“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Introduction

• Read the full text of “The Sea Eats the Land at Home”

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Summary

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Themes

• 

  The Power of Nature

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-32
• 

  The Devastation of Colonization

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-32
• 

  Loss of Home and Identity

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-32

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Sea Eats the Land at Home”

• Lines 1-4

  At home the ...
  ... back at night;

  

  

  

  

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• Line 5

  The sea eats ... land at home.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  It came one ...
  ... land at home;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-14

  It is a ...
  ... the angry sea.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-18

  Aku stood outside ...
  ... Weeping mournfully.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-20

  Her ancestors have ...
  ... have deserted her,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  It was a ...
  ... the cruel sea;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-27

  The lap-lapping of ...
  ... the living sea.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 28-30

  It has taken ...
  ... and her joy,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 31-32

  In the sea ...
  ... land at home.

  

  

  

  

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“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Symbols

• 

  The Sea

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-10
  • Line 14
  • Lines 22-28
  • Lines 31-32
• 

  The Gods and Ancestors

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 13-14: “Calling on all the gods they worship, / To protect them from the angry sea.”
  • Lines 19-20: “Her ancestors have neglected her, / Her gods have deserted her,”
• 

  Aku and Adena

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 15-20: “Aku stood outside where her cooking-pot stood, / With her two children shivering from the cold, / Her hands on her breasts, / Weeping mournfully. / Her ancestors have neglected her, / Her gods have deserted her,”
  • Lines 29-30: “Adena has lost the trinkets which / Were her dowry and her joy,”

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “cooking”
  • Line 3: “Collecting,” “firewood,” “from”
  • Line 6: “came,” “day,” “dead”
  • Line 7: “Destroying”
  • Line 8: “carried”
  • Line 9: “cooking”
  • Line 10: “sea”
  • Line 11: “sad,” “wails”
  • Line 12: “women”
  • Line 13: “worship”
  • Line 17: “Her,” “hands”
  • Line 21: “Sunday”
  • Line 22: “storm”
  • Line 23: “struggling”
  • Line 24: “sea”
  • Line 25: “lap-lapping”
  • Line 31: “home”
  • Line 32: “whole,” “home”

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “back,” “at”
  • Line 5: “sea,” “eats”
  • Line 6: “came,” “day,” “dead”
  • Line 7: “Destroying,” “cement”
  • Line 8: “away”
  • Line 9: “ladles”
  • Line 10: “sea,” “eats,” “at”
  • Line 11: “sad”
  • Line 13: “Calling on all,” “gods”
  • Line 15: “Aku,” “stood,” “cooking,” “stood”
  • Line 19: “ancestors,” “neglected”
  • Line 20: “deserted”
  • Line 25: “lap-lapping ”
  • Line 26: “low moans”
  • Line 28: “taken away”
  • Line 29: “trinkets which”
  • Line 30: “Were her”
  • Line 31: “sea,” “eats,” “home”
  • Line 32: “whole,” “home”

• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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  Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-3: “At home the sea is in the town, / Running in and out of the cooking places, / Collecting the firewood from the hearths”
  • Lines 8-9: “And carried away the fowls, / The cooking-pots and the ladles,”
  • Lines 16-18: “With her two children shivering from the cold, / Her hands on her breasts, / Weeping mournfully.”
  • Lines 19-25: “Her ancestors have neglected her, / Her gods have deserted her, / It was a cold Sunday morning, / The storm was raging, / Goats and fowls were struggling in the water, / The angry water of the cruel sea; / The lap-lapping of the bark water at the shore,”
  • Lines 31-32: “In the sea that eats the land at home, / Eats the whole land at home.”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “At,” “in,” “town”
  • Line 2: “Running,” “in,” “out,” “cooking”
  • Line 3: “Collecting,” “firewood”
  • Line 4: “sending,” “it,” “at,” “night”
  • Line 5: “eats,” “land,” “at”
  • Line 6: “It,” “dead,” “night”
  • Line 7: “Destroying,” “cement,” “walls”
  • Line 8: “carried,” “fowls”
  • Line 9: “cooking,” “pots,” “ladles”
  • Line 10: “eats,” “land,” “at”
  • Line 11: “It,” “sad,” “thing,” “to,” “wails”
  • Line 12: “mourning,” “shouts,” “women”
  • Line 13: “Calling,” “gods,” “worship”
  • Line 14: “angry”
  • Line 15: “stood,” “outside,” “cooking,” “stood”
  • Line 16: “two,” “children,” “shivering,” “cold”
  • Line 17: “hands,” “breasts”
  • Line 18: “Weeping”
  • Line 19: “ancestors,” “neglected,” “her”
  • Line 20: “gods,” “deserted,” “her”
  • Line 21: “It,” “cold,” “morning”
  • Line 22: “storm,” “raging”
  • Line 23: “Goats,” “fowls,” “struggling,” “water”
  • Line 24: “angry,” “water,” “cruel”
  • Line 25: “lap,” “lapping,” “water,” “at”
  • Line 26: “above,” “sobs,” “moans”
  • Line 27: “eternal,” “living”
  • Line 28: “taken,” “belongings”
  • Line 29: “lost,” “trinkets,” “which”
  • Line 30: “Were,” “dowry,” “joy”
  • Line 31: “that,” “eats,” “land,” “at,” “home”
  • Line 32: “Eats,” “land,” “home”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 3-4: “hearths / And”
  • Lines 29-30: “which / Were”

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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  Where imagery appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-13
  • Lines 15-18
  • Lines 21-27
  • Lines 31-32

• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where extended metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-32

• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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  Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1
  • Lines 5-6
  • Lines 10-18
  • Lines 25-27
  • Lines 29-32

• Personification

  

  

  

  

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  Where personification appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-10: “At home the sea is in the town, / Running in and out of the cooking places, / Collecting the firewood from the hearths / And sending it back at night; / The sea eats the land at home. / It came one day at the dead of night, / Destroying the cement walls, / And carried away the fowls, / The cooking-pots and the ladles, / The sea eats the land at home;”
  • Line 14: “the angry sea.”
  • Line 24: “The angry water of the cruel sea;”
  • Line 27: “the eternal hum of the living sea.”
  • Line 28: “It has taken away their belongings”
  • Lines 31-32: “ the sea that eats the land at home, / Eats the whole land at home.”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “At home,” “the sea”
  • Line 4: “night”
  • Line 5: “The sea eats the land at home.”
  • Line 6: “night”
  • Line 8: “carried away,” “the fowls,”
  • Line 9: “The cooking-pots”
  • Line 10: “The sea eats the land at home;”
  • Line 13: “the gods”
  • Line 14: “the angry sea.”
  • Line 15: “stood,” “cooking-pot,” “stood”
  • Line 17: “Her”
  • Line 19: “Her,” “her”
  • Line 20: “Her,” “gods,” “her”
  • Line 23: “fowls,” “the water,”
  • Line 24: “The,” “water,” “the cruel sea”
  • Line 25: “The,” “water”
  • Line 27: “the living sea.”
  • Line 28: “taken away”
  • Lines 31-32: “the sea that eats the land at home, / Eats the whole land at home.”

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” 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.

• Hearths
• Fowls
• Wails
• Ancestors
• Trinkets
• Dowry

• (Location in poem: Line 3: “Collecting the firewood from the hearths”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Sea Eats the Land at Home”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Speaker

“The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Sea Eats the Land at Home”

More “The Sea Eats the Land at Home” Resources

• External Resources

  • Kofi Awoonor's Obituary — An obituary of the poet, tracing the cultural and familial roots of his poetry.

  • The Colonization of Ghana — A Khan Academy video chronicling the history of Ghana's colonization by Britain.

  • Ewe Funeral Dirge — Listen to the Smithsonian Folkways Recording's of an Ewe funeral dirge.

  • Kofi Awoonor's Life Story — A biography of the poet at the Poetry Foundation.

  • "Home" in Ghanaian Poetry — This article discusses “home” in Ghanaian poetry focusing on three well-regarded poets: Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, and Mawuli Adze.