Figurative Language In Robert Robertson's Poem

I was compelled to write an anthology on this poem because I liked how it focussed on a person’s imperfections rather than their strengths. The character in this poem, as he states in the first three stanzas, is weary and fatigued from his long swim; something I can relate to after countless swim practices. Another feature which caught my attention was the fact that the author chose to include his character fantasizing another life for himself, which was both sentimental and unusual.

This poem, formatted into free verse (meaning it does not have rhyme or a regular meter) tercets (stanzas that consist of three lines), contains figurative language (language that contains or uses figures of speech) such as similes (a figure of speech that makes a comparison) and metaphors (comparisons of one thing to another without the use of like or as). “The currents pull like weeds”, a simile located in the third stanza, gives the reader extra detail so we can further understand the struggle the speaker is experiencing. Robert Robertson also includes a small metaphor in his second stanza’s first and
This play on words can be found in the last tercet of the poem reading, “and back to their beautiful mother”, “who smiles at them, looks up”, and “from her magazine, and waves.” Once you have read that last line you will most likely make the connect that the title of this poem is waves, but, hopefully, it will cause you to dig deeper. As a result of the setting being at a beach, and it not mentioning anything else about waves, the poem starts getting the reader to question and make hypotheses about what has happened. Such questions may include, “what is the women doing, waving hello or goodbye?” or “is she a memory or a figure of imagination?”, and it is these questions that lead to a better re-reading of the poem for a