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Song of the Whale

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Song of the Whale
The SONG OF THE WHALE
-Kit Wright
TEXTUAL QUESTIONS: 1) What words in the first verse show that the whale is huge?
‘Heaving mountain in the sea’ in the first verse show that the whale is huge. 2) How does the poet give the impression he is talking to the whale?
By the impression ‘Whale I heard you’ the poet makes us feel that he is talking to the whale. 3) ‘Crying for your kind’. What is the whale doing?
The whale is crying for all the whales that are dead and also for the whales that are still alive and are going to be killed. 4) ‘Lipstick for our painted faces / Polish for our shoes’. What is the poet telling us?
The poet is telling us that we human beings, in order to add beauty and luxury to our life,we are killing the whales. 5) What is the meaning of ‘We could make you / Dumb’?
This means that man would kill all the whales making it extinct. 6) What does the poet mean by ‘We‘ll never let you be’?
This means that man will never let the whales to live peacefully. They will continue killing them for their selfish needs until all the whales are extinct.

7) What is the poet’s message to the readers?
The poet conveys the message that - we should value the life of other living beings, we should not kill animals for our selfish needs and also we should protect all the species from being extinct.

The Song of the Whale
Heaving mountain in the sea,
Whale, I heard you
Grieving.
Great whale, crying for your life,
Crying for your kind, I knew
How we would use
Your dying:
Lipstick for our painted faces,
Polish for our shoes.
Tumbling mountain in the sea, Whale, I heard you
Calling.
Bird
-
high notes, keening,
Soaring:
At their edge a tiny drum
Like a heartbeat.
We would make you
Dumb.
In the forest of the sea,
Whale, I heard you
Singing.
Singing to your kind.
We'll never let you be.
Instead of life we choose
Lipstick for our painted faces
Polish for our
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