Rohan Pritchard | 160512

The Sea - James Reeves

The Sea is a poem relating the sea to a dog, this is known as anthropomorphism, comparing animals to objects metaphorically. James Reeves talks about the sea behaving differently or having different personalities at different times of day or year. The poem has a very random rhyming scheme and there is no pattern to it, to me this seems appropriate because it represents the different personalities and moods of the sea. The poem is split up into 3 different stanzas, each one defines a different mood of the sea/dog; the first one talks about it being hungry and powerful, He rolls on the beach all day. this represents how massive the beast is, he chucks himself on the beach, rolling about and anything that gets in the way will be crushed without a second thought. James Reeves also talks about the way the sea sounds in relation a dog The giant sea dog moans like the sea is crying out for attention, I believe this gives more depth to the subject, rather than being just a careless, reckless beast, it moans rather than shouts, the dog wants to be noticed not just ignored. In the 2nd stanza Reeves talks about the sea at night time, he also uses personification in the first line of this to talk about how the Night wind roars this could mean the sea dog is no longer alone, and has an animal accompany, Reeves makes the wind also sound powerful and scary. He talks about how the dog Bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs this is again talking about the dog crying for attention however much more obvious then before, perhaps the dog is getting more and more desperate to be noticed. He describes the sea Shaking his wet sides all over the cliffs like big waves crashing in to the cliffs and spraying ocean spray, soaking everything; I believe this shows how big and powerful he is, because it doesnt sound like the sea dog is trying to or putting effort into this, hes just doing it casually. In the last stanza a more obvious rhyme pattern becomes noticeable, the first 3 lines rhyme and so do the last 3, this to me makes it sound monotonous and dreary, I think this definitely suits the mood of the final stanza, where the dog has calmed down and almost given up on its cry of attention, hes put his head in his paws, given up on getting peoples attention firstly with violence and then secondly by begging and now hes just ignoring the world. So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores repeating quiet makes it sound like his slow breathing, going up, and then down and it makes it easier for the reader to read it in a more relaxed fashion.