Poetry Group

Question:

kausik911
kausik911
Student
College - Junior

Comment on the repetition of the word "death" in T.S. Eliot's "Marina."

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Posted by kausik911 on Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 4:08 AM and tagged with marina, poetry, significance, word.

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  1. gbeatty Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    Ah, isn't the repetition of "death" lovely! Remember the first two lines in English in the poem: " What seas what shores what grey rocks and what islands
    What water lapping the bow" 

    Those lines repeat "what." They are a question, as are the lines that follow. The narrator asks and asks and asks—and then the answer comes. It's always the same answer. Death. Death. Death. The word comes again and again like the waves lapping on the bow and the rocks.  The repetition creates a rhythm, but also a structure, a question and answer  structure that parallels the physical location: land and water, life and death.

    Sources:
    http://www.jungcircle.com/muse/marina.html

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    Posted by gbeatty on Tuesday September 23, 2008 at 2:45 PM