"Like an Heiress" was first collected in Grace Nichols's 2020 book Passport to Here and There. In this uneasy poem, a speaker stands on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and is amazed by its beauty—but also by the fistfuls of plastic trash the waves are throwing up on the beach. Nature, in this poem, is a source of wealth and wisdom, an inheritance that one generation passes to the next. Sadly, however, the poem shows that humanity doesn't seem to be treating this great gift with respect or care.

• Read the full text of “Like an Heiress”

• “Like an Heiress” Summary

• “Like an Heiress” Themes

  • 

    Humanity's Destruction of Nature

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-14
  • 

    Natural Beauty and Heritage

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3
    • Lines 9-14

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Like an Heiress”

  • Lines 1-3

    Like an heiress, ...
    ... oceanic small days.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 4-7

    But the beach ...
    ... an ocean's moodswings.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 8-10

    Undisturbed, not even ...
    ... gleam of Atlantic

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 11-14

    before heading back ...
    ... of our planet.

    

    

    

    

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• “Like an Heiress” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-3: “Like an heiress, drawn to the light of her / eye-catching jewels, Atlantic draws me / to the mirror of my oceanic small days.”
    • Line 11: “before heading back like a tourist”

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “the mirror of my oceanic small days”
    • Line 7: “an ocean's moodswings”
    • Line 9: “the sun's burning treasury”

  • Enjambment

    

    

    

    

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    Where enjambment appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “her / eye-catching”
    • Lines 2-3: “me / to”
    • Lines 4-5: “lone / wave”
    • Lines 6-7: “cups / rightly”
    • Lines 9-10: “treasury / gazing”
    • Lines 10-11: “Atlantic / before”
    • Lines 11-12: “tourist / to”
    • Lines 12-13: “room / to”
    • Lines 13-14: “coolness / on”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Lines 6-7: “car tyres, plastic bottles, styrofoam cups / rightly tossed back by”
    • Line 8: “Undisturbed,” “by,” “seabird”
    • Line 9: “stand under,” “sun's burning”
    • Line 11: “tourist”
    • Line 12: “to,” “sanctuary”
    • Line 13: “dwell,” “air-conditioned coolness”
    • Line 14: “quickening”

  • Pun

    

    

    

    

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    Where pun appears in the poem:

    • Lines 13-14: “to dwell in the air-conditioned coolness / on the quickening years and fate of our planet”

• “Like an Heiress” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Heiress
  • Seawall
  • Sun's burning treasury
  • Sanctuary
  • Dwell
  • (Location in poem: Line 1: “Like an heiress”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Like an Heiress”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Like an Heiress” Speaker

• “Like an Heiress” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Like an Heiress”

• More “Like an Heiress” Resources

  • External Resources

    • A Short Biography — Learn more about Nichols's life and work.

    • "Except for the Lone Wave" — Compare and contrast "Like an Heiress" with "Except for the Lone Wave": an earlier (and markedly different) version of this poem.

    • Passport to Here and There — Read more about the 2020 book in which this poem was collected.

    • An Interview with Nichols — Read an interview in which Nichols discusses her poetic process.

    • The Poem Aloud — Listen to a reading of the poem.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Grace Nichols

    • Hurricane Hits England

    • Island Man

    • Praise Song for My Mother

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