cud anyone describe in brief or tell a site that describe the theme of "abroad at a ship's helm" and "the moon is distant from the sea" please. im not sure if i understood the themes of both the poems. after understanding it i might be able to tell if both have similar themes or not.

Answer 1

Isn't Aboard at a ship's helm about a ship on a ship? Two ships sailing, one through the water, the other through life.

In the Moon is distant from the Sea, isn't Emily putting the sea and the moon as lovers, then in the last comparing herself to her love?

Answer 2

This site will give you some ideas on the Dickenson poem.

http://www.eliteskills.com/analysis_poetry/The_Moon_is_distant_from_the_Sea_by_Emily_Dickinson_analysis.php

Answer 3

ok this was little helpful. thanx :)

now pls correct me if im wrong.
the themes of both poems deal with finding direction in life. however the only difference is that in Aboard at a ship's helm talks about finding personal direction within a person and in the Moon is distant from the Sea it talks about finding personal direction with an external source.

Answer 4

Yes, I agree, however I am not so confident that Emily sees her love as external, nor the moon distant from the sea. My view is that she sees the Moon and Sea as one, and herself and her love as one, in a unison.

The beauty of poems that we call can get individual meanings.

Answer 5

on that note i too kind of get a new idea of it. secondly since u described ur thoughts i realized that the moon and sun doesnt have any force on each other! am i right!?

Answer 6

Good ideas in here. Go with your own thinking, now -- you've spent about 4 hours in this thread that you could have been spending writing up your assignment.

Answer 7

lolss well well its good to get good ideas to and fro :) but that way i shall become even more smarter at understanding poems since im not an expert with it! neways thanx for the gr8 convo and insight on the poems!

Answer 8

Poetry is not easy, that's for sure. Here's a couple of websites that give really good ideas for how to read and re-read and re-read a poem and work on understanding it -- and then being able to write about it.

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/poetry-explication.html

http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/markport/best/study/poetry.htm

PS -- Don't let the word "explication" bother you; it's just a fancy way to say explanation, line-by-line!

Answer 9

wow!!!!!!!!! very helpful! thanx a lot!!!!!