Analysis of Whale, Breaching

Douglas Blair 1951 (London)



In dream, I experienced
Terrific images.
Whale breaching
Close to my fishing craft.
I could have been Santiago
In Hemingway’s short novel.
First an expectation
From the Deep.
A casting away of the waters
As He lifted.
Held a long period
By mighty tail thrusts.
Undulating.
Rejoicing in the oxygen.
His only valid connection
Above surface.
Small fry fish dropping
Away from His Person.
Then the descent.
An incredible silence
Following chaos.
Surface waters still.
Sea birds returning.
I was not fearful.
Rather enjoying this
Crash of Living.
Only understood in part.


Scheme ABCDEFGHIJJKCGGLCGMNOPCFQCR
Poetic Form
Metre 0110100 010100 110 111101 1111010 01110 11010 101 010011010 1110 101100 11011 100 01000100 11010010 0110 11110 011110 1001 1010010 10010 10101 11010 11110 100101 1110 100101
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 568
Words 108
Sentences 17
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 27
Lines Amount 27
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 3
Letters per stanza (avg) 456
Words per stanza (avg) 92

About this poem

Traveled Cape Breton, Nova Scotia once. With Hilary. Never experienced the celebrated whale watching. Watch it online very often. And yes, The Old Man and the Sea is a favourite read.

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Written on January 25, 2023

Submitted by dougb.72572 on January 25, 2023

Modified by dougb.72572 on January 25, 2023

32 sec read
21

Douglas Blair

Blogging poems since 2008. Once a lawyer in general practice. Then 32 years as Shipper in a heavy metal fabricating plant. Retired 2022. Married and father of two. Poet. Hiker. Harmonica Busker. Gospel enthusiast. Photographer. http://shootdempix.blogspot.com/ more…

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