‘Penguin on the Beach’ Ruth Miller (1919-1969)
Stranger in his own element,
Sea-casualty, the castaway manikin
Waddles in his tailored coat-tails. Oil
Has spread a deep commercial stain
Over his downy shirt front. Sleazy, grey,
It clogs the sleekness. Far too well
He must recall the past, to be so cautious:
Watch him step into the waves. He shudders
Under the froth; slides, slips, on the wet sand,
Escaping to dryness, dearth, in a white cascade,
An involuntary shouldering off of gleam.
Hands push him back into the sea. He stands
In pained and silent expostulation.
Once he knew a sunlit, leaping smoothness,
But close with his head’s small knoll, and dark,
He retains the image: Oil on sea,
Green slicks, black lassoos of sludge
Sleeving the breakers in a stain-spread scarf.
He shudders now from the clean flinching wave,
Turns and plods back up the yellow sand,
Ineffably wary, triumphantly sad.
He is immensely wise: he trusts nobody. His senses
Are clogged with experience. He eats Penguin after oil spill
Oil
Fish from the Saviour’s hands, and it tastes black. Memories before oil spill
Address to reader
Human indifference
Image remains
, Biographical information:
• Born in Cape Town.
• English teacher.
• Poetry known to be bold.
• Son was electrocuted when he was younger; poems often have an underlying
meaning.
Meaning:
• Criticism of man’s rampant disregard/ indifference for the natural environment.
• Critiques human indifference towards the consequences of their actions.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/Diction
• Use of metaphors to emphasises the overflow of oil.
• Transferred epithet to emphasise the penguin’s discomfort e.g. flinching.
• Alliteration and Sibilance.
• Allusion to Jesus.
Structure:
• Caesura: Full stop in middle of lines.
→ Constant use shows continuous discomfort/ displacement.
→ Unnatural sentence structure shows the unnatural conditions of the penguin.
• Enjambment: Run on lines.
→ Overflowing of oil.
• Rhythm: Chaotic/ fractured/ fragmented.
Tone/mood
• Start – sympathy, sadness
• End – hostile, critical
Stranger in his own element,
Sea-casualty, the castaway manikin
Waddles in his tailored coat-tails. Oil
Has spread a deep commercial stain
Over his downy shirt front. Sleazy, grey,
It clogs the sleekness. Far too well
He must recall the past, to be so cautious:
Watch him step into the waves. He shudders
Under the froth; slides, slips, on the wet sand,
Escaping to dryness, dearth, in a white cascade,
An involuntary shouldering off of gleam.
Hands push him back into the sea. He stands
In pained and silent expostulation.
Once he knew a sunlit, leaping smoothness,
But close with his head’s small knoll, and dark,
He retains the image: Oil on sea,
Green slicks, black lassoos of sludge
Sleeving the breakers in a stain-spread scarf.
He shudders now from the clean flinching wave,
Turns and plods back up the yellow sand,
Ineffably wary, triumphantly sad.
He is immensely wise: he trusts nobody. His senses
Are clogged with experience. He eats Penguin after oil spill
Oil
Fish from the Saviour’s hands, and it tastes black. Memories before oil spill
Address to reader
Human indifference
Image remains
, Biographical information:
• Born in Cape Town.
• English teacher.
• Poetry known to be bold.
• Son was electrocuted when he was younger; poems often have an underlying
meaning.
Meaning:
• Criticism of man’s rampant disregard/ indifference for the natural environment.
• Critiques human indifference towards the consequences of their actions.
Imagery/Figures of Speech/Diction
• Use of metaphors to emphasises the overflow of oil.
• Transferred epithet to emphasise the penguin’s discomfort e.g. flinching.
• Alliteration and Sibilance.
• Allusion to Jesus.
Structure:
• Caesura: Full stop in middle of lines.
→ Constant use shows continuous discomfort/ displacement.
→ Unnatural sentence structure shows the unnatural conditions of the penguin.
• Enjambment: Run on lines.
→ Overflowing of oil.
• Rhythm: Chaotic/ fractured/ fragmented.
Tone/mood
• Start – sympathy, sadness
• End – hostile, critical
