The PSBB Millennium School, Coimbatore

The Song of the Whale – Notes (2020-2021)

English Literature (Poem)

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I. Meanings:
1. heaving - labouring / struggling
2. keening - moving or lamenting loudly
3. soaring - rising to a high level

II. Fill in the blanks with appropriate words:

The poem ‘The Song of the Whale’ was composed by Kit Wright.
The poet calls the whale, a heaving mountain in the sea and says that he
can hear him grieving. The poet is anxious that the whale is crying for its own
life and for the life of its kind. He knows how we, humans use the whale after
its death. The whale’s death would give us lipstick for our painted faces and
polish for our shoes. By calling the whale a tumbling mountain, the poet
reminds that very soon, it will tumble and die. He is worried that whales will
become extinct as we will silence him forever.
The whale laments and sings with a sad note like a bird that soars in the
sky. The whale’s heart is beating like a tiny drum in pain for we have made it
helpless. The poet deplores whaling for the selfish needs of humans. He
stresses that we would choose lipstick for our painted faces and polish for
our shoes at the cost of its life.

III. What are the poetic devices present in the poem?

The poetic devices present in the poem are :
• metaphor : heaving mountain
tumbling mountain
in the forest of the sea
• personification :I heard you grieving for your kind
crying for your life
I heard you calling
• simile : like a heartbeat
• repetition : whale I heard you calling,
lipstick for our painted faces, polish for
our shoes