The poem ‘ The Dolphins’ is a dramatic monologue that is narrated from the perspective of a dolphin. The dolphin is reminiscent of its previous free life in the ocean. One witness the emotions of a once-free dolphin which is now restricted to an aquarium or a water park with the sole purpose of doing what its ‘master’ or trainer tells it to do.
Introduction-
Poem’s name- The Dolphins
Poet’s name- Carol Ann Duffy
Genre- Dramatic Monologue
Language- English
About the Poem
In the poem, ‘The Dolphins, Carol Ann Duffy lends a voice to a dolphin to express its feelings about living in a pool or aquarium in its own words. The dolphins describe their life of thralldom and how it has been different from the life when they enjoyed complete freedom in the vast ocean.
The poem opens with the dolphins simply saying what a true ‘world’ would be like, ‘World is what you swim in, or dance, it is simple’. This is the kind of world that the dolphin used to live in earlier and so well depicted by the simple phrase ‘it is simple’. But now they are forced to live in an aquarium. Though they are in their ‘element’, that is, in water, they are not free. Freedom is what the dolphin finds most important to be happy.
There is a man constantly guiding their movements through hoops. there is constant flowing guilt in their life- of bondage. The dolphins do not find comfort and ease in the pool and are unhappy, being regulated and restricted as they cannot do anything they want.
Rather, they have to work on the tunes and whistles as the man wants them to perform to entertain the people. The dolphin constantly repeats the phrase ‘same space’ to highlight the monotony and confinement its life undergoes in the aquarium or the pool.
About the Poet
The poet of the poem ‘The Dolphins’ is Dame Carol Ann Duffy. She was born on 23rd December 1955, in Glasgow, Scotland. She was born to a Roman Catholic family in the Gorbals. She was a very passionate reader from an early age, and she always wanted to become a writer, producing poems from age 11. Her name is among one of the most significant contemporary British poets.
Carol has achieved that rare feat of both critical and commercial success. Her work is read and enjoyed by academics, lay readers as well as critics, and it regularly features on both university syllabuses and school syllabuses. Some of her famous poems include- Safe Sounds, War Photographer, Spell, If I Was Dead, Sung, Little Red Cap, Anne Hathaway, and many others. She also writes picture books for children, and some of these include- The Tear Thief, Moon Zoo, Underwater Farmyard and The Princess’s Blankets.
Carol is also an acclaimed playwright and has had plays performed at the Liverpool Playhouse and the Almeida Theater in London. She currently lives in Manchester and is the Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.
Theme
The poem is a dramatic monologue that is written from the perspective of a dolphin. The mood of the entire poem revolves around the desponding state of the dolphins that are drained of hope and freedom, and are confined within the barricades of a man-made environment. The poem deals with themes relating to oppression, lack of freedom, and confinement.
The dolphin does not narrate something merely objectively but it reveals its feelings, sadness, hopelessness, monotony and also its fellow-feeling for the other dolphin. Through the monologue of the dolphin, the poet presents the abuse of animals at the hands of man. She protests against this kind of exploitation and injustice against animals.
This poem indirectly gives us a strong message that man has been cruel to nature and its components, and he should stop it right away. The poet attacks the human prejudice called speciesism and demands the protection of the rights of animals which we consider to be inferior to us and thus inflict ill-treatment upon them to use them for our needs and entertainment.
Famous quotes from the poem:
“World is what you swim in, or dance, it is simple’’
“There is a constant flowing guilt’’
“It is the same space and above it is the man’’
“The other know and out of love reflects me for me’’
“We see our silver skin flash by like memory of somewhere else’’
“There is a man and our mind knows we will die here’’
Endnote
The poem is a very well depiction of the cruelty faced by animals. The poem teaches humans a lot of life lessons too.
My ratings for the poem are 4.5 out of 5
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Written by-Pranika Kothari
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