Karen Connelly Poem

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We are just swimmers, wading through life, an ocean. Uncertain, uncontrollable, rough, and mysterious. The writer, Karen Connelly delivers a beautiful poem. She refers to “us” as in all of humanity. Going through life, and life is referred to as a vast ocean. The first stanza itself contains beautiful imagery of water, something that makes you think of being very small in comparison to the ocean. In The Story she makes a beautiful effort in connecting to all of us, as we all have a story to tell. So is it a literary merit? In my case, the answer is a resounding yes. So why is it a literary merit? Analysing the poem, summarising the meaning to this poem is simply how “we” humans, in life wherever we go we have this fear of the unknown, something …show more content…

The first part of the poem makes an attempt at reaching out to us, to connect to us. And it succeeds, we all have a story to tell. We all have a weary tale clinging to our souls. The second part, accuses us, “you know you are a fool,” of drifting too far away. This symbolises what foolish attempts we make, and all the wrong choices we take. The sentiment of the lines, "You know you could never / swim fast enough," works for both parts of the metaphor. If a sea creature is coming after the ocean-swimmer, she might not be able to outpace it, and in life, if one bites off more than one can chew, one might find it difficult to swallow. Also an interesting point in the poem is the use of the word “Holy” and it is only used once in the second stanza, it’s interesting how God is only remembered when in fear. The third part reveals how all of our fears were just invested in, “a piece of wood or a dolphin.” But the greater thing here is how we only found out about this piece of wood was by getting closer to it to get a better look despite our fears. The fourth and final part states that us humans are left “owning” our fears just after a brief encounter with

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