Although nature may be seen as a beautiful way in which different living creatures coexist, Ted Hughes however sees this differently. In the poem Relic he writes about how the creatures in the sea use each other as a means to their end.
In this poem, the persona has found a jawbone on the sea shore amongst other bones of dead sea creatures. This sends the persona in deep thought and is made to wonder where it has come from and what it passed from. These predators that live in the “deeps” have to live from eating other creatures in order to survive. This is seen in the phrase, “camaraderie does not hold”. These creatures that feed on others in order to ensure their survival however are eaten by other creatures and where before they were victimisers, they have now fallen victim to others.
The sea is portrayed as a continuous cycle where life is halted by death and this can be seen by the action of the jawbone to “continue the beginning”. The idea that life is recycled is also evoked through the use of the long endless lines. These extended lines keep the poem flowing in the sense of a cycle and also in rhythm. Another way, in which the idea of continuity is highlighted, is the fact that this poem evolves the whole cycle in one stanza.
The rhythm in this poem is not achieved through a fixed meter, but by repetition. This is also done by the extensive use of monosyllabic words which increases the pace of the poem. The alliteration in “broken by the breakers” and the use of consonance help the reader to visualise the atmosphere at the beach were the jawbone was found, that is hearing the waves splashing with words like “flip” and “gnawn”.
The tone exposes the fact that the sea is not a friendly place to be in and even the creatures that prey on other creatures, therefore are on top of the food chain, also become "Jaws eat and are finished and the jawbone comes to the beach" as they also become part of this recycling process. “Time in the sea eats its tail” and “indigestibles” are thrown away. Whatever the sea can’t make use of is disposed of which is an efficient way to help the other sea creatures to survive. The bones become a reminder of an animal which has served its purpose in the sea.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The narrator shows this development by changing the way he describes the sea. Early in the story, the sea “seemed like a horse leaping over a high fence,” and the men thought that nature was intentionally against them. But later on in the story, the men realize that nature is indifferent. It “paces to and fro,” and is no longer a factor to the survival of the men. The men almost seem to think nature is beautiful by saying, “the shine of the light, lifting from the sea in the south, changed to full gold.” The sea does not change itself but the way the men view the sea changes. The gulls, clouds, and tides illustrate that nature does not behave any differently when men need it to survive. No matter the situation, the tide rises and the tide falls. Crane shows that nature is equally hurtful and helpful to man’s situations. For every tough break that the men face like the rough seas and the wind suddenly calming down, they catch an equal amount of breaks such as a favorable wind or calm night. The fact that the men almost seem to get assistance from nature proves that nature is not always hurtful. The correspondent’s final rescue is the best example in the story. The correspondent was saved by a freak wave, which may also be responsible for killing of the oiler, and he must accept the fact that even though nature put him into harm’s way it also saved his life in the end. But the…
- 753 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
I picked a drill because in the book Brady was fooling around and “said lets drill in the sailboat.” J.T and Digger thought he was serious and drilled a hole in Mrs. D’s kayak.…
- 127 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The story portrays a story of a fisherman who has the rare opportunity to meet an amazing creature. This is why he describes the fish as “venerable”, “homely”, and “battered”. He also stated that the fish did not fight at all; which does not become significant until near to the end of the poem when he realizes that this “tremendous” fish has finally submitted itself and given up.…
- 476 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In these passages they talk about the different species and how they can cope with each other and take the young with no mother and protect like it’s own.there are two central ideas can be found in both passages,it talk about other animal taking care of each other,and how to be copasetic. In the first passage it talks about the sea anine and the hermit crab and how they work together and stay alive. They both are the prey and working against the perimeter . They can live without each other but makes easy for them to get killed so lucky the can cope with one another the sea inime has these thing like arms to attach itself to the hermit crab, while the hermit cab is attached to the sea anime they have close to snap at the pertater to back them…
- 225 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
The title of the poem, 'Beach Burial', has an ironic slant, as beaches are commonly associated with life and pleasure. Instead, the poem consists of the opposite: death and sorrow. Similarly, the poem first two stanzas include low, soft sounds, such as "softly", "humbly", "convoys" and "rolls", with the rhythm and alliteration of "swaying and wandering", which present a calm, soothing tone. However, this soothing calm is more of a grief, as illustrated by the onomatopoeia, in "sobbing and clubbing of the gunfire". The main place or action is sensed as afar, so the washing up of "dead sailors and "tide wood" represents a calm after a storm, wherein the storm is a battle out to sea.…
- 311 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Begins: The sea has many voices. ….man is first in pre-existence, rocked and comforted, and then is born into an earthly world. “Man is a fighter and when not fighting he is a farmer, earth is his element” One day he will return to grains. But first his life is full of shifting forms.…
- 1257 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
