Category: English 12

Multimedia poetry anyalisis- Tide

Title of Poem: Tide

Type of Poem: Elegy

Author: Soraya Peerbaye

Literal Meaning

After you read the poem, what does the literal meaning seem to be? What is happening in the poem?

The poem is about a girl who is found dead but no one was looking for her or seemed to care. Her body laid in the open floating in a body of water t for eight days till it was finally seen by the moons light shining around her. The water is surrounded by infrastructures that are filled with people but still the poet is angered by the fact that no one was able to see her. 

Imagery

Pick out three uses of imagery and write them below (this will most likely be a phrase or line from the poem), then explain what the poet is trying to convey with this image. (include line citations)

1]. IMAGE: “The tide tugging her gently past” (line 2)

MEANING: this describes the girls corpse floating in water and being pushed around by the water in a delicate manner

2]. IMAGE: “caress of eelgrass”(line 8)

MEANING: this also paints a picture of the women’s corpse floating in the water and how it is slow enough that the grass in the water touches her but she is still moving through it

3]. IMAGE: “the moon returned, made chalk tracings around her shape”(line 11)

MEANING: this shows that one night, when the moon shone bright the women’s body was able to finally able to be seen. This mimicked the way a police officer would trace a body with chalk- almost being facetious. 

Lyric Qualities

Describe the sound of this poem. You will use terms like: internal rhyme, rhyme scheme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and repetition. Find two specific lines or elements of the poem to discuss. List them and then tell what you think they mean.

(include line citations)

1]. Lyric Device: “The graze and drag of her” (line 6)

Meaning: this is an assonance and describes the movement of the girls corpse through water. Describes the way the water moved around her and how she moves through it 

2]. Lyric Device: “this is not a hidden place”(line 5)

Meaning: this is also an assonance and I think this is the author making fun and making others feel guilty. She is saying that it took them over 8 eight days to find her body when it was out in the open not even hard to find as well as surrounded by people. 

Figurative Meaning

Find at least two figurative devices and explain what they mean. You are looking for terms like: simile, metaphor, allusion, symbolism and personification.

(include line citations)

1]. Figurative Device: “the Comfort Inn; houses, tall and gambled” (line 3)

Meaning: this a symbolism representing people. The comfort inn is a hotel which is where people resided as well as houses. The author is saying the dead women was surrounded by people who were capable of seeing her but didn’t because they weren’t looking in the first place 

2]. Figurative Device: “the tide tugging her gently past”(line 2)

Meaning: this is a personification of the tide tugging the body as it wasn’t actually purposely doing anything it was just her body going through the water on its own mechanics 

3. Figurative Device: “the moon returned…” (line 11)

Meaning: a personification of the moon. The moon doesn’t actually return it is just the way the earth rotates. It’s expressing that it is night again and was the one to uncovering the body. 

Theme

 What do you think is the message of this poem?

When no one is looking for a person or are avoiding them, that person will not be found for a long time