![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The simplest and most innocent is to read it as a girl/woman staying too long in an incoming tide with no one (no Man) compelling her to move to safety. There are several ways to read the forking of this poem from the speaker's imaginative musings on the beach to the sense of danger that makes her flee. Against this solidity the fluid sea curls up into itself, 'bowing – with a Mighty look', and withdraws. Feeling now as if the Tide would "eat me up", the speaker makes for the safety of a nearby town on higher ground.īut the Tide follows 'close behind' drenching her shoes with the pearls of his 'Silver Heel' until the 'Solid Town' is reached. ![]() "o Man moved Me", she says, until this tide floods first her shoes, then her skirt, then belt, and finally up to and past her "Boddice" – that is to say, her blouse or bosom. She stays, charmed, perhaps, at the wonders, unmoved until the intent culminates in a tidal wave rushing up. She is the center of attention, gazing at an ocean alive with feelings and intent towards her. Frigates in the harbour seem to extend their anchoring ropes should she, like a mouse, want to scurry on board. But then the world comes alive in a fantastical way: mermaids swim to the surface to look at her. The poem begins as a simple account of the speaker's walk to the beach with her dog. ![]()
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