Poem Analysis: At Sea

At Sea - Simon Armitage
The Title to this poem 'At Sea ' is a neutral title and doesn 't give away a lot of the meaning to the poem. It doesn 't necessarily commit to anything specific; it 's just a statement. This is just like the poem. Armitage hasn 't completely stated what the poem is about, there is nothing to say that it is definitely describing someone/something 'At Sea '. However, there are small links that suggest the 'Sea ' is being used metaphorically. I think that the summary of this poem is the story of a family. 'It is not through weeping, but all evening the pale blue eye on your most photogenic side has kept it 's own unfathomable tide. ' This could represent the child, where child isn 't necessarily crying but they are quiet and upset. This line represents a mother marvelling at how beautiful her child is, even when they are upset. She is fascinated by her creation. 'your most photogenic side ' This shows the mother holding her child in her arms only seeing on side; comforting the child. The narrator is the mother and when they say 'Like the boy at the dyke I have been there ' it shows that the mother is always there for her child through thick and thin. She supports them and protects them with her life. She is the dyke to the tide, she stops the tears from flooding.
In the next stanza, the narrator is explaining the ways in which the mother would have been there to support her child. 'held out a huge finger, lifted atoms of dust with the point of a tissue '. Armitage uses the term, 'Huge finger '. A child would think their mothers hand is giant compared to there own. During this stanza, the narrator is beginning to deeply describe the childs ' eyes. They are looking closely into this eye and can notice every little detail. 'Imagined silvers of hair in the oil of the cornea '. The cornea is one of the most complex parts of the human body, and it is very difficult to understand. This person is marvelling at the bodies natural creation