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Poem Analysis

The poem explores the metaphor of life being like the restless sea. The persona observes the rough sea battering the beach at Gabu, reflecting on how life is impermanent yet desires permanence. The sea's turmoil represents life's chaos and unpredictability. Though the sea has shaped the landscape for centuries, once its waves reach the shore they become still, just as in life even our most cherished things will ultimately be lost to time. The poem suggests that as the sea always returns to the shore, people too can find stability and meaning, even in the face of life's uncertainties and losses.

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Dailyn Vergara
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1K views2 pages

Poem Analysis

The poem explores the metaphor of life being like the restless sea. The persona observes the rough sea battering the beach at Gabu, reflecting on how life is impermanent yet desires permanence. The sea's turmoil represents life's chaos and unpredictability. Though the sea has shaped the landscape for centuries, once its waves reach the shore they become still, just as in life even our most cherished things will ultimately be lost to time. The poem suggests that as the sea always returns to the shore, people too can find stability and meaning, even in the face of life's uncertainties and losses.

Uploaded by

Dailyn Vergara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Genre

 Philosophical (Existentialist)
 Lyric Poem
Persona

 Probably someone on a beach at Gabu, watching the rough sea, contemplating life
Theme

 Life can be restless like the sea; temporal, but desires permanence.
 typhoon Imbudo, July 2003

MEANING AND IMAGERY


The battering restlessness of the sea
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach.
 Gabu
 A place in Ilocos Norte near the sea
 Often, when typhoons occur, places like this are affected greatly
 Tsunami
 Ex: typhoon Imbudo, July 2003
 The sea is restless and can be destructive
 Sea = Life
 Battering restlessness = Impermanent

Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart


Against the seascape where, for miles around,
Farther than sight itself, the rock-stones part
And drop into the elemental wound.
 The turmoil of the sea is continuous and powerful
 Brutal bashing = life’s chaos
 Elemental wound = Depths of the sea
 Meaning and Imagery

The waste of centuries is grey and dead


And neutral where the sea has beached its brine,
Where the split salt of its heart lies spread
Among the dark habiliments of Time.
 The sea has been there for centuries
 Waste of centuries = Past
 Once the sea touches shore, it becomes neutral
 Spilt salt = Bad luck
 Saltiness of the sea describes it’s darkness/deadness
 Time bears the “spilt salt” of life
 Meaning and Imagery
The vital splendor misses. For here
At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.
 The brilliance necessary for life is not there because in life even the most important things
are lost
 Meaning and Imagery

It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.


 Waves show that the sea is constantly moving, but always towards the shore
 Life is bounded by time, always moving, but what we all desire is a stable and eternal
ending
 Spiritual context: Shore = afterlife

Figures of Speech

 Metaphor
 Sea = life
 Personification
 The vital splendor misses
 the sea pursues
 Synechdoche
 Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart
 Paradox
 All things forfeited are most loved and dear
 Reaction
 Always remember that our lives are fleeting
 The only constant thing in life is change
 Life can be rough, like the sea
 But we can believe that if the sea can find stability once it meets the shore, we can find it
too
Gabu is a place in Ilocos Norte. It is near Pagudpod. Often, when
typhoon occurs, large tidal waves go rampant, even affecting Pagudpod
itself. These tidal waves devastate the life forms (animals and plants)
and even the structures in that place.

The 2nd line reflects the sadness of people in times of despair. The color
represented in the 3rd line is actually a description of sadness due to
death and suffering as life can cease due to these waves.
The 4th line describes that the calamity is strong and it may happen again and again.

Lastly, the last line tells that the sea would really find its way to tell us about the status
of people living in that place.

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