Penguin on the Beach – Ruth Miller
·Ruth Miller – South African poet known for:
Beautiful, moving descriptions
Containing theme of beauty + pain of life
Addressing the weakness/vulnerability of physical creatures
Including religious imagery + motifs
Referring to a God that is indifferent to suffering
· The sea/ocean should be a place of safety for the
penguin
1 Stranger in his own element,
· Contradiction – penguin is “in his element” yet
he remains a stranger
· Casualty – victim to crime
2 Sea-casualty, the castaway manikin
· Castaway – stranded
· His – the penguin is personified through the
pronoun and through the description of the
3 Waddles in his tailored coattails. Oil penguin being a little man wearing a suit
· Coat-tails – formal suit
· Enjambement - emphasis
· Tells the nature of the disaster
· Commercial stain – oil spill
Greed/money-making of industry
· Reader now understands why penguin feels like
4 Has spread a deep commercial stain a stranger in his own environment – has been
displaced from his natural environment by the oil
slick, which has left his feathers clogged +
discoloured
· Stain – dirty, difficult to get rid off
· Diction – negative words describe oil spill,
5 Over his downy shirt front. Sleazy, grey,
positive words describe penguin
6 It clogs the sleekness. Far too well · Clogs – blocked with unwanted matter
·
· Remembering the oil slick makes the penguin
hesitant to re-enter the water
· The penguin is hesitant to re-enter the water as
7 He must recall the past, to be so cautious: he can recall the impact of the oil slick – as he
enters he seems unnatural/clumsy as he
slips/slides in what should be his natural
environment
· Watch him – refers directly to the audience, plays
on their emotions
· Shudders – tremble brought on by fear
8 Watch him step into the waves. He shudders Should be a place of comfort for the penguin,
now he fears water
He has been out of water for a long time – not
used to water environment
· Alliteration – emphasis on penguin’s motion in
9 Under the froth; slides, slips, on the wet sand,
the ocean
·
· Dearth – something that is in short supply, which
makes it valuable
Sea is valuable to the penguin but it is in short
10 Escaping to dryness, dearth, in a white cascade,
supply (climate change)
· White cascade – represents the white was of
waves
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