My Artistic Inerpretation of The Sea

So this is my mixed tape for the sea. Well, it's a mix CD actually, but i feel like calling it a mixed tape makes it more romantic, since that takes more effort. This compact disc is comprised of 14 songs that I listen to frequently enough to feel attached to, all relating in some way to the sea. Some are about the sea and romance, some are religious, others are about personal growth and still others are totally random. The greatest thing about such a CD is that if you chose to listen to just one song, you would have a fixed impression of what is being conveyed about the Sea. But if you listened to the entire thing, you would see so much more. You could understand the way the Sea shapes people, gives them a home and takes up their sorrows. It provides relief but also is a reminder of pain. Each of these songs could represent thousands of people. 

I feel that Edna's journey most closely relates to "Dive" by Steven Curtis Chapman. While this is a religious song, it parallels Edna's journey. The "long awaited rains" have fallen upon the "thirsty ground," and he speaker knows there is no turning back "once my feet have left the ledge," and "caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head i want to go." Edna has this same experience of completely giving herself over to the Sea. She lets go of all of her preconceptions and responsibilities at that one moment and completely dives under. 

Santiago is different though, and his journey is more like Jack Johnson's "Monsoon." As Santiago feels, "All of life/Is in one drop of the Ocean." Santiago's theory that life will continue on despite human discomfort is reflected in The Sea-Limits poem, and also this song, which says waves "Always break all in due time/Cause time never waits." Santiago knows that whether he kills the fish or the fish kills him, life will go on. He might wish for the help of the boy, but if the boy isn't there, nothing can be done. Johnson captures this "show must go on" attitude well in his song.

All of these songs are different, but all of them use the sea to express something similar--that we might be powerless to change something, like the sea, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. We still deserve love by the seaside, or faith like a child, or to make an entire CD attributed to Anne Frank (or the Sea). 

(this is the paragraph that accompanies my artistic piece, just fyi)

Artistic Explication Through Song

When I was little, like many children, i liked to have a good lullaby ringing in my ears as i drifted off to sleep to chase away the shadows in the corner. My dad like to sing "O my darlin' Clementine," but my mom preferred softer songs like "Hush Little Baby." The one song that both of my parents liked to sing was from a CD they had of Irish Lullabies. Their favorite was called "Winkin, Blinkin and Nod," which my two sisters and I at the time particularly enjoyed. It pops up in my head every now and then, but i couldn't remember all the words. I asked my mom to write them down for me when i chose to analyze the motif of the Sea in literature, because I remembered it involved fishermen. These are the lyrics:


Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod

Winkin' and Blinkin' and Nod one night
Sailed off on a wooden shoe
Sailed down a river of crystal light
Into a sea of dew

"Now where are you going and what do you wish?"
The old moon asked the three
"We've come to fish for the Herring fish
That swim in this beautiful sea
Nets of silver and gold have we"
Said Winkin` and Blinkin` and Nod

The old moon laughed and sang a song
As they rocked in their wooden shoe
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew

While the little stars were the Herring fish
That lived in the beautiful sea
"Now cast your nets where ever you wish
Never afeared are we"
So sang the stars to the fishermen three
Winkin' and Blinkin' and Nod

So all night long their nets they threw
To the stars in the twinkling foam
Then down from the sky came the wooden shoe
Bringing the fishermen home

'Twas all so pretty a sight it seemed
As if it could not be
And some folks thought 'twas a dream they dreamed
Of sailing the beautiful sea
But I shall name you the fishermen three
Winkin' and Blinkin' and Nod

Now Winkin' and Blinkin' are two little eyes
And Nod is a weary head
And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle bed

So shut your eyes while mummy sings
Of the beautiful sights that be
And you will see all the wonderful things
As you rock in your misty sea
Where the old moon rocked the fishermen three
Winkin' and Blinkin' and Nod

Just like the fishermen three,
Winkin', blinkin' and Nod.


