Post by mcf on Apr 27, 2018 18:55:22 GMT
Basking Shark
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.
But not too often - though enough. I count as gain
That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain,
That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.
He displaced more than water. He shoggled me
Centuries back - this decadent townee
Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree.
Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a spring
Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling,
Emerging from the slime of everything
So who’s the monster? The thought made me grow pale
For twenty seconds while, sail after sail.
The tall fin slid away and then the tail.
Basking shark is a poem in which Norman MacCaig reflects upon Evolution and Nature. He uses his encounter with the shark to meditate evolution and his own place within it.
Stanza one
The poem begins with an unusual sentence structure: two infinitive clauses, To stub an oar on a rock…To have it rise. The effect is to create a tension and suspense until the meaning is completed by the poet saying this is a thing that happened once (too often) to him. The opening tension increased to with the mention that there is a rock where none should be, followed by the startling assertion that this ‘rock’ rises with a slounge out of the sea.
The use of rock suggests the hardness and immovability of the object met. The neologism (new word) slounge seems to be an amalgamation of ‘slouch’ and ‘lounge’, and conveys the slow, lazy, ponderous movement of the surfacing creature it describes. The alarm caused in the poet is neatly shown with the humorous parenthetical aside (too often) implying this is not an encounter he wishes to repeat. The slow, steady rhythm of these three lines is perfectly suited to the gradual surfacing movement of the huge shark.
Stanza two
The once (too often) of the opening stanza is both echoed and refuted with But not too often in the opening line of stanza two, which seems to contradict what he has just said. In doing so he seems to imply that, on reflection, while this was indeed a frightening experience, it was nonetheless one he found ultimately worthwhile and enriching. We can also see this in the expression I count as gain. He concentrates on the specific reasons he feels the encounter was beneficial in the remainder of the poem.
In choosing the word met to describe this event, he conveys almost a sense of reciprocity and fraternity between humans and animals. It is typical of MacCaig never to assume human superiority in describing encounters with the world of nature.
The alliterative metaphor a sea tin-tacked with rain captures with MacCaig’s usual gift of exact observation, the nature of the rain - hard, relatively sparse droplets patterning the smooth surface with neat round imprints. The alliteration of the hard consonant ‘t’ helps to replicate the metallic sound of the rain hitting the boat.
Alliteration and metaphor continue in rich vein in the final line with roomsized monster and matchbox brain. The contrast and incongruity of the size of the shark’s enormous body compared with its tiny brain is elegantly portrayed here. The linking alliterative consonant ‘m’ serves to further emphasise the comparison. There is clever use of long and short vowels in this final line too: the long vowels in roomsized monster appropriately extend and elongate the expression to reinforce the size of the shark in contrast to the short, clipped vowels of matchbox brain.
Stanza three
This stanza marks a switch from observational to reflective mode. The short opening sentence He displaced more than water introduces the idea of the poet being metaphorically displaced He shoggled me/Centuries back in time. This creature, a throwback to prehistoric times, creates in the imagination of the poet a glimpse of the early evolutionary stage of the emergence of land creatures from our common ancestors, marine life.
Immediately his tone becomes self-deprecatory with the use of the colloquial verb shoggled to describe how he is shifted; then he describes himself as a decadent townee. The use of decadent in this context suggests that, in his decision to remove himself from the natural world to an urban setting, he has lost a sense of purpose in his life and become too immersed in the pursuit of hedonistic pleasures.
The next line, which depicts how the speaker was shook on a wrong branch of the family tree conveys how he is both literally and metaphorically shaken by this experience. He is reminded that this shark too is part of our own family tree and is inextricably linked to us in much the same way as any other ancestor. The expression wrong branch is slightly ambiguous and could be interpreted in two ways. Firstly because of our inherent sense of intellectual superiority over this creature we are unwilling to recognise we are in any way related. Secondly, it is in fact humans who have gone wrong in their evolutionary path - it is humankind, not the shark who is the aberration, the monster.
Stanza four
An analogy is made at the opening of this stanza between stirring up dirt in a spring and the water then being all the clearer, and the present situation the speaker finds himself in. The onomatopoeic swish of the water also alludes to the idea of displacement in the previous stanza. While initially the dirt would muddy the water and make it dark, opaque, and impossible to see through, eventually once settled it would be clearer.
Effectively, this image prepares us for the conclusion of the poem as the speaker is about to reveal what is now clear to him following this encounter. The dirt in this case is the murky thought of how humans evolved into what they now are. The idea of dirt in our origins continues with the choice of the word slime - the primeval slime from which we and all other living organisms were created, linking the evolution of humanity once more with that of the shark.
