Charles Arrowby, leading light of England’s theatrical set, retires from glittering London to an isolated home by the sea.

Dublin

Iris Murdoch

Her other books include The Bell (1958), A Severed Head (1961), The Red and the Green (1965), The Nice and the Good (1968), The Black Prince (1973), Henry and Cato (1976), The Philosopher’s Pupil (1983), The Good Apprentice (1985), The Book and the Brotherhood (1987), The Message to the Planet (1989), and The Green …

James Reeves

Arguably, the main theme in the poem “The Sea” is the power and playfulness of nature, represented here by the sea.

Why does the sea laugh, Mother, As it glints beneath the sun? It is thinking of the joys, my child, That it wishes every one.

“The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and gray.” Reeves continues the comparison by describing how the waves lap upon the sand in the same way that a dog would bound endlessly through the day, thus giving the sea the qualities of the dog. This metaphor is carried throughout the poem.

In the first stanza, the poet uses a metaphor to say “The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and gray.” Reeves continues the comparison by describing how the waves lap upon the sand in the same way that a dog would bound endlessly through the day, thus giving the sea the qualities of the dog.

Metaphor. Metaphor. Example: The Sea is a Hungry Dog. Explanation: The writer is referring to the sea as a dog, using the word IS. This shows the sea behaves ravenously, crashing it’s ‘teeth’ against the shore and trying to consume it.

The word “moan” is an example of onomatopoeia in this stanza. In the shorter second stanza, Reeves describes the sea at night still comparing it to the actions and sounds of the dog. The sea rushes up higher on the “cliffs” while “howling” as the moon rises. It has an ABCCB rhyming pattern.

James Reeves’s poem “The Sea” uses an extended metaphor to describe the sea as a dog. In the first stanza, the choppy gray sea is characterized as a hungry dog with “clashing teeth and shaggy jaws.” The waves roll and gnaw like a dog on the stones they churn around. In the final stanza, however, the dog is asleep.

Metaphor

Rhyme Scheme: As mentioned in the poem analysis, ‘The Sound of the Sea’ is a sonnet. Sonnets typically occur in two types of rhyme schemes – in the pattern ABBA ABBA CDE CDE, known as the Petrarchan sonnet, or in the pattern ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, known as the Shakespearian sonnet.

“The Sea” by James Reeves is a three stanza poem that includes the use of metaphor, imagery, onomatopoeia, and varied rhyming schemes.

Answer. Answer: In the first stanza, the poet uses a metaphor to say “The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and gray.” Reeves continues the comparison by describing how the waves lap upon the sand in the same way that a dog would bound endlessly through the day, thus giving the sea the qualities of the dog.

Answer: The see described as ‘hungry’ because it can store more and more water.