Basking Shark

Question 1

“To stub an oar on a rock where none should be, to have it rise with a slounge out of the sea”

Answer 1

• the rock resembles the shark.

- enjambment emphasises that the shark is moving slowly and is unthreatening.

Question 2

“That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain”

Answer 2

• clearly describes the setting.
• plosives sounds (onomatopoeia and alliteration)
• personifying the shark.

Question 3

“That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain”

Answer 3

• emphasises size of shark.
• contrasting the size of the shark to the size of its brain.
• suggests the shark is not mentally clever therefore is unthreatening.

Question 4

“He shoggled me centuries back”

Answer 4

• the shark has physically and metaphorically shook the poet.
• enjambment emphasises how deeply the shark has made him think.

Question 5

“This decadent townee shook on a wrong branch of his family tree”

Answer 5

• comparing the evolution of humans to the evolution of sharks.

Question 6

“Emerging from the slime of everything”

Answer 6

• makes the reader think of the process of the evolution of human life.
• shows how this experience has given the poet a better understanding of his place in evolution.

Question 7

“So who’s the monster?”

Answer 7

• rhetorical question.

- makes you think how humans are the real monsters and not sharks.