In his mind's eye MacCaig has a surreal image of himself crawling out of this slime and returning to the initial, fundamental beginnings of human existence. The word emerging in the final line of this stanza reinforces this new, almost epiphanic sense of clarity associated with coming out of the dark into light, while the word everything again reinforces our similarity with every other species at the start of this process.
Stanza five
This stanza opens with the question the poem has been leading to: So who's the monster? By this stage it seems clear to the poet his initial, dismissive response to the shark as a brainless, inferior creature has been reversed. This magnificent, awesome creature is monstrous simply because of its relative size, but in the metaphorical sense it is clear the speaker now considers humanity to be the true monster.
The first line glides effortlessly into the second with a skilful piece of enjambment as we are told how he grew pale/For twenty seconds as the huge fish itself glides away. The sheer size of the creature is conveyed by a number of techniques. There is the mention of twenty seconds being the time the shark takes to pass him by, and the repetition of sail after sail, referring to its fin and tail above the water. The metaphor comparing fin and tail to sails gives us the impression of vast surface areas and the shape is also nicely evoked.
There is a sequence of long vowels in sail, tall, slid away and finally tail - all of these effectively combine to suggest the gradual exit of this vast animal. The speaker's view of the creature has also been displaced at the end of the poem. No longer is it the clumsy, bulky creature of the opening lines but something graceful and elegant. This reinforces the change in the speaker - just as he now has a different view of himself, so too his opinion about the shark has been altered.
The unanswered question at the end of this poem is typical of what is often described as MacCaig's metaphysical approach. His hair-raisingly close encounter with this monster of the deep has raised profound philosophical questions about our ethics and our place in the natural world. MacCaig avoids the temptation to conclude this meditation with an easy or glib answer, instead inviting his reader to draw their own conclusions.
Themes
The central theme that emerges during this poem deals with our accepted ideas about the process of evolution and our own place in it. The encounter with this enormous, almost primeval beast at the opening of the poem acts as a catalyst to consider the relationship between this creature and humans, and the comparative paths such differing species took. On one hand, basking sharks, have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years, while on the other, humans have vastly changed since the days when marine life first crawled ashore and adapted to a life on land.
Through the reflection of the speaker, we are reminded that we have much more in common with the shark than we may initially believe, and by rewinding time back to the origins of evolution itself he creates a direct link between it and us. In doing so, he forces us to revise our understanding of exactly what we mean when we use the term monster, suggesting it is humanity and not creatures like the shark that are capable of true monstrosity.
Hope this helps.
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.
But not too often - though enough. I count as gain
That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain,
That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.
He displaced more than water. He shoggled me
Centuries back - this decadent townee
Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree.
Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a spring
Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling,
Emerging from the slime of everything
So who’s the monster? The thought made me grow pale
For twenty seconds while, sail after sail.
The tall fin slid away and then the tail.
Basking shark is a poem in which Norman MacCaig reflects upon Evolution and Nature. He uses his encounter with the shark to meditate evolution and his own place within it.
Stanza one
The poem begins with an unusual sentence structure: two infinitive clauses, To stub an oar on a rock…To have it rise. The effect is to create a tension and suspense until the meaning is completed by the poet saying this is a thing that happened once (too often) to him. The opening tension increased to with the mention that there is a rock where none should be, followed by the startling assertion that this ‘rock’ rises with a slounge out of the sea.
The use of rock suggests the hardness and immovability of the object met. The neologism (new word) slounge seems to be an amalgamation of ‘slouch’ and ‘lounge’, and conveys the slow, lazy, ponderous movement of the surfacing creature it describes. The alarm caused in the poet is neatly shown with the humorous parenthetical aside (too often) implying this is not an encounter he wishes to repeat. The slow, steady rhythm of these three lines is perfectly suited to the gradual surfacing movement of the huge shark.
Stanza two
The once (too often) of the opening stanza is both echoed and refuted with But not too often in the opening line of stanza two, which seems to contradict what he has just said. In doing so he seems to imply that, on reflection, while this was indeed a frightening experience, it was nonetheless one he found ultimately worthwhile and enriching. We can also see this in the expression I count as gain. He concentrates on the specific reasons he feels the encounter was beneficial in the remainder of the poem.
In choosing the word met to describe this event, he conveys almost a sense of reciprocity and fraternity between humans and animals. It is typical of MacCaig never to assume human superiority in describing encounters with the world of nature.
The alliterative metaphor a sea tin-tacked with rain captures with MacCaig’s usual gift of exact observation, the nature of the rain - hard, relatively sparse droplets patterning the smooth surface with neat round imprints. The alliteration of the hard consonant ‘t’ helps to replicate the metallic sound of the rain hitting the boat.
