Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- How does the iambic trimeter form contribute to the poem's sound and setting? How does the form help the poem make meaning, in other words?
- What does the sea appear to symbolize in the poem? What about the land?
- Why is that "standing gull" so important to the poem's themes? What does it appear to symbolize in relation to the "people along the sand"?
- If the people can't "look out far" and can't "look in deep," why do they bother staring at the sea all day? Is the speaker trying to also say something about human nature? What makes you say so?
- What's the real difference between the land and the sea here? And why is that a useful contrast for the speaker?