Oread Essay Questions

What gives this poem its power?

One of the most striking qualities of "Oread" is its simultaneous immediacy, and its projection of desire onto a metaphorical and mythical scene. The energy of the poem is fervent and yet constrained in its scope, confined to just a few simple lines. Although the imagery is climactic, and even sexual, in nature, the poem ends with a tender stasis that evokes the universal desire for contact and comfort. The verbs are intense and forceful at first: "whirl," "splash," "hurl," and then vulnerable and pleading by the end: "cover us." The diction is structured in the imperative with commands, which build with strength comparable to that of the sea or an old pine. The entire poem, in its metaphor of waves, alights on a fundamental human truth: our simultaneous embodiment of indomitable potency, stalwart desire, and energetic expression, and the necessity for shelter, retreat, and a relinquishing of power. The poem gestures to an exchange between two entities (presumably an oread and her love object)—and addresses the dynamism and complexity of power shifts, sensation, and verbalization that come with a desire for connection.

What function does the ocean serve in this poem?

The ocean is always a potent metaphor, both in its universal, mythical familiarity, and in its awesome power of movement and mystery. The richness of such a metaphor allows the poem to speak simultaneously about the psyche, sexuality, and larger, existential questions. The poem, with its oceanic imagery, actually allows for two displacements: the displacement of desire onto the perspective of a mythical creature, and the displacement of the sea's qualities onto a metaphor of pine trees. These displacements show, perhaps, how such an outpouring of desire or feeling is often too intense to experience and express directly, and, as Freud has shown us, needs to be expressed in an oblique or roundabout way.