Basking Shark By Norman MacCaig

Background The poem takes a relatively insignificant incident and transforms it into an incident with a universal message. The poem tells of the poet's unexpected encounter with a shark; the meeting causes MacCaig to think about the process of evolution and his/our position in that process.

The Basking Shark Basking sharks are one of the largest sharks of the world's temperate oceans. Only the mighty whale shark is bigger. Despite a superficial similarity to the fearsome great white shark and a massive jaw one metre wide, basking sharks are actually harmless filter feeders. They use more than 5,000 gill rakers to strain plankton from around 1.5 million litres of water per hour. Basking sharks are born travellers, covering large distances in search of food, at the very leisurely pace of only three miles per hour. There is only one species of basking shark.

Stanza One To stub an oar on a rock where none should be To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea is a thing that happened once (too often) to me.

Stanza Two But not too often - though enough. I count as gain That I once met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain, that roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.

Stanza Three He displaced more than water. He shoggled me Centuries back - this decadent townee Shook on the wrong branch of his family tree.

Stanza Four Swish up the dirt and, when it settles a spring Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling, Emerging from the slime of everything.

Stanza Five So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale For twenty seconds while, sail after sail, the tall fin slid away, and then the tail.

Word Choice - usually associated with small object colliding with large immovable object Metaphor - bulky, solid, without feeling and, perhaps, without intelligence Tone – one of surprise Stanza 1 - Annotated Sentence Structure Dramatic opening: first two lines start with the infinitive of the verb. Thus the unusual sentence structure captures our attention immediately. Onomatopoeia - suggests the noise of the waves as the shark leaves the water & clumsy word, reminding us of the bulk of the shark To stub an oar on a rock where none should be To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea is a thing that happened once (too often) to me. Tells us that the shark is in charge of the meeting; it is the shark that is carrying out the actions whereas the poet has no choice in what is happening to him. Parenthesis/Tone - He has not relished the encounter at all but the brackets indicate a slightly humorous aside: the poet was scared but is trying to make light of it now.

Contrast - initially puzzling: it seems to contradict what he has said in Stanza One. Punctuation/Tone - the use of the dash humorously indicates an after thought, that he is in no rush to meet the shark again. Imagery – powerful, fact that it is raining at all ties in with the murkiness of the "slime" the poet will later refer to in Stanza 4 Idea that he has learned something important. Stanza 2 - Annotated But not too often - though enough. I count as gain That I once met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain, that roomsized monster with a matchbox brain. Visual Imagery - Water isn't solid but we can see the the surface of the water as it is pierced by the raindrops like tacks in a wall. Word choice – the element of shock has gone and it now sounds almost as if the meeting has be prearranged between equals. Aural Imagery - The alliteration of "tin-tacked" also reminds us of the noise the raindrops will be making. Word choice - emphasises the sheer size and bulk of the shark. Word choice/Imagery - serves to demonstrate how basic and underdeveloped the shark is. At this point the poet seems to believe he is much higher in the evolutionary scale than the shark Word choice - places the shark very low down in the evolutionary scale; it is reminiscent of dinosaurs which existed millions of years ago.

Word choice - suggest the poet's discomfort at being forced to think that he might be nearer the shark on the ladder of evolution than he likes to acknowledge. The shark's movements have caused the water to move violently, shifting the poet and his boat from their original position. However, the poet is also saying that the shark has caused him to question his position in the evolutionary process. Stanza 3 - Annotated Again, in this stanza, the shark is carrying out the actions, while the poet has no control He displaced more than water. He shoggled me Centuries back - this decadent townee Shook on the wrong branch of his family tree. Word choice - sounds clumsy, as if the poet is being moved around fairly violently in an ungainly movement over which he has no control. Enjambement - draws our attention to the word "Centuries", emphasising how long it took humans to evolve but the poet is travelling quickly back in his mind. Imagery/Humour - the people we have genetic links to. Here, MacCaig is reminding us that the shark too, is part of our "family tree", that we are related to all of nature in the process of evolution. Word Choice - suggests someone who has no worthwhile purpose to their life, but lives only for luxury and enjoyment. Imagery - perhaps a branch that the poet doesn't want to admit exists. Word Choice - someone who lives in the town but the word also suggests that such people choose to live in the town; they chose to live away from nature (their "roots"?) because they prefer it that way.

Swish up the dirt and, when it settles a spring Imagery - the poet is comparing his encounter with the shark to a clear spring that has been disturbed. Once the swirling has stopped, we can see the spring of water more clearly from the dust having settled. Similarly, his view of the world and life is more clear and he sees his position in evolution much more clearly. Word choice/Contrast – also something that is associated with purity which stands in stark contrast with ‘slime’. Word choice/Humour – association/connotations of a lively Scottish dance or a fleeting love affair. Onomatopoeia - it suggests the noise of moving water. Stanza 4 - Annotated Swish up the dirt and, when it settles a spring Is all the clearer. I saw me, in one fling, Emerging from the slime of everything. Linking Function – between the Shark’s movement and the imagery. Irregular grammar/ Word choice – emphasises the poet’s epiphany, moment of self realisation. Word choice – here we are forced to think about the notion of moving from the darkness (ignorance) into the light (enlightenment). Imagery – the primordial chemicals out of which all life emerged or so it is theorised. Like the shark, the poet has emerged from "the slime of everything"- the word "slime"emphasises the baseness of our beginnings whereas the word "everything" shows how indistinct humans were from other species at the beginning of the evolutionary process.

Punctuation – The use of the question here emphasises the transformation in the poet’s view of the world and his place in it. Now it is not the actual shark but his epiphany that causes him to grow fearful. The fact that this only lasts for a mere twenty seconds is striking as it highlights the failings of our so called intellect. Again, contrast this with his reference to the ‘matchbox brain’ in stanza 2 Word choice – Used in an entirely different context than stanza 2, the contrast is striking and forces us to consider the Shark in a new light. Stanza 5 - annotated So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale For twenty seconds while, sail after sail, the tall fin slid away, and then the tail. Imagery – The comparison of the shark to a sailing ship provides a graceful visualisation and stands in contrast to the early descriptions of the creature. Sibilance/Repetition – Places emphasis on the movement of the shark and again stands in stark contrast to the clumsy words employed earlier. Just as the poet has seen himself in a new light, he has also had to think about the shark in a new way. The poet is much more humble now, not so sure of his own superiority over the rest of nature.