Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
[FOR WARREN WINSLOW, DEAD AT SEA]
Let man have dominion over the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and the beasts of the whole earth, and every creeping creature that moveth upon the earth.
- Whoa, heavy. We begin with a dedication and a verse. Before we get to the Biblical stuff, let's talk about the dedication.
- Warren Winslow, whom we already know died at sea, was Lowell's cousin. His entire naval crew died aboard their ship after an explosion, and his body was never recovered, poor guy. (Source.)
- We guess poets like Lowell write long elegiac poems instead of just sending a Hallmark card.
- Okay, epigraph time. First let's figure out what an epigraph is and why poets use them. Epigraphs are a short quotation at the beginning of the poem intended to introduce the poem. In this case, it's the last word between the title and actual poem. It's meant to preside over the entire poem, much like the title, but often in somebody else's words.
- In this case, the verse is from Genesis 1:26. It's all about the responsibility and power of man, who has "dominion" over all life.
- Now does that seem strange for a poem dedicated to a guy who was ultimately overpowered by the sea? Apparently our power doesn't extend to water, only to "every creeping creature" on earth. There are some things we can't always overpower, apparently, and the sea is one of them. At least, it was in poor Warren's case.