The Pathfinder Of The Seas - 1632 Words

When people go on cruise trips, they intend to enjoy their time off to experience the sights and sounds of the open sea. In Annie Dillard’s Mornings Like This, she includes in her collection of found poems a poem that instills a similar sense of imagery that one would experience by the ocean. Her found poem, called â€Å"The Pathfinder of the Seas,† includes a variety of words and sentences that relate to sailing in the sea. She extracted them from other literature related to scientific research of the sky and the sea. The author brings together these distinct elements and structures them in a poem. By giving them a new home, she subsequently gives the work a new meaning. Dillard aims for the reader to find a new perspective on life through the†¦show more content†¦It does this by pointing out that a limit on the expansion of thought, whether mentally or spiritually, does not exist. The style of syntax she uses when constructing the found poem supports the effi cacy to getting her message through to the reader. The structure of her poem leads the reader towards her goal of understanding the process of expanding their mind. The main body of the poem, excluding the first and last stanza, can be dissected into three consecutive distinct parts: commands, observations, and questions the author provides. The poem first introduces observations and follows with the metaphysical question: â€Å"And why have not / The currents of the sea worn away its bottom?† (Dillard 7). This first stanza serves as a signpost to how Dillard structured the rest of the poem, and it gives the reader a vignette of what will come after. After that stanza, Dillard provides four commands concerning interacting the sky and the sea. This begins the path she sets out for the reader. After presenting the commands, Dillard moves on to provide descriptions about the skies and seas, including observations such as the â€Å"Aurora Borealis† and â€Å"the height an d velocity of waves.† She finally concludes the path she set for the reader with yet another metaphysical question: â€Å"If the water which now lies on the floor / Of the deep sea has to lie there forever, / Why was it made fluid instead of solid?† The final stanza of the poem serves as a reminder of the path theShow MoreRelatedThe Pathfinder Of The Seas1674 Words   |  7 Pagesto experience the sights and sounds of the open sea. In Annie Dillard’s Mornings Like This, she includes in her collection of found poems a poem that instills a similar vivid sense of imagery that one would experience by the ocean. Her found poem, called â€Å"The Pathfinder of the Seas,† includes a variety of words and sentences that relate to sailing in the sea. They were extracted from other books related to scientific research of the sky and the sea. The author brings together these distinct elementsRead MorePathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernandez-Arm esto1063 Words   |  5 Pagestell--the story of how humans diverged over many millenia, and the story of how they later re-converged, lac[ing] the world together with routes of contact. Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto chronicles human exploration throughout history beginning with the peopling of the earth through the earliest pathfinders and continuing up to the near-present age of globalization. Felipe Fernà ¡ndez-Armesto is an historian and the William P. Reynolds Professor of History atRead MoreThe Shakespearean Sonnet Essay639 Words   |  3 Pagesover half of the marriages ending in divorce. Metaphorically, Shakespeare compares love to a motionless pathfinder which withstands the storm and is not swayed by it, and to a polestar which guides mariners at sea. The ship tossed in the storm, and the star that guides its way are images of great beauty and depth of feeling. The lost ship speaks to each and every individual lost in the sea of our own emotions. The star can be thought of in the astronomical as well as the astrological or metaphysicalRead MoreShamhat and Siduri Essay584 Words   |  3 PagesShamhat. The impact of those few days with Shamhat was very vast and it, virtually, made him a human being from the animal that he was. She made him eligible to go to Gilgamesh and be his soul brother. Gilgamesh met Siduri in her cottage by the sea on his journey to find Utnapishtim. Gilgamesh was devastated by Enkidus death. The immense grief and excruciating pain and also fear for death, that it caused to him had made him eager to seek immortality. Gilgamesh met Siduri in a very delicate stateRead MoreD Day During World War II1556 Words   |  7 Pageswas one of the most important things for the landings on the beaches. Eisenhower actually scheduled the invasion for June 5th, but had to call it off because of weather conditions. Eisenhower needed low tides, light winds, little cloud cover, and low seas for the invasion. The low tides were for the boats so they could hit land before the obstacles were placed. The light winds and little cloud cover played a major part. Light winds so that the ships missiles would not be blown off course and littleRead MoreThe Difference of Warfare between World War 1 and World War 21009 Words   |  5 PagesWar. The U.S. Navy linking with the Roy al Navy played a significant role in overcoming the German U-boats in the North Atlantic. The Germany Navy while technically effective disastrously diminished the German war effort. Germanys building of a High Seas Fleet was one of the causes that public view on Britain turned against Germany and that Britain come unto the War. Yet, the small U-boat fleet, showed a key competition to the British. In the early war, U-boats drowned three British cruisers, shockingRead MoreBlack Catholic Worship On The Sacred Liturgy1252 Words   |  6 Pagespriest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, who received a 10-minute ovation. Fr. Rivers pioneered what he termed â€Å"Soulfull Worship† and soon was joined by other composers and choir directors to bring a new musical wind into Catholic rites. These pathfinders showed how prayer in African American congregations could be both authentically Catholic and Black – by deftly blending traditional hymns and Gregorian chant with Spirituals , Gospel, and jazz as well as new compositions written expressly for CatholicRead MoreThe Oil Embargo of 1972-19731247 Words   |  5 Pagessuch a move, the leader thought that hed give an economic independence to his country. This move made by the patriarch of Nasserism caused retaliation from 3 military forces: the British, the French and the Israeli. On the other side of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia saw all that was happening with its neighbor. During the 1956 crisis, the Saudis decided to block all exportation to Britain and France but avoided cutting its oil production. From a political perspective, the 1956 crisis was both aRead MoreThe Battle Of Normandy And World War II1286 Words   |  6 Pagesthey were assigned on D-Day (Ambrose 145-147). The Allies did indeed put a huge effort into their training, for Stephen E Ambrose writes â€Å"No matter how brilliant the plan, no matter how effective the deception, no matter how intense the preinvasion sea and air bombardment, Ov erlord would fail if the assault squads did not advance.† (Ambrose 133). The Allies had begun loading their equipment on May 31, 1944, with plans to launch Operation Overlord on June 5(Ambrose 173). With countless months of planningRead MoreThe Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald1827 Words   |  8 Pagesso attentive and full of life that Carraway doubts he will ever find it †in any other person and†¦is not likely [to] ever [be found] again† (2). When Carraway first met Gatsby, the latter was shrouded with mystery, as he looked longingly across the sea. Comparable to an â€Å"intricate machine that registers earthquakes ten thousand miles away,† Gatsby does not follow the populace in that he radiates a sense of hope that is uncommon, if not rare, amongst the crowd of disillusioned people (2). †¢ Tom Buchanan—