Poetry · Chapter
On the Beach at Fontana explained
The speaker describes a bleak, windswept beach where he wraps a trembling boy in his arms for warmth, feeling a deep and unending ache of love amidst the surrounding fear and darkness.
What happens
The speaker describes a bleak, windswept beach where he wraps a trembling boy in his arms for warmth, feeling a deep and unending ache of love amidst the surrounding fear and darkness.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and Mood
The whining wind, groaning pierstakes, and senile sea create a mood of desolation and fear.
Love and Longing
The speaker's protective embrace and 'deep unending ache of love' highlight a profound, enduring love.
Mortality and Sleep
The senile sea and descending darkness evoke mortality and the fragility of life.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“Wind whines and whines the shingle, The crazy pierstakes groan; A senile sea numbers each single Slimesilvered stone.”
The wind moans across the pebbles, the unstable pier stakes creak, and the aged sea counts every slime-coated stone.
Establishes the bleak, unsettling atmosphere.
“From whining wind and colder Grey sea I wrap him warm And touch his trembling fineboned shoulder And boyish arm.”
I shelter him from the cold wind and grey sea, holding him close and feeling his fragile, trembling shoulder and arm.
Shows the speaker's protective, tender action.
“Around us fear, descending Darkness of fear above And in my heart how deep unending Ache of love!”
Fear surrounds us, a darkening fear from above, while inside me there is a profound, endless ache of love.
Contrasts external fear with internal, enduring love.