The Light In The Storm Analysis

The goal of my poem, The Light in the storm, is to demonstrate how religious symbols are all around us and can be interpreted into nearly every story. This poem takes a simple story of someone in a shipwreck and transforms it into a story of religious transformation. The poem takes on several sacred symbols of Christianity such as: the cross, fish, dove, water, fire and lamb. The stanzas split the poem into five parts: living an atheistic lifestyle, realizing one cannot make it through the storm of life by themselves, becoming a Christian, being baptized and finally praying and spreading the word.

The first two lines of the poem, “A ship without it’s captain/ Is like a fish without water” dictates life without Christ. Jesus Christ would be

The first two lines, “A waterfall nearing now, his life story almost wrote / Rather he abandoned his boat” depict that the man has gone through a very dark time in his life. He has considered going “off the waterfall” or committing suicide. However, he does not commit suicide, instead, he puts his baggage behind him. He does this as his baggage or boat goes over the waterfall. The last two lines of the stanza, “Seeing a light like a fire in the sky / He grasped the rock, which he would no longer defy” depicts the man turning towards Christ. The Christian symbol of light and fire depict the spreading of the Holy Spirit. Thus the line means that someone spread the gospel to the man. He then grasped the rock, of which Christian’s believe Jesus compared himself to. There are over 25 bible verses in which a metaphor is used to compare Jesus to a rock. For example, Psalm 31: 3-4 “Yes, you are my rock and my protection. For the good of your name, lead me and guide me.” Thus by grasping the rock the man has submitted to the authority of Christ. He then will no longer intentionally deny or defy

The first few lines, “His hunger satisfied and soul quenched / He turned to the lamb on the cross” describe the satisfaction of living life through Jesus Christ. Jesus said he is the spring of eternal life and that those whom drink of the spring shall not thirst. Thus the first line represents the man’s spiritual satisfaction. The lamb in the second line is a common symbol in Christianity and it represents sacrifice. Thus Jesus sacrificed himself to save us. The man in the poem is then saved through Christ and he turns toward him in both the good and bad times. The final couple lines in the poem, “And praising the grace bestowed on him / He saw the dove ascend into the sky” demonstrates the movement of the Holy Spirit. The third line of the stanza shows how thankful the man is and that he does not take his salvation for granted. Due to this he prays and spreads the word of Christ. It then continues to spread all throughout the world. The dove the man “saw ascend into the sky” is another fairly common symbol in Christianity. It represents the Holy Spirit. Thus by seeing it ascend into the sky he sees the Holy Spirit being spread all throughout the