That magical, mysterious quality of the sea that has been so prevalent in the other literature I've analyzed is the cornerstone of this lullaby. Described as “dew,” “crystal light,” “misty,” “beautiful” and “twinkling foam,” the sea is extravagant in the way a child would appreciate. I can still draw up the image of a wooden shoe, bobbing on a sea that sparkles like diamonds, cool and dark with a full moon with a jolly face talking to the fishermen. The song uses this imagery to create a calming but paradoxically effervescent effect. The foaming sea is full of herring fish, and the fishermen are excited to cast their nets and haul them in, but the focus is on the sea itself. The listener cannot escape the beauty of the sea that is so fantastical; no one believes it is real. Perhaps it is just a dream, but no child would ever mind if it were, because dreams and reality can be equally beautiful. This feeling of quasi-reality is brought on by the intoxicating sea. It is a feeling Edna describes in The Awakening when she first swims in the water, the night her conscience is awakened, and she admits to herself her feelings for Robert. Robert uses island lore—the legend of a spirit that awakens in the sea under the full moon on the 28^th of July—to explain Edna’s bizarre feelings. Her recount of the night is of a dreamy quality, a feeling the fishermen share, describing it “as if it could not be.” Santiago, in The Old Man and the Sea, also finds himself caught between dream and reality on his seaward sojourn. Exhausted by the fish and nearly starved, he begins to become confused by who is doing the catching: the man? or the fish? Being alone in the open ocean is like wandering in the desert; there is nothing to get your bearings, no proof to nail you to the ground. Edna, Santiago and the fishermen all feel this weightlessness, the freedom and fear of being without an anchor. In The Sea Limits, the voice of the sea is called “desire and mystery.” This perfectly fits the relationship all parties have with the Sea, in their own individual way. Santiago and Edna have the same pull towards the water as any child, especially one who lives by the sea. The same curiosity and hunger for exploration drive all to the edge of the sea, some never to return again. As I have found, the Sea is a part of my life that I’m unwilling to let go. Moving forward, I cannot imagine myself striking up permanent residence away from the sea. Even when it simply an unseen presence, the familiarity and the comfort of knowing that the waves are still crashing is something I can’t be without. I know that like the three fishermen, I will always find a way back to the ocean, because it is a part of who I was and also who I have become.

The Sea: Major Ocean Pictures (ha...ha)

The Perfect Storm






Free Willy...






The Little Mermaid

Other Poems Concerning the Sea

The Sea's Moods - Laura Johnson

Green, blue, gray and black
many moods it can have
happy and calme, mad and anxious
as the waves crash

stormy seas, stormy seas
turning the sky black
in its rage
in its fury
it makes boats crack

when it's sad
gray the water turns
making the clouds shed tears
it makes boats turn away
to head back to the piers

happy, blissful, joy and all
a nice sunny sky
compliments the clear blue water
the sea creatures rolling in the waves
as they foam white on
the surface.





La Balada del Aqua del Mar - Federic Gracia Lorca

El mar
sonrie a lo lejos.
Dientes de espuma,
labios de cielo.

¿Qué vendes, oh joven turbia
con lossenos al aire?

Vendo, señor, el agua
de los mares.

¿Que llevas, oh negro joven,
mezclado con tu sangre?

Llevo, señor, el agua
de los mares.

Esas lágrimas salobres
¿de donde vienen, madre?

Lloro, señor, el agua
de los mares.

Corazon, y esta amargura
seria, ¿de donde nace?

¡Amarga much el agua
de los mares!

El mar
sonrie a lo lejos.
Dientes de espuma,
labios de cielo.

(A loose translation)

The Ballad of the Sea's Water - Federico Garcia Lorca

The sea smiles at it in the distance.,
The teeth foam, at the edge of the sky.

What are you selling?
Oh yound cloud with the hear of air.

Sell, sir, the water of the seas.

What to bring, oh dark youth,
Mixed with your blood?

Carry, sir, the water of the seas.

These salty tears,
Where do they come from, mother?

Weep, sir, the water of the seas.

Heart, and this bitterness,
Truly, where is it born?

So much bitter water of the seas!

The sea smiles at it in the distance.
The teeth foam, at the edge of the sky.





Among the Rocks - Robert Browning

Oh, good gigantic smile o'the brown old earth.
This autumn morning! How he sets his bones
To bask i'the sun, and thrusts out knees and feet.

For the ripple to run over in its mirth;
Listening the while, where on the heap of stones
The white breast of the sea-lark twitters sweet.

That is the doctrine, simple, ancient, true;
Such is life's trial, as old earth smiles and knows.
If you loved only what were worth your love,
Love were clear gain, and wholly well for You:
Make the low nature better by your throes:
Give earth yourself, go up for gain above!




Annabel Lee - Edgar Allen Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee,
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee,
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me -
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud one night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we -
Of many far wiser than we -
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling -my darling -my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea -
In her tomb by the sounding sea.



