''The Breast of the Sea'' by Syl Cheney-Coker-Revision

 

 ''The Breast of the Sea''

1.  

Tonight I am full of the breast of the sea,
Moist as a virgin in the dews of my youth.
Here I sit by the bay of my bleeding knees,
And my heart's an altar stone of broken dreams.

2.  

In the pools of your face, I look for light,
But the tides are tired of bringing ships to your shore,
And my youth is a cigarette stubbed out too soon.
Even the wind that caressed you has lost its song.

3.  

There is something dying out at sea tonight:
Perhaps the soul of a sailor lost to the waves,
Or the tears of fishermen spilling nets empty,
While the sea whispers secrets to itself in pain.

4.  

Here I sit, trying to patch my heart with memories,
Hoping the breast of the sea will suckle me whole.
But tonight, the waves are mournful and wild,
And even the moon refuses to rise in your name.

 

1. Explain how the poet uses the sea as a metaphor in the poem.
2. How does the poet use imagery to create the mood of despair in the poem?
3. Comment on the structure of the poem and its contribution to the poet's expression of grief.
4. How does the repetition of references to "tonight" affect the mood and pacing of the poem?

 

 

 

A. Explain how the poet uses the sea as a metaphor in the poem.

Solution:
In "The Breast of the Sea," the sea serves as a powerful metaphor for the emotional and existential struggles of the speaker. The sea symbolizes both a nurturing and destructive force. At the start, the speaker describes the sea as something that should offer sustenance, much like a mother’s breast, a metaphor for nourishment and comfort. However, the sea's ability to nurture is contrasted by its ability to swallow up hopes and drown dreams, reflecting the poet's sense of despair.

The line “I am full of the breast of the sea” implies an overwhelming and continuous connection to the sea, signifying the speaker’s inability to escape from his emotional turmoil. The sea becomes a symbol of a force beyond control, embodying the pain and loss that the speaker is experiencing. The metaphor of the sea as a maternal figure also emphasizes the conflict between the desire for care and the inevitability of destruction and loss that the sea represents in the speaker’s life.

 

B. How does the poet use imagery to create the mood of despair in the poem?

Solution:
Syl Cheney-Coker uses vivid and evocative imagery throughout the poem to create an overwhelming mood of despair. The poem opens with descriptions that set a somber tone: “I am full of the breast of the sea, / Moist as a virgin in the dews of my youth.” The phrase “moist as a virgin” evokes a sense of innocence and fragility, but the connection to the sea transforms this vulnerability into a sense of entrapment. The sea imagery here is not just a force of nature but a metaphor for the speaker’s sorrow.

Further imagery, such as “my heart’s an altar stone of broken dreams”, uses religious symbolism to highlight the depth of the speaker’s despair. The heart being described as an "altar stone" evokes an image of sacrifice, suggesting that the speaker’s emotional well-being has been offered up to the sea or to forces beyond their control.

The line “the tides are tired of bringing ships to your shore” reflects the weariness of hope, as even natural forces—like the tides—are no longer able to bring relief or fulfillment. This image builds a mood of futility, as the sea, a symbol of life's potential, fails to deliver peace or resolution, intensifying the feeling of helplessness.

 

C. Comment on the structure of the poem and its contribution to the poet's expression of grief.

Solution:
The structure of "The Breast of the Sea" plays an integral role in conveying the poet’s expression of grief. The poem is composed of four unrhymed stanzas, each with varying line lengths. This lack of a consistent rhyme scheme and the irregularity of the stanzas reflect the chaotic emotional state of the speaker. It mirrors the disordered and tumultuous nature of the grief the speaker is experiencing, suggesting that the poet's emotions are uncontained and unpredictable, much like the sea.

The poem’s flow is also interrupted by moments of caesura (pauses), as seen in the lines “Tonight I am full of the breast of the sea,” where the speaker’s reflections on their emotions are broken up. These pauses echo the feeling of being overwhelmed, as if the speaker’s thoughts and emotions are too heavy to flow smoothly. This structure reinforces the fragmented experience of grief, where thoughts are disjointed and fragmented by the weight of sorrow.

Furthermore, the brevity of the stanzas may suggest the fleeting nature of moments of clarity in the speaker's grief, as each stanza moves quickly from one emotional expression to another, symbolizing the transience of peace and the endurance of pain.

 

D. How does the repetition of references to "tonight" affect the mood and pacing of the poem?

Solution:
The repetition of "tonight" serves as a leitmotif throughout the poem, reinforcing the sense of immediacy and emotional intensity. By invoking "tonight" repeatedly, the poet highlights the speaker’s feeling of being trapped in the present moment of sorrow. The speaker's focus on tonight, rather than any distant future or past events, suggests a sense of stagnation and the inability to escape the overwhelming emotions of the present.

The use of "tonight" builds an urgency to the mood, emphasizing that the speaker's pain is acute and current. It creates a feeling of being stuck in time, where each moment is filled with emotional turbulence, as seen in the line “Tonight, the waves are mournful and wild”. This constant return to the present night draws attention to the unrelenting nature of grief, preventing the speaker from finding any lasting relief.

Additionally, the repetition of "tonight" affects the pacing by creating a sense of repetition and insistence. The reader feels the cyclical nature of grief, where the same feelings resurface over and over. The poem’s pacing becomes slower and heavier, mirroring the weight of the speaker’s sorrow as it is repeatedly relived. This repetition deepens the overall mood of despair and exhaustion.

 

These solutions break down the use of literary devices such as metaphor, imagery, structure, and repetition, explaining how they contribute to the poem's expression of grief, despair, and emotional turmoil.