The Sea Eats the Land At Home Essay Questions

Explain the possible allegorical interpretation of this poem.

This poem is literally about a flood destroying a coastal town in Africa, but read metaphorically, the flood serves as an allegory for colonialism. The flood "came one day at the dead of night," implying a sudden, military-like invasion. It is described as eating the land, possibly a comment on the extractive nature of colonial policies. The flood exerts damage on physical, emotional, and social levels. For instance, it is described as "Destroying the cement walls," perhaps a commentary on the infrastructural and material damage of colonization and war. But it also causes people to feel abandoned by deities, and it wears away at family ties by destroying dowries and domestic tools like cooking pots. In this way, the poem suggests that colonialism can cause damage by exerting psychological trauma and eroding preexisting communal relationships and traditions.

Discuss the effect of the refrain "The sea eats the land at home."

The phrase "The sea eats the land at home" occurs three times in the poem, and an additional fourth time in its title. By closing out the first two stanzas like a chorus, it hints subtly at ballads and other repetitive folk music, creating a mythologizing, stylized effect. Yet it is also repeated at the end of the poem as a whole, long after other allusions to myth and folklore have been dropped in favor of a more realist approach. With this final occurrence, the refrain serves as a point of connection between the two modes of description. It suggests that an event can have tragic, mythic proportions, while still creating emotions and conflicts on a very human scale.