The Poetry of John Updike, "Winter Ocean".

 

The poem I chose to analyze was “Winter Ocean”, by John Updike. When I first read the poem, it made me think of a commercial that you would here to advertise some sort of travel; but if the traveling was on a 1800s whaling vessel that had to fight whales for their lantern oil. I've always thought those old fisherman stories where interesting, because they paint the ocean like it's a portal to fight water demons! That's why this poem is really interesting to me. Though this poem is short, it is complex. It’s quite free form and doesn’t adhere to a metric pattern. For instance, Updike uses verbiage such as “Portly pusher of waves, wind-slave,” though the rhymes are not consistent with the rest of the poem. Furthermore, Updike uses strong and heavy imagery that is layered in its meanings. I think the poem is about the sea and how rough it can be. On the surface, the poem looks innocent, but when you read deep into it, it’s very harsh, almost like a paradox of two completely different things. Lastly, though I am not a poet, if I could ask the poet anything, I would ask them what was the inspiration behind the poem? How did they think of it?

Comments

  1. Emma TaylorOctober 16, 2024 at 7:52 AM

    Hi Mikaela! I enjoyed your summary of the poetry, Winter Ocean.
    The whales' having to fight for lantern oil is really interesting and surprising because I had never heard of whales doing that, even in old tales. I have yet to read the poem you discuss, but I will have to after reading your summary. I can imagine all the whales and the rough sea.

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