Alliteration and metaphor continue in rich vein in the final line with roomsized monster and matchbox brain. The contrast and incongruity of the size of the shark’s enormous body compared with its tiny brain is elegantly portrayed here. The linking alliterative consonant ‘m’ serves to further emphasise the comparison. There is clever use of long and short vowels in this final line too: the long vowels in roomsized monster appropriately extend and elongate the expression to reinforce the size of the shark in contrast to the short, clipped vowels of matchbox brain.
Stanza three
This stanza marks a switch from observational to reflective mode. The short opening sentence He displaced more than water introduces the idea of the poet being metaphorically displaced He shoggled me/Centuries back in time. This creature, a throwback to prehistoric times, creates in the imagination of the poet a glimpse of the early evolutionary stage of the emergence of land creatures from our common ancestors, marine life.
Immediately his tone becomes self-deprecatory with the use of the colloquial verb shoggled to describe how he is shifted; then he describes himself as a decadent townee. The use of decadent in this context suggests that, in his decision to remove himself from the natural world to an urban setting, he has lost a sense of purpose in his life and become too immersed in the pursuit of hedonistic pleasures.
The next line, which depicts how the speaker was shook on a wrong branch of the family tree conveys how he is both literally and metaphorically shaken by this experience. He is reminded that this shark too is part of our own family tree and is inextricably linked to us in much the same way as any other ancestor. The expression wrong branch is slightly ambiguous and could be interpreted in two ways. Firstly because of our inherent sense of intellectual superiority over this creature we are unwilling to recognise we are in any way related. Secondly, it is in fact humans who have gone wrong in their evolutionary path - it is humankind, not the shark who is the aberration, the monster.
Stanza four
An analogy is made at the opening of this stanza between stirring up dirt in a spring and the water then being all the clearer, and the present situation the speaker finds himself in. The onomatopoeic swish of the water also alludes to the idea of displacement in the previous stanza. While initially the dirt would muddy the water and make it dark, opaque, and impossible to see through, eventually once settled it would be clearer.
Effectively, this image prepares us for the conclusion of the poem as the speaker is about to reveal what is now clear to him following this encounter. The dirt in this case is the murky thought of how humans evolved into what they now are. The idea of dirt in our origins continues with the choice of the word slime - the primeval slime from which we and all other living organisms were created, linking the evolution of humanity once more with that of the shark.
In his mind's eye MacCaig has a surreal image of himself crawling out of this slime and returning to the initial, fundamental beginnings of human existence. The word emerging in the final line of this stanza reinforces this new, almost epiphanic sense of clarity associated with coming out of the dark into light, while the word everything again reinforces our similarity with every other species at the start of this process.
Stanza five
This stanza opens with the question the poem has been leading to: So who's the monster? By this stage it seems clear to the poet his initial, dismissive response to the shark as a brainless, inferior creature has been reversed. This magnificent, awesome creature is monstrous simply because of its relative size, but in the metaphorical sense it is clear the speaker now considers humanity to be the true monster.
The first line glides effortlessly into the second with a skilful piece of enjambment as we are told how he grew pale/For twenty seconds as the huge fish itself glides away. The sheer size of the creature is conveyed by a number of techniques. There is the mention of twenty seconds being the time the shark takes to pass him by, and the repetition of sail after sail, referring to its fin and tail above the water. The metaphor comparing fin and tail to sails gives us the impression of vast surface areas and the shape is also nicely evoked.
There is a sequence of long vowels in sail, tall, slid away and finally tail - all of these effectively combine to suggest the gradual exit of this vast animal. The speaker's view of the creature has also been displaced at the end of the poem. No longer is it the clumsy, bulky creature of the opening lines but something graceful and elegant. This reinforces the change in the speaker - just as he now has a different view of himself, so too his opinion about the shark has been altered.
The unanswered question at the end of this poem is typical of what is often described as MacCaig's metaphysical approach. His hair-raisingly close encounter with this monster of the deep has raised profound philosophical questions about our ethics and our place in the natural world. MacCaig avoids the temptation to conclude this meditation with an easy or glib answer, instead inviting his reader to draw their own conclusions.
Themes
The central theme that emerges during this poem deals with our accepted ideas about the process of evolution and our own place in it. The encounter with this enormous, almost primeval beast at the opening of the poem acts as a catalyst to consider the relationship between this creature and humans, and the comparative paths such differing species took. On one hand, basking sharks, have remained relatively unchanged for millions of years, while on the other, humans have vastly changed since the days when marine life first crawled ashore and adapted to a life on land.
Through the reflection of the speaker, we are reminded that we have much more in common with the shark than we may initially believe, and by rewinding time back to the origins of evolution itself he creates a direct link between it and us. In doing so, he forces us to revise our understanding of exactly what we mean when we use the term monster, suggesting it is humanity and not creatures like the shark that are capable of true monstrosity.
Hope this helps.
