Word Meaning in the 11+ — Questions, Worked Answers and Practice Papers

The poet uses the imagery of a dog to describe the sea. Opening the poem with a metaphor 'The sea is a large hungry dog' suggests that the sea swallows everything that falls below its surface. The sea is likened to a giant grey dog that 'rolls on the beach all day' The sea, often grey in colour and vast in size, rolls with the tide onto the beach like the dog rolling on the sand. It can be playful like a dog, but always there are the 'clashing teeth and shaggy jaws.'.  these could be the waves and rolling surf of the sea which always remind us of potential danger.  Continuing with the imagery of the dog the poet likens the sea lapping and eroding the rocks to a dog gnawing at a bone, 'Hour upon hour he gnaws The rumbling, tumbling stones. The poet uses repetition to reinforce the action of the waves on the rock and the dog chewing the bone. The sea relentlessly laps against the rocks with the same excitement every hour and the dog chews a bone for hours, 'Bones, bones, bones, bones! ' The giant sea-dog moans, Licking his greasy paws. The poet brings the poem to life in the final stanza by using sound. At this point in the poem, the sea has really come to life by comparison to the giant dog. We now read that the sea,  '...bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs, Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs, And howls and hollos long and loud.' The poet compares the sea rising up and moving around to the giant dog sniffing and snuffling, we hear the howling and roaring of the sea through the howling of the dog. When the sea is calm, quiet and tranquil it is likened to the dog settling down to sleep, ...With his head between his paws...' The writer describes the quiet all around by saying, 'the grasses on the dune play no more their reedy tune.' This is a nice piece of personification, the image of the breeze blowing through the reeds of grass on the dunes like somebody playing a flute or reed instrument. I like this poem because the imagery is so strong and the metaphor of the dog runs throughout the poem. The writer uses familiar actions of a dog's temperament, behaviour and sounds to describe the sea. The changing face and moods of the sea are perfectly described by using the image of the dog, from playful, wild potentially dangerous noisy beast to calm, quiet friendly animal.