English Department Higher/National 5 English Norman MacCaig Basking Shark Name: ____________ Class: ____________ About this Unit The Big Picture During the course of this unit we will: Study a range of poems by the Scottish poet Norman MacCaig. Look at the poems in detail (both in your group and individually), analyse the techniques used and their effectiveness. Complete a variety of textual analysis questions on the poems in preparation for the Critical Reading exam. Compare and contrast the poems. Learning Intentions I will: • Develop my understanding of MacCaig’s work by studying, in detail, the techniques used by the poet and their effectiveness. • Identify how the writer’s main theme or central concerns are revealed and can recognise how they relate to my own and others’ experiences • Identify and make a personal evaluation of the effect of aspects of the writer’s style and other features appropriate to genre using some relevant evidence and terminology. Success Criteria I can: • Confidently discuss aspects of MacCaig’s work (such as language and imagery) using supporting evidence with my group. • Confidently answer a variety of questions on the work of Norman MacCaig • Confidently contribute my opinion and encourage others to express themselves 1 Basking Shark- Before Reading 1. The title of the poem is “Basking Shark”. What words do you connect with this title? Write them in the box below: 2. Watch carefully and add any facts you can about the basking shark to this mindmap. Basking Shark 3. Norman MacCaig wrote this poem about an encounter with a basking shark. What do you think an encounter like this would make you think about? 2 Basking Shark by Norman MacCaig 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. But not too often - though enough. I count as gain 5 That once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain, That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain. He displaced more than water. He shoggled me Centuries back - this decadent townee Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree. 10 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. So who's the monster? The thought made me grow pale For twenty seconds while, sail after sail, 15 The tall fin slid away and then the tail. 3 Now you have read the poem, answer the following questions to help you begin to understand the poem further: 1. Look at lines 1-2. In your own words, where is the speaker of the poem? Rowing out at sea. 2. Consider the tone of the poem in lines 1-4. Is the poet being completely serious when describing the encounter? Explain your answer. No, the tone of a more humorous one seeing as he mentions his encounter with the shark "Is a thing that happened once (too often) to me" suggesting although he only encountered the shark once, once was enough for him. 3. Reread lines 1-7. Write in your own words exactly what has happeneddescribe the scene and the events that take place. MacCaig had been rowing out at sea while it was raining, he had used his oar to push against a rock and the position of what was usually a rock had been a large animal, the animal being a basking shark, as the basking shark moved away it shook his boat. 4. Look at lines 7-9. The poet describes that he has been “shoggled centuries back” on “a wrong branch of his family tree”. What has the shark made the poet think about? The progress of evolution so far and to the beginning of the human species, how MacCaig has detached himself from nature, how his existence is selfindulgent, "shook" refers to the motion of the boat, "family tree" refers to how all species are related in a sense seeing as we all came from common ancestors. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. Read lines 11-13. Explain what you think the poet means when he says, “So who’s the monster?” Although all species have come from a common ancestor what separates us from the rest of the animals is that we have destroyed our own environment and caused harm to the ecosystems of others. 6. Look at the final lines of the poem, lines 13-15. In your own words how does the speaker feel about his encounter? The encounter had shocked him, but it made him come to a realisation of how cruel humans can be and that our behaviour has and could still be the cause of the extinction of different species. 4 7. What examples of poetic techniques can you see being used in the poem? Write down any you notice. Alliteration Onomatopoeia Metaphor Neologism Repetition Rhyme Structure 1. The poet uses rhyming triplets in this poem. (i) On your copy of the poem, add the letter ‘A’ beside lines 1-3. This shows these lines all rhyme. Now look at lines 4-6. Add the letter ‘B’ beside these lines. Continue this pattern through the poem to mark the rhyming triplets. (ii) Think about the effect of the rhyming scheme. Do you think it makes the poem more serious or light-hearted? It makes the poem more light-hearted. 2. The poet uses repetition in lines one and two. Why do you think he does this early in the poem? The repetition of the infinitives creates tension, it creates confusion as we don't know who is using the oar?, or what is rising out of the sea? 3. Look at line 7, “He displaced more than water”. (i) What else has the shark displaced? The writer's ideas about himself (ii) How does the structure of this line add emphasis to this line? It provides the literal and the metaphorical reaction of the writer due to the shark. 4. The poet continues lines of poetry without a break in this poem. (i) What is this poetic term called? Enjambment 5 (ii) Look at lines 7-8. “He shoggled me/ Centuries back” – what does the poet use this line gap to represent? It provides the literal and the metaphorical reaction of the writer due to the shark. 5. Look at line 13. The poet uses a rhetorical question. Why do you think he uses this? To make the reader questions themselves, their ideas, and their behaviours. 