I am not seaworthy
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- AMERICAN POETRY
- I am not seaworthyTONI MORRISSON
- STRUCTURE
- STRUCTURE
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- LANGUAGE
- “I am not seaworthy” by Toni Morrisson is a free one-verse stanza and Spenserian poem. It doesn’t have a rhyme scheme, and the stanza is considered irregular. Although it doesn’t have a rhyme scheme.The speaker is the only character of the poem and rides the sea against his/her will. The writer conveys the message of the poem through the character’s perspective.The poem describes a person who went through a sea Journey undertaken by Slave ships, called “the Middle passage.” It is possible to tell that the speaker is probably a dead person, as we can see in lines 2,8 and 9, where he/she suggests that the fish mistakes her/his hair from home and reinforces his/her desire to go to the land and trick little boy death out of his/her hand, implying the fact that he/she had drowned and if it wasn't for this fact, he/she would probably be alive.
- IMAGERY
- The poem's situation is related to the speaker’s perspective, which describes his/her feelings towards the fact that he/she is riding the sea against her/his will. The conflict of the poem can be related to the fact that the speaker cannot be “Earth bound”, as we can see in line 5, suggesting the desire to not be on the sea. The theme is about a person’s wish to be on the land before her/his death.The fact that it is an involuntary trip reinforces the idea of transporting enslaved people from the African continent. The speaker gives the perspective of the pain, pain and suffering of not being able to be in the country of origin and having an uncertain future.
- EFEECT
- The poem's imagery is figurative and connects to tactile and visual sensations, in which the speaker has to relate the conflict of riding the sea against his/her will. This can be seen in lines 6 and 7, in which the speaker feels the smacking wind and asks to give a smile and magic kiss. Both tactile and visual sensations suggest the physical senses the speaker would have if he/she wasn’t undertaken by slave ships. The poem has alliterations marks in “Look how the fish mistake my hair for home” (line 2), with the repetition of the “H” sound. And in “I had a life, like you” (line 3) with the repetition of the “L” sound. This repetition during the poem conveys the sensation of the rocking of the ship by the repeated movement of the waves of the sea.
- The relationship between the sea and the speaker is a point that is present throughout the poem. The ocean crossing is so long that the fish mistake the speaker's hair for home.
- The tone is touchingly reflexive, considering how the lives of human beings can be controlled against our will because of a more significant political and racist idea that a skin color represents how you are going to pursue your life. The poem's mood is sad because it means a sense of injustice and sorrow regarding how the people suffered in the Middle Passage ships. The poem's message is related to the idea that we cannot be controlled against our will because of our skin color and origins.
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