Poetry Analysis:“The Shark”

In Pratt’s “The Shark,” the use of the metaphor is not only predominant, but very obvious as well. Throughout the text he uses this device along with other elements to create diverse binary situations, which became one after further analysis. This poem is unique due to the fact that it blatantly describes the metaphorical meaning in such a way that it could be taken either way by the reader if read literally. The title of this piece is not only a persuasion of the reader’s mindset, but a clue to the underlying meaning as well.
To express this double identity Pratt used several distinct methods to direct the reader’s thoughts towards this second meaning. “His fin, /Like a piece of sheet-iron,” appears in the first stanza. This, Pratt’s only simile, begins to describe this ‘shark’ as if it was inert, almost machi...