Loukos Scheffer

Mr. Augustowski

Poetry analysis The Maldive Shark

October 3rd, 2016

The Maldive Shark was a poem written in 1881, by American poet Herman Melville. As
the title implies the poem was inspired by the Maldives. While writing novels such as Moby
Dick is what Herman Melville is known for today, his novels were not considered as good as
they are today. Herman Melville gained most of his fame through poetry.

In the poem The Maldive Shark Herman Melville starts by portraying the shark as boring
and unfortunate, based on the way sharks normally look. He does this by using the terms
phlegmatical and sot, both of which have relatively negative connotations. Melville then changes
the tone as he starts to talk about the sharks symbiotic relationship with the pilot fish. He
changes the mood by using vocabulary to describe the pilot fish as azure. He uses the alliteration,
how alert in attendance be, as another method of changing the mood of the reader. Melville
then again changes the mood by using words such as maw, saw-pit, and charnel. The verses
where the poem talks about how the pilot fish interact with the shark tend to have a more awe-
inspiring mood, as conveyed via Herman Melvilles choice of words. This theme is continued
with the vocabulary choices, especially glide on his ghastly flank. This excerpt uses a bit of
alliteration, especially combined with the connotation of ghastly to portray the above mentioned
mood. This is also the case with the verses, or before his gorgonian head and, or lurk in his
port of serrated teeth. While these verses have the strong tone, their meaning is still about how
the pilot fish benefit from being around the shark. However, in the next portion of the poem, the
mood changes drastically. The verse, In white triple tiers of glittering gates does a very good
job or using alliteration and positive connotation to give the reader a much more positive and
happy mood. This mood continues for 3 more verses and is continued using vocabulary such as,
haven, fates, and friends, all of which have relatively positive connotation. These verses talk
about how pilot fish will seek shelter in the sharks mouth. The verse, they are friends; and
friendly they guide him to prey talks about how the pilot fish will guide the shark to prey, so it
can feed. The next verse, yet they never partake of the treat-, starts to bring the mood where it
should be for the last two verses and really serves as a bridge. The last two verses, Eyes and
brains to the dothard lethargic and dull, and pale ravener of horrible meat, again bring the
mood back into a sort of awe-inspiring mood. The mood is similar to the normal thought of
sharks that first comes to mind for most people. This comes across in the words dothard,
lethargic, dull, ravener, horrible, and meat. These words especially put together in this context
give a negative connotation, and help give a violent mood.
 The Maldive Shark portrays the symbiotic relationships that are very important in human
life. The relationship portrayed in the poem can happen with anybody, as the poem talks about a
big strong shark, relying upon a small pilot fish, and vice versa. This is important in everyday
life as we need those around us, no matter their size. Overall this poem is very good at portraying
an important symbiotic relationship which many of us can see in our own everyday lives.