This is an excerpt from one of T.S. Eliot's quartets, Number 3:

The Dry Salvages - T.S. Eliot

The river is within us, the sea is all about us;
The sea is the land's edge also, the granite
Into which it reaches, the beaches where it tosses
Its hints of earlier and other creation:
The starfish, the horseshoe crab, the whale's backbone;
The pools where it offers to our curiosity
The more delicate algae and the sea anemone.
It tosses up our losses, the torn seine,
The shattered lobsterpot, the broken oar
And the gear of foreign dead men.
The sea has many voices,
Many gods and many voices.

Conclusively: The Sea In Literature

In The Awakening, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Sea-Limits, it is evident that the Sea is a magnet for all kinds of people. The doubtful, the trapped, the willing, the passionate, the worldly, the listless--all find something unique to them in the sea. In The Awakening, the sea acts as Edna's conscience. She doesn't realize the correlation directly, but her freedoms give her liberty in the sea, and her darkest days are stormy. Eventually, the sea ends her conscience forever. What was born there must die there, so it makes sense that the awakening that she generated in that ocean would reclaim it. This is similar to the ocean in The Old Man and the Sea, where the sea gives Santiago the greatest fish of his life, and good weather, but reclaims the fish to feed its own creatures. This would make the sea appear selfish, but in reality, it is indeed a giving being. It gives when a human is in need, whether it needs encouragement or a Marlin. The sea simply has too many things to look over, however, and cannot give wantonly. It has to keep tabs on who has taken what, and must get them back. Keeping that under consideration, the sea does not treat Edna and Santiago equally. It upends Edna's life completely. It changes her, lets her see things she had never seen. It wakes her up and lets her see what life should be--but then takes away everything. For Santiago, the sea has always been a constant companion. It gives him fish and wearies his body and soul in return. But this fish is different. It is the greatest achievement he could have dreamed of, if he can only battle the pain. And he does. But the sea's loss is not equal to Santiago's, so she takes it back. In The Sea-Limits, the sea is not something man can associate with life, but rather life itself. As the marker of the passing of time, the sea is a super-being. It is beyond human understanding, and the only way we can see it is through that lens of the extraordinary. It is not just a companion but a guide, even a guardian.

The sea has long been an important part of literature. Its vastness and mystery are unmatched by any other aspect of nature. The sea cannot be contained, manipulated or moved without significant consequences. It's giving and kind, but ultimately just and fair, a protector of its creatures, and oblivious to petty human issues. How each individual approaches the sea is reciprocated. One's relationship with the sea is determined by one's own fears and expectations. Time has been kept as long as the sea has beaten upon the shore, and man has always sought to understand it, often only to find that what they were looking for was inside of themselves already.

just and fair, a protector of its creatures.

The Sea-Limits (Literary Work Three)

The Sea Limits - Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Consider the sea's listless chime:
Time's self it is, made audible-
The murmur of the earth's own shell.
Secret Continuance sublime
Is the sea's end: our sigh may pass
No furlong further. Since time was,
This sound hath told the lapse of time.

No quiet, which is death's -- it hath
The mournfulness of ancient life,
Enduring always at dull strife.
As the world's heart of rest and wrath,
Its painful pulse is in the sands.
Last utterly, the whole sky stands
Gray and not known, along its path.

Listen alone beside the sea,
Listen alone among the woods;
Those voices of twin solitudes
Shall have one sound alike to thee:
Hark where the murmers of thronged men,
Surge and sink back and surge again-
Still the one voice of wave and tree.

Gather a shell from the strewn beach
And listen at its lips: they sigh
The same desire and mystery,
The echo of the whole sea's speech.
And all mankind is thus at hear
Not any thing but what thou art:
And Earth, Sea, Man, are all in each.

In The Sea Limits by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the sea is abstract. It is a lens used to view the passing of time, and existence. Called the “murmur of the earth’s own shell”, it is seen that the sound of the sea—the pounding of waves perhaps, is time “made audible.” Such a divine idea, that the ocean has always told the passing of time, that there has been no time unmarked by the crash of a wave, must come from a speaker with time on his hands to philosophize, in the least. Also, most likely, someone who is thoughtful, romantic and listless. Tackling eternity is a journey that takes flexibility and comfort with the self.

