The Kraken by Alfred Lord Tennyson

The Kraken

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; 
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep; 
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die

T: I think that the title refers to the monster of the sea that I have seen in some movies.

P: It tells us about the Kraken: characteristics, how does it lives very deep under the sea, that the monster is alone.

C: By the figurative language we can say that the Kraken is alone and is considered by the people as something bad, like a monster. Its very literal in the description of the Kraken, describing his characteristics and his 'routine'. In the poem they are some literary devices such as metaphors, like the one that is in the first verse.

A: Mysterious, is like telling the legend of a ancient creature that live very deep in the see, were no one else can go, so no one really knows about this creature (except the speaker) so its a very mysterious theme.

S: The tone is the same during the whole poem, by a constant use of imagery.

T: The title is very literal, I mean, the poem is about the Kraken.

T: As I said before, the poem is about the mysterious creature called Kraken and the characteristics of this creature.

Activity 8.6 page 206

Extract 1

1) It use the word 'as' to compare (simile) 'stedfast as thou art'.

2) The star is something figurative, maybe it refers to something that its far away and he want to have it.

3) He wants something and he is constantly watching what he wants.

Extract 2

1) Simile: 'as men strive for right' and 'as they turn from praise'.

2) The literal term is love.

3) In the 2 similies its expressed the way he loves her.

Extract 3

1) There are some metaphors, for example: 'Grave men'.

2) The literal term is that the grave men are near to death.

3) To be calm during bad moments.

Extract 4

1) Metaphor: 'I have spread my dreams under your feet'.

2) He might be dreaming with her.

3) Love. He would do everything to make her feel confortable.

Extract 5

1) 'Beauty is a fat black woman'. (metaphor).

2) It refers figuratively to the beauty of a black woman who is walking in the fields.

3) She might enjoy the life, whatever she looks like, because how we look physically isn't the most important, people is worth by what they have inside.

Activity 8.6 page 205

1) The 'I' it refers to a pregnant woman.

2) The fact that the author use metaphors to refers to a pregnant woman, it makes us think about on what she wants to said, and also it grabs our attention. In other way it also help us to grow up our knowledge and comprehension.

Activity 8.5 part 2 Discussions questions

1) In the poem, it describes the beauty of the woman, by the perspective of the author. I think that the real message in this poem is that the beauty of the people is inside, because sincerly, the fat woman have no attractive, but the author gives another perspective of what is attractive or not (as I said before, the inside beauty).

2) The poem itself is a critic to the society in which we live, because we are very superficial and we take care of thinks that maybe are not important such us the physical aspects.

3) The rhyme scheme is like the sea because during the poem it flows, and its constant such as the sea. It gaves the impression of calm.

Alfred Lord Tennyson's Life

Here is the link:

http://www.dipity.com/mweitz/Alfred-Tennysoon/

Activity 8.5 Poem Beauty

Sight: fat, black woman, sea, waves, lights.
Sound: sea (waves), field.
Taste: the salt from the sea.
Touch: hibiscus, waves, the fields.
Smell: the sea, and smell of the fields.

Activity page 203

1)The metaphors used in the poem are very interesting, the same as the theme of the poem (the metaphors are very deep). Also I liked that the poem itself it´s very descriptive.

2)The contradiction between the message that the author wants to give by his poem, and the poor rhyme and the repetition of words in the poem, that makes its kind a boring to read it.

3)What was your motivation to write this poem?/ Why did you write a poem without a good rhyme and with a lot of repetition of words?/ Do you think is something would you like to change in this poem?