The Sea

The Sea
James Reeves


The sea is a hungry dog,
Giant and grey.
He rolls on the beach all day.
With his clashing teeth and shaggy jaws
Hour upon hour he gnaws
The rumbling, tumbling stones,
And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’
The giant sea-dog moans
Licking his greasy paws.

And when the night wind roars
And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud,
He bounds to his feet and snuffs and sniffs,
Shaking his wet sides over the cliffs,
And howls and hollos long and loud.

But on quiet day in May or June,
When even the grasses on the dune
Play no more their reedy tune,
With his head between his paws
He lies on the sandy shores,
So quiet, so quiet, he scarcely snores.


Glossary
Giant (adj) : very big
Clash (v) : to collide with a loud, harsh, usually metallic noise
Shaggy (adj) : untidy
Gnaw (v) : to bite or chew
Moan (v) : to say softly
Scarcely (adj) : hardly
Snuff (v) : to draw air into the nose by inhaling, as to smell something
Snore (v) : to breathe during sleep with hoarse or harsh sounds

Learning points:
Poetic technique
1. Metaphor

Eg. The sea is a hungry dog.

The sea is compared to an animal.

2. Personification

Eg. He rolls on the beach all day.

The sea cannot ‘roll’ like a man does.

3. Onomatopoeia (= to imitate the sound)

Eg. rumbling, tumbling, bones