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the sea poem by james reeves
write down the metaphors used in the poem​

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Analyze the poem "The Sea" by James Reeves.

In "The Sea," James Reeves compares the sea to a dog through an extended metaphor, in which the choppy sea is like a hungry dog, the roaring sea is like a howling dog, and the calm sea is like a sleeping dog. The poem emphasizes the sounds of the sea and uses irregular rhyme patterns and rhythms.

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COLIN CAVENDISH-JONES, PH.D. eNotes educator | CERTIFIED EDUCATOR

James Reeves's poem "The Sea" uses an extended metaphor to describe the sea as a dog. In the first stanza, the choppy gray sea is characterized as a hungry dog with "clashing teeth and shaggy jaws." The waves roll and gnaw like a dog on the stones they churn around. The onomatopoeic moans mimic the sound of the sea, and the spray resembles the tongue of a dog "Licking his greasy paws." The image of the greasy paws evokes the way the light makes a film over the gray sea.

In the second stanza, the sea makes a different sound, howling, as dogs do, at the moon and beating its spray against the cliffs, like a wet dog shaking itself. The sense of turbulence and tumult is increased by the roaring of the night wind and the motion of the moon, which "rocks in the stormy cloud." As in the first stanza, the effect is to increase the animation of the sea by describing it as a living thing.

In the final stanza, however, the dog is asleep. It is a warm, quiet day in May or June. The repetitive rhymes...