Victoria Sanford’s book, Buried Secrets helps readers to understand the violence that occurred during the genocide that took place in Guatemala. This destruction happened during the 1960’s until 1996. She reviles the tragedies that happened from the standpoint of more than 400 rural Maya survivors, former soldiers, archival research and formerly classified documents. There were 626 villages and 200,000 civilian victims that were affected by this genocide. The Guatemalan army were the ones who led this genocide.…
- 599 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Reeves also links the different behaviours of the sea, and how it relates to the behaviours and moods of a dog. “The sea” is brought to life as Reeves uses a number of literary tools, for example, the use of onomatopoeia or sound words such as “Roars”, “sniffs” and “snuffs” describes the poem vividly capturing reader’s imagination. He grasps the relation between the giant grey dog and ocean. The playful more happy nature of a dog is visualised in the first stanza as Reeves imagery describes the ocean and relates it’s be behaviours to a dog, with the way they roll around on the beach. This is similar to the way the rough waves tumble and crash on the ocean shore. Over the three stanzas we are able to see the recognisable shift of mood from anger to playfulness to complete…
- 1014 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The song verses found in the last chapter of Edwidge Danticat’s novel Claire of the Sea Light portray the sea as a symbol of sorrow, yet as necessary. The first verse outright links the sea with sorrow; However, Claire’s response to it highlights both the good and the bad about the sea. As Nosias and Gaelle pull Max Junior out of the water as Claire makes up the second verse, they also pull him away from the despair and sorrow that cause him to attempt suicide. The verses therefore expose the sea as symbolic of sorrow.…
- 625 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The author first humanizes the descriptive account of a whale to make further connection to humans. In the second and third lines of the prose, both similes and house metaphor are present: “as big as a room” and “as big as swinging doors in a…
- 764 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The narrator immersed himself in the ocean to escape from his past; he is still dealing with the death of his son and guilt that he was one that killed his own flesh and blood. While in the ocean the narrator briefly describes his swimming technique, he states that he enjoys the feeling of swimming harder underneath the current. He pushes himself harder in the ocean to the point he grasp the concept that in just a matter of seconds a body can easily die as live. Swimming in the ocean with the narrator were jellyfishes and a whale shark. The significant about the whale shark, is it was once alive in the ocean swimming freely than suddenly captured and killed. I believe that the narrator saw as a representation of his son, because similar to…
- 182 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Inner conflict is explored throughout Time and Tide as Winton recalls, through memories, the decay of his personal image of the ocean by the very people he grew up around, and even by himself. The piece begins with Winton using visual imagery to recall his view of the ocean as a positive concept, “peered down into the turquoise blur to see wild mobs of silver trevally ride”, and also makes the reader feel as if they are recalling the same memory as him. As the text progresses, more negative adjectives are introduced as Winton realises how carelessly people treat the ocean, such as “gross”, “choking” and “dead”. The juxtaposition of humans doing horrible things but describing them as enjoying themselves doing it, “men in beanies and seaboats cheerfully tore blubber” and “thousands of blowfish on the wharf where children had stamped them playfully to their death”, makes Winton’s point that human beings treat the sea with “a kind of thoughtless contempt”. He also uses personal pronouns, “We took and took and took”, to show that he also feels partly responsible for the damage being wrought upon his own childhood playground. Through Winton’s use of powerful visual imagery and juxtaposition, we are…
- 1005 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
The presentation of the shark, as a "rock", shows how strong,hard and tough, including the fact that the poet describes it as an object, shows that the poet has no feelings for the shark. In addition lets take into concern the quotation "That roomised monster",which allows us to visualise the immense size of the shark, and being described as a "monster" expresses the fearfull feelings of the poet towards the shark, because when something is unknown to us we get scared and therefore refer to it as a monster. Furthermore, "matchbox brain", tells us the low degree of intellegence that the shark has, but also the shark scientifically is known of having…
- 421 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
On the surface, nature may appear to be calm and peaceful, but beneath its exterior, nature is fierce and brutality lurks. In his poem ‘Loch Ard Gorge’, Foulcher examines this idea against a background of natural beauty. The persona in the poem contemplates the ocean, a shipwreck from centuries ago and the blissful ignorance of animals. Foulcher uses strong sexual overtones in his description of the powerful ocean, “tide thrust into the dark interior of the earth”, which illustrates the sheer force and strength of nature. Through the use of deliberate sexual connotations. Foulcher draws our awareness to the beginnings of life and the power of nature. Enjambment is used to highlight the line “hump the grass”, where the persona notices the gravestones of drowned sailors. Foulcher is introducing the idea of frail humanity in the face of nature. Weathering has eroded the words on the gravestones, and the persona notes, “You can just make out their names” this imagery allowing the reader to recognise the impersonal nature of death. Towards the end of the poem, Foulcher uses juxtaposition, “savage dark fish” and “water decked with light” to explain the idea of beautiful…
- 920 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
She was terribly distressed, because had death the only person who had discovered all sorts of qualities in her.…
- 1093 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays