The Surfer by Judith Wright: A poetry Analysis

The Surfer by Judith Wright describes an event of which a surfer is out in the sea having a fun time, taking everything in that happens to him. When the sun starts to set, and it becomes twilight, the reader gets the image of the roughness of the waves. It describes the surfers day at the beach. The message that the poet is trying to portray is the ocean waves that is harmless in the daylight, but when it gets dark, it’s a whole new world. The poem is told from an onlooker to the scene, watching the surfer going out in the waves and then how he comes back and sees the violence of the waves. This poem is convincing of the theme and message because of the descriptive words that are used. Within this poem, the mood shifts from one of joy at the surf, “as he is in the water, with delight,” to caution, “turn home… last leaf of gold vanishes,” As the poem ends, the mood is much more sombre and illustrates the danger of the ocean “grey wolf, sea lies snarling.” The structure of the poem is a three stanza free verse. This best conveys the change in mood from one of joy and closeness with the sea to that of caution and danger; some affective words that the poet has used to create different meanings are some such as ‘hawthorn hedges”. This describes the roughness on the surfers face, and the hawthorns hedges more prickly in the summer. The poet also uses the technique of personification, “twilight wind splits the waves”, this creates the image of the sun setting as it is going to the darkness and the waves start to become unknown and ferocious. The whole last stanza is a symbolism of the waves at the end of the day. In this poem, there is no rhythm because it is a free verse poem. This is when the poem does not end at the same place every line or phrase. Rhyme can be found throughout the poem, “curve and serve.” Alliteration is showed too, “Mortal, masterful…” this shows the waves and how the surfer and the onlooker are feeling. There is no direct speech used in the poem. The poet wanted to tell the reader that the surf is dangerous and that some things that we think are fun and safe, end up being more dangerous then we ever would have dreamed of. This message was clear and the impact of the imagery made the poem more enjoyable to read.