‘Basking Shark’

by Norman MacCaig

What is a basking shark?

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• A very large, harmless shark that feeds exclusively on plankton and often swims slowly close to the surface, found chiefly in the open ocean.

Norman MacCaig (1910-1996)• MacCaig often

celebrates particular moments of observation in his poetry.

• His nature poems tend to focus on the small details before widening out to consider more universal concerns.

• Norman MacCaig responds with typical originality to an unlikely encounter in the poem ‘Basking Shark’, written in December 1967.

• Listen to MacCaig reading the poem here:

• http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-157-129-C

• Sign in as ‘school’• Choose school: Paisley Grammar

Basking Shark

To stub an oar on a rock where none should be,To have it rise with a slounge out of the seaIs a thing that happened once (too often) to me.But not too often - though enough. I count as gainThat once I met, on a sea tin-tacked with rain,That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain.

Lines 1 - 6

He displaced more than water. He shoggled meCenturies back - this decadent towneeShook on a wrong branch of his family tree.Swish up the dirt and, when it settles, a springIs 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 paleFor twenty seconds while, sail after sail,The tall fin slid away and then the tail.

Lines 7 - 15

Structure?

• How many stanzas?• Is there a pattern? (E.g. Same number of

lines in each.)• Is there a rhyme scheme?• Does it follow a particular rhythm?

Technical terms

• Free verse• Metaphor / personification• Repetition• Contrast• Word choice• Oxymoron• Sentence length• Sense descriptions

Glossary 1• roomsized• displaced• decadent• swish

• What do these words mean?

Glossary 2• basking shark – a species of harmless,

plankton-eating shark, which can, however, grow very large

• slounge – a lazy movement, looking for food• tin-tacked – the surface of the sea marked like

a covering nailed down by tin tacks• shoggled – juggled, jolted• townee – a country person's contemptuous

word for a town-dweller

What’s it all about?

• 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 position in that process.

Themes

• Nature• Evolution• Mortality

Annotations

Basking Shark

by Norman MacCaig

Title

The reader may or may not know what a basking shark is. Definition = “A very large, harmless shark that feeds exclusively on plankton and often swims slowly close to the surface, found chiefly in the open ocean.”

The main topic of the poem is introduced in the title. We know the poem is going to discuss (marine) nature.

1 stanza

The poem is written in free verse which reflects the unsettling nature of the encounter.

Sharks have connotations of danger, death, ferociousness. In contrast, ‘to bask’ means to relax in a pleasantly warm environment.

Stanza 1(lines 1 - 3)

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

The first two lines start with the infinitive of the verb ("To stub", "To have" ). This unusual sentence structure captures our attention immediately, creating a dramatic opening to the poem.

The speaker seems to have been frightened by the encounter. However, the brackets indicate a slightly humorous aside: he was scared but is trying to make light of it now.

The word "stub" suggests that the boat's oar has hit on something solid, something that refuses to give even a little.

Onomatopoeia – suggests the noise of the waves as the shark leaves the water. It is also a clumsy word, reminding us of the bulk of the shark.

"To have it rise" tells us that the shark is in charge of the meeting; the shark is carrying out the actions whereas the poet has no control over what is happening to him.

The speaker disturbs a basking shark, which is compared to a rock. From this metaphor, we assume that the shark, like a rock, is bulky, solid, without feeling and, perhaps, without intelligence.

Stanza 1(lines 4 - 6)

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

This seems to contradict what the speaker has said in line 3, suggesting that once wasn't too much. However, the use of the dash he indicates that he is in no rush to meet the shark again.

Word choice - emphasises the sheer size and bulk of the shark.

Having had time to think about the incident, the speaker decides he has learned something from the encounter. So important is this meeting to him that he claims "I count as gain" the experience. He goes on to explain what he has learned in the rest of the poem.

Metaphor – for all his size, the shark has little intelligence. At this point the speaker seems to believe he is much higher in the evolutionary scale than the shark.

The element of shock has gone and it now sounds as if the meeting was prearranged.

Metaphor – the surface of the water as it is pierced by the raindrops like tacks in a wall. The alliteration of "tin-tacked" also reminds us of the noise the raindrops make.

Word choice – connotations of low intelligence.

Stanza 1(lines 7 - 9)

He displaced more than water. He shoggled meCenturies back - this decadent towneeShook on a wrong branch of his family tree.

The shark's movements have caused the water to move violently, shifting the poet and his boat. However, the poet is also saying that the shark has caused him to question his position in the evolutionary process.

Word choice – someone who lives in the town / chooses to live away from nature (their "roots"?).

The word "displaced" could also 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.

Again, the shark is carrying out the actions, while the poet has no control.

Enjambment – draws attention to the word "Centuries", emphasising how long it took humans to evolve.

This sounds clumsy, as if the speaker is being moved around fairly violently.

Word choice – suggests someone who has no worthwhile purpose to their life, but lives only for luxury and enjoyment.

Makes us think about discovering our ancestors and reminds us that the shark is part of our "family tree"; "wrong branch" suggests the shark is a branch that the poet is ashamed of.

Stanza 1(lines 10 - 12)

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

Onomatopoeia – suggests the noise of moving water and also describes the swirling movement of water and dirt.

In this image, the speaker is comparing his encounter with the shark to the spring once the dust has settled. Suddenly, he sees his position in evolution much more clearly.

This word shows how indistinct humans were from other species at the beginning of the evolutionary process.

One "fling" from the shark makes him understand that his origins are shared with the shark, as well as all other living creatures.

Word choice – this word suggests the idea of growing, of coming from darkness to light.

Like the shark, the poet has emerged from "the slime of everything"- the word "slime " emphasises the basesness of our beginnings.

Stanza 1(lines 13 - 15)

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

At the beginning of the poem, the poet is almost insulting to the shark, dismissing it as a brainless monster. However, now he is not so sure of himself, not so confident that he is the superior being.

The poet’s failure to use his intelligence is highlighted when we realise that he only thinks about the question he has asked for twenty seconds. Is his attention span really that much longer than that the shark’s?

Our view of the shark has also changed: the clumsy, bulky creature of the first stanza has been replaced by an elegant, graceful shark, which the poet compares to a ship sailing away.

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.

This realisation – that he might not be more advanced than the shark – is very uncomfortable and/or shocking for the speaker

Links with other MacCaig poems?

• Observations about nature• Universal concerns

Questions• What does the poet's presentation of the shark

tell us about his attitude towards it?• How does the poet's choice of words help to

create the tone of the poem?• `So who's the monster?' What does the poet's

encounter with the shark lead him to think about the human condition?

• How does the imagery and structure of the poem further its meaning?

1. With reference to language, show how the opening line effectively reveals the setting of the poem (2)

2. What happens in the opening stanza? (1)3. The speaker has a mixture of feelings towards the

shark. By close examination of language in lines 2-6, show what these feelings are and how they are revealed (4)

4. Comment on the sound and visual effect of ‘a sea-tin tacked with rain’ (2)

5. Comment on the humour in line 6 (2)