6. Look at the final two lines of the poem (lines 14-15). Explain two ways in which the poet uses structure to emphasise the shark’s size in these lines. It refers to the front of the shark first then makes it way to the end of the shark; the start of the lines gives us a time frame as to how long it took before the shark was out of sight. Imagery 1. “To stub an oar on a rock” – line 1. Consider the metaphor used in the opening line. (i) In what way(s) is a rock like a basking shark? Its large size, it's tough exterior, its slow movement when hit. (ii) What further effect is achieved by comparing a living shark to a rock? Suggesting the shark itself is quite simple, similar to a rock. 2. Look at line 5- “on a sea tin-tacked with rain.” (i) Describe the image you see when reading this metaphor. The sound that comes of the splashes as heavy rain hits against a puddle. (ii) What technique is the poet also using to suggest the sound of the 6 rain? Alliteration Onomatopoeia 3. What is your impression of the shark when the poet describes him as “that roomsized monster with a matchbox brain?” That although it is big, it is not very intelligent. 4. Look at line 12- “Emerging from the slime of everything.” (i) In your own words, what picture do you think the poet is trying to make the reader think of? ____________________________________________________________________________________________ (ii) Why is it particularly fitting to mention slime? Emphasising on evolution, attempting to make up an image of escaping the slime shaking it off and being revealed as human. Word Choice 1. Look at line two of the poem- “To have it rise with a slounge out of the sea.” (i) What do you think the word “slounge” might mean? The -ou- sound makes it sound very relaxed implying the shark is slow. (ii) Of what poetic technique is “slounge” an example? 2. Look at line 5 of the poem. What is strange about the poet’s use of the word “met” here? Makes it seem as if it’s a mutual encounter. Equal footing. 3. In line7 the poet says the shark “shoggled” him. (i) What do you think this word means? To be shaken. (ii) Why do you think the poet chose to use this word? _______________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Look at line 8. A “decadent townee” is a person who lives a life of luxury and is from a town. The poet says he is a decadent townee. (i) Who is he comparing himself to? 7 Someone who is quite privileged, and unconcerned with preserving nature in any way. (ii) What does this suggest about the differences between them? 5. Read lines 10-11. “Swish up the dirt and when it settles, a spring is all the clearer.” (i) What example of onomatopoeia does the poet use in this line? "Swish" (ii) The poet is saying that if you mix up dirt, things are clearer when it has settled. What else could be clearer after this shark encounter? The writer's thoughts. Tone 1. Look at lines 3-4. Select a quote that sounds as if the poet is speaking to the reader as if they are having a conversation. "once (too often) to me. But not too often" 2. What sort of tone do you think the poet is using at this point in the poem? A light-hearted tone. 3. The tone of the poem is general is light-hearted. However, the tone changes later in the poem. Select a quote that shows a more serious tone later in the poem. "the thought made me grow pale" the realisation he comes to horrifies him, the realisation of how humans have destroyed other habitats. Theme / Main Ideas Having now studied the poem closely, what do you think the main message or theme of the poem is? 8 9 Quotation Analysis/Evaluation 10 Analysis/Evaluation 11 Analysis/Evaluation Quotation Quotation Some Useful Definitions Allegory Alliteration Ambiguity Analogy Assonance Caesura Cliché Contrast Enjambment Free Verse Hyperbole Imagery Juxtaposition A story in verse or prose, with a double meaning, which can be read and understood on two levels. The use of the same initial letter in two or more words in close proximity to create a particular effect, usually intensifying the words. Sometimes the sound of the repeated initial letter adds to the effect. When a piece of language can be interpreted in more than one way; often used for humorous effect. An agreement in certain respects between things which are otherwise different. The repetition of similar vowel sounds, usually close together, to create the effect of the sound of the particular vowel used. A break or pause in a line of poetry, often marked by punctuation An idiom or figure of speech (often a metaphor or simile) which has lost its impact through being overused. Bringing two objects together to show the difference The continuation of a line of poetry without a break. Poetry that does not have end rhymes or follow a set rhythm. Exaggeration to emphasise the sense of the words Figurative or descriptive language, often, but not necessarily metaphorical to give heightened meaning, reveal feelings etc. Bringing two ideas close together for literary effect, usually contrast. 12 Mood Onomatopoeia Oxymoron Paradox Pun Personification Repetition Rhyme Rhythm Stanza Structure Synecdoche Symbolism Synaesthesia Theme Tone Verse Word Choice Feelings of poet/narrator and/or the way the poet makes you feel when you read the poem. A figure of speech in which the sound of the word reflects the sound being described. A figure of speech in which two words with opposite meanings are brought together to form a new phrase or statement. An apparently contradictory statement A play in words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning, often for comic effect. The attribution of human qualities to inanimate objects When a word of phrase is repeated to create a particular effect, usually to emphasis the idea contained in the words being repeated. When the sounds at the ends of lines agree with each other. The pattern of sounds created by a poet’s choice and arrangement of words. A group of lines in a poem, forming a definite pattern of rhyme and metre throughout the poem. How the poem is laid out, with a beginning, middle and an end. A figure of speech in which a part is used to refer to the whole. A symbol is an object, animate or inanimate, which represents something else, with which it has some connection. A literary symbol has the effect of combining an image with an idea. The mixing of sensations; the appeal to more than one sense at the same time, e.g. “a black look”. The main subject(s) or message of a poem. The poet’s or speaker’s attitude to his subject, conveyed by the style of writing. Think of the tone o voice you would use if you were saying the words aloud. A group of lines which forms a unit in Free Verse, where there is no overall pattern of rhyme or metre. The actual words chosen by the poet to create a particular or striking effect. 13 14
