The Kraken immediately came to me when I past the page in the
book. I have heard of this creature and seen it in movies, most recently, the clash of the Titans, and seems to resemble the creature in 20,000 leagues under the sea. But I think that is what Tennyson was going for, a descriptive poem about an abstract creature that has been referenced before but never given much character uther than its tremendous size and mystery.
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
The Kraken, here, is sleeping and being ominous, but it is always lurking with its "huge sponges of
millenial growth and height", making this a story of fairy tales and scaring little children at night.
"Then once by man and angles to be seen, In roaring he shall rise on the surface die". This is obviously
talking about an apocolypse, a christian one, where Angles and man will be on earth and he shall rise,
as if the end of the world wasn't bad enough, a Kraken, this huge ominous monster, will rise and wreck havock.
All the pictures I could find of these are of huge tentacled squid-like creatures. As seen to the left, the Kraken is
monstrous and would probably be a sight to see, if real.
In my personal experience, anytime a movie director/producer cannot think of a good monster name,
they use the KRAKEN. And there is a good reason behind it, it is the basis of most sea monsters
and is in many different cultures. The Kraken is always seen as being dormant and waiting, Hades in the
movie, The Clash of the Titans, yells "Release the Kraken" to symbolize the end of the world and
one of the most devastating things he could have done, he cannot control the Kraken, and he knows this, adding to the mythical lore, not even a God could control the Kraken, once released.
Jack,
ReplyDeleteInteresting and entertaining interweaving of literary discussion, pop culture references and even a visual aid! Good reaction to the poem, although at times the post diverges pretty far from Tennyson's poem. I guess it is not quite as thrilling as Clash of the Titans…
I LOVE the fact that you inserted a visual depiction. I think it adds more to your discussion about not only Tennyson's Kraken, but the Kraken as represented elsewhere. This is probably my favorite post of yours I've read!
ReplyDeleteGood choice for the visual age, personally I tend not to like things that are creepy but I am a fan of Clash of the Titans, so your comparison here got me interested.
ReplyDeleteReally like the picture. It does add more details to the discussion. I really like how the movie industry has created the Kraken in most movies dealing with the open sea and it is the beast that takes all lives.
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