The speaker is focused on the sound of the sea as a central figure, and relates everything back to it. He even recognizes that silence, or the lack of the sea, is death. As he states, when the “painful pulse” stops, the sound of the waves, and life, is lost. The sea is the sound of life, the way Christ is the rock of faith. You can’t have life without clinging to that sound, the way Christians must cling to their foundation. The speaker is using the sea, or rather the sound of it, as a foundation for life. The woods also have the same eternal sound, according to the speaker. The sea and the woods will have “one voice” of “twin solitude.” The speaker may want the reader to appreciate that despite the murmurs of the “thronged men” that “surge and sink back and surge again,” the voice of the woods and the sea remain. Or rather: despite humans that invade nature on land and in the sea, the sea and the earth will always remain, retaliate, if not simply survive the damage inflicted upon it by civilization. Nature is eternal, unceasing and as old as time, and no inconsiderate population of humans can destroy it, anymore than they can stop time from passing.

That being said, if man “listens at [the] lips” of nature, he can understand it, and understand the “same desire and mystery.” This is just to say that if mankind could respect nature, then “Earth, Sea, Man, [would be] all in each.” If we understand the sea, or nature in general, we can understand each other, and our connection to the greater world, even our place in the universe. This interpretation of life through the sea helps the reader grasp what the reader is trying to say about time, the way it is eternal and unfathomable, the way counting the breaking of waves is impossible. It is also important to know that mankind is not meant to do such things, and should remain at peace with the environment and make every wave count. We don’t have forever, after all. Someday we will all hear only silence.

The Old Man and the Sea (Literary Work Two)

Earnest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" doesn't impose the sea as the protagonist's conscience as "The Awakening" did. Instead, the sea is more like a life partner to the Old Man, Santiago. They spend each day together, care for each other, argue, love and protect one another, but most of all offer the other respect. The Old Man is beset by hard times, having gone 84 days without taking a fish, and has consequently lost his fishing partner, a young man who loves him and has cared for him ever since Santiago taught him to fish when he was a boy. Santiago's journey begins at dawn one day, when he rows out in search of the fish he knows he will find. As he rows in the silence, he reflects on "la mar", how those who love the sea call her. They might say bad things about her, but always "as though she were a woman" (29). The young, disrespectful fishermen sometimes call her "el Mar", a masculine degradation. They treat her only as a "contestant or a place or even an enemy" (30). This is distressing to the protective Old man, who treats the sea as a lover, despite her poor treatment of him recently. He knows that when the sea does "wild or wicked things, it is because she could not help them" (30). This sums up Santiago's view on most of nature. It is untamable, unpredictable, and to be respected and loved at all times.
As Santiago catches his great fish (a leviathan, 18-foot Marlin), he embarks on a three day journey that drains him of all strength, and tests his resolve to the utmost degree. The sea remains his constant companion as the fish tows him further and further from home. His fishing expertise makes him so at home with the water, he can read things in it like a book. The weather, his location, the nearby fish, plankton and sea creatures--everything that is a part of the Sea is a part of the Old Man. He describes the turtles of the sea, and how so many people are heartless about them, because a turtle's heart will "beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered' (37). But the Old man knows that his heart is just like theirs, and his hands and feet are just like theirs, and he, too, depends on the sea for life, and isn't so foolish as the other people. These small revelations of Santiago continually show his life-earned wisdom and patience, and the impressive respect he garners for all things, especially the Marlin he follows. He often calls the fish "brother", and wishes the fish as much luck in killing him as he has to kill it. The life or death struggle must be lost by one of them, and the Old Man would be honored to have it go either way.
The great respect for nature, epitomized by his respect for the sea, is Santiago's greatest strength and weakness, together. The sea gives him challenges and rewards in the Marlin, but also traps him. When Santiago finally catches the Marlin, he is still a long way from home, and the creature is too big to bring into his boat. As Santiago tries to bring it home, he is attacked, over and over, by sharks, the hungry scavengers of the sea. The Old Man is exhausted and upset. He knew it was "too good to be true" to catch the Marlin, but had hoped to bring some of it home. But like a woman, the sea takes back what it has given. The Old Man barely makes it back home alive, as the sea gives him a gift, a Trade Wind, to drift home alive. "The wind is our friend...the great sea with our friends and our enemies" (120). Santiago cannot control what the sea throws at him, friend or foe, but he can do his best with whatever it is.
The greatest lesson the Old Man learns from the sea is that of nature's intentions. If he was meant to have the fish, he would have the fish. If he were meant to find another, he would. He is humble, but proud of his fishing skills, and willing to take what la mar will offer him. He knows that "no man was ever alone on the sea" (61). The sea is used to show Santiago's trust in nature, his infinite patience and quiet wisdom. The sea is indeed his friend, but brings him hardship as well. Santiago could never live without the sea, because while it frustrates him, and dangles hope in front of him, it is all he knows, and it sustains him, because he was born to be a fisherman, and a "fisherman must fish".