. This quote means that all of them are focused on fighting for survival, paying all of their attention to the waves. They fight against the waves, trying to stay alive. However, the author states, “A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats” (339). The waves are a symbol of the uncaring nature; it does not matter how hard the protagonists try to fight against the waves because nature continues its course; the waves continue to flow. However, the characters are determined to stay alive. They continue to face this external conflict that is nature, even when they realize that nature is

When I was a little girl at early of my age, I spent a wonderful time with my grandma near a sea in my hometown during the last two months of her life. That was the first time we saw the smile back to her face since we got the news that she got intestine cancer. Back to that time I was deeply impressed by how being around the sea was capable to change people’s emotion in such a positive way. The poet, Pablo Neruda, in his poem “The Sea” illustrates how the sea teaches a trapped man a lesson on how to be released from struggling to find freedom and happiness. The three crucial poem-writing elements, sound, structure, and figurative language make the power of sea more vivid just like a picture we could see and have physical feelings about. And when we try to get a deeper understanding of the poem, it is the sound that we hear first.

This image is similar to the one created in “Dover Beach – A Note” by Archibald MacLeish, who also used the crashing waves as a metaphor for the passing generations. In particular, Thomas is referring to ‘the last wave’ of good men, who believe that they could have accomplished more if they lived longer. However, Thomas provides reassures in this metaphor as after one wave, comes another, presumably with more good men. Additionally, Thomas uses the metaphor of ‘green bay’ to stand for life, as this is where the waves come from. Green especially is associated with life and youth. Moreover, the use of the words ‘bright’ and ‘danced’ to describe what the men’s ‘frail deeds’ could have been creates a contrast to show why men might rally against ‘the dying of the light’; who wants their deeds to be frail when they could be bright and

As I looked backed at what seemed to be a decent sized wave, I started paddling with all my might, digging through the water, deeper and deeper. The wave came closer and I felt a push from my cousin as I caught the wave. “Stand up” my cousin yelled behind me as the monstrous wave began to swallow me up. I stood up, rode the wave all the way to the shore, and fell in love with the sport of surfing. Since that day, I have loved everything one could ever love about the sport: The salty water as it touched my body, the push of the wave as it stood me up on my smooth yet sticky board, and the exhilarating rush that I felt after every perfect ride. But not quite everything about the sport came easy to me, it took a long ride to find the love I have for the sport today. When I first started competitively surfing, I

The second most important image is the “surf-tormented shore”(line 13) as the speaker himself is standing next to one, and is unable to control the waves, thus becoming a metaphor again for time and life. The unpredictable quality of life and the chaos within his life demonstrate how little he can do to manipulate it as a very inactive verb “standing” is used. In the following lines as he loses the “golden sand” (line 15), the “pitiless waves”(line 22) represent life again as he’s asking God why he can’t do anything to stop these “pitiless waves”(line 22) that he knows are pitiless because they will not stop for him. This extended metaphor conveys the deeper meaning of life that passes by really fast and is just an illusion. These metaphors lead back to the main argument of life being nothing more than a dream, meaning the outer dream, which is what we see is life, and the inner dream, which is what we seem is our memories, and are all just dreams and illusions that we are unable to manipulate.

The swimmer finds himself past the point of no return in the quest, so to speak, and at the mercy of whatever he encounters, such as the shark Connelly suggests in the imagery of the last stanza. Finally, Connelly ended the poem by writing “But what we own beyond a shadow of a doubt is our fear of being eaten alive, torn apart in depths we have entered willingly” (20-27). This part of the metaphor uses the violent image of being attacked by a shark to represent the severity of our encounter with the sublime. In the quest for the ideal the only thing we can be certain of is that it will not be easy and the uncertainty of what will be there waiting for you. The shark in the ocean’s depth is an apppropriate symbol for the sublime as defined by Rousseau’s explanation of Kant’s philosophy: “something that is fearful and incomprehensible that one wants to resist” (“Kant’s Beauty and the Sublime” 1).

Nevertheless, the flag stands erect and flapping in the wind. On the right side of the piece, we view the exact magnitude of the storm through the “white wash” of the violent waves. Additionally, the sky to the right of the ship’s crow’s nest is lighter and hints of a sun trying to break through the lurking darkness. Despite the presence of other visual elements, what clearly connects is that the ocean, embellished and predominantly highlighted in the work, was Moran’s principal interest. However, the fact that something so fleeting as surging waves dominates the composition even to the visual expense and weight of an obviously colossal ship.

These lines use enjambment for the effect of the lines flowing into each other to make it seems like the sea. The first half flows smoothly, as does the second half, except for the final word. The letter "S" is used in both halves to bring them together - to remind the readers of Islands Man closeness to the sea. The letter "H" ("head") is a break from the "S's" and therefore the rhythm is lost. The third line ("to the sound of blue surf") has alliteration of the letter "S". The sound of this letter is very much like that of the waves to remind the reader of the sea. To insure that this comes across to the readers there is emphasis on these letters. There is also an emphasis on the word "head" here to make the readers realize that it is only in Island Man's head, as he also realizes the truth.

Rich uses the images of preparing for a dive into a shipwreck to symbolize how one must prepare oneself for the journey of relooking at a painful memory. In order to prepare for the dive, the

Thom Gunn, an English poet who has spent most of his life living in the United States, is a member of what has come to be called the "Movement". Members of the Movement "rejected what seemed to them the Romantic excesses of the New Apocalypse (whose most prominent member was Dylan Thomas), and. . .were equally dissatisfied with the modernist revolution led by [Ezra] Pound and [T.S.] Eliot" (Ellmann and O’Clair 1335). Gunn has criticized modernists for "strengthen[ing] the images [in their poetry] while...banishing [the] concepts" (Qtd. in Ellmann and O’Clair 1335). Members of the Movement "sought greater concreteness and a less high-flown diction for poetry" (Ellmann and O’Clair 1335).

Imagery is the strongest supporter of the theme. A description of the sea in its states of calmness and roughness are depicted. Sight and sound help intensify other images. The poems’ strongest feelings are usually expressed by their imagery, though rhythm is also used to convey meaning. Arnold uses the first stanza of the poem to create visual, auditory, and olfactory images that will allow the reader to picture the sea of which the speaker is viewing. Through the use of several poetic Figures of speech, sounds, and irony of words are also used. Line one; “The Sea is calm tonight”(1) has a gentle rhythm that can be compared to the “ebb and flow” (17) of the sea. With this description one can imagine a beautiful beach with water lapping upon the shore. The second line also gives the image of a calm sea. In the opening stanzas words such as “gleams”(4) and “glimmering”(5) are used, giving a sense of light. In contrast the ending stanzas use words such as

In the third stanza, Arnold uses imagery and metaphors to depict the setting, which further set the mood of the poem. The first three lines portray and insinuate prospects of a visual image. The last five lines appeal to the auditory sense in the form of despair. In the first part of the stanza, Arnold characterizes the sea as divine.