Question

Analyze Craft and Structure / Author's Style—“The Dolphin”

Read the following poem. Then, answer the question(s).

I watch her swim in circles, that sleek one.
Trapped by clear walls, no race to be won.
She glides like soft silk through her glass home,
Free to circle round and round—but not to roam.
I’m left to wonder if she longs for waves,
If buckets of fish are not all she craves.
I think of her truly free, and how it would be
To watch her leap waves in the sparkling sea.


Describe the ideas and emotions the speaker expresses in the poem and how the imagery helps express these ideas and emotions.

Answer 1

The speaker in the poem expresses a sense of empathy and concern for a dolphin that is trapped in captivity, swimming in circles in a clear-walled enclosure. The imagery of the sleek dolphin swimming in circles, gliding like soft silk, and being free to circle round and round—but not to roam, evokes a sense of beauty and grace as well as a feeling of confinement and restriction. The speaker wonders if the dolphin longs for waves and if buckets of fish are not all she craves, expressing a sense of sadness and concern for the dolphin's well-being.

The imagery of the sparkling sea and watching the dolphin leap waves creates a contrast between the confinement of the dolphin's current situation and the freedom and natural habitat that the speaker imagines for her. This reinforces the speaker's empathy for the dolphin and highlights the contrast between the beauty and freedom of the natural world and the constraints of captivity.

Overall, the poem expresses the idea that animals should be free to live in their natural habitats and highlights the emotions of concern, sadness, and empathy for the dolphin's situation. The imagery of the sleek dolphin swimming in circles and the sparkling sea helps to express these ideas and emotions by creating a vivid picture in the reader's mind and evoking a sense of beauty and confinement.