Killing a whale - Poetry analysis

Poetry Assignment

From the poems we have studied, which two or three do you feel have made their points most effectively?

Although the poems I have studied have been written in different ways about very different subjects, they all have one thing in common – each poet has a ‘burning issue’ they wish to convey to an audience. The poem I have chosen is David Gill’s ‘Killing a Whale’, this poem describes in detail the horrific and prolonged death of a Whale for the sole purpose of the recovery of oil. It conveys to the reader the pointless death of such a magnificent creature.
The title of this poem is both simple and effective; it bluntly reveals the alarming issue Gill feels so strongly about. The structure of the poem is written in three irregular verses, the first describing the method of attacking a Whale, the second deals with the incredible death of the Whale and the third gives us the feeble and pathetic reason that it is murdered.
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