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The Ocean

Oceanic imagery appears in each of the poem’s three stanzas, and this imagery serves two symbolic purposes. One symbolic purpose relates to the ocean’s turbulent surface, and the other relates to its startling depth. In the first place, the ocean symbolizes the constant and dynamic nature of transformation. The speaker indicates as much in the second stanza, where they describe how “the windings of the sea” (line 11) subvert the final stasis associated with death. The poem echoes this dynamism on a formal level as well. The poem has a continuously shifting meter that mimics the ceaseless motion of the sea’s turbulent surface. In addition to symbolizing the constant nature of transformation, the ocean symbolizes the abstract depths from which we may always rise again. These depths could be emotional or psychological, as in the phrase, “in the depths of despair.” They could also refer to material forms of desolation, as figured in the image of being buried under a mountain of debt. But regardless of the specific meaning, the speaker claims that no matter how “deep” the trouble may be, there’s always a way back up to the surface: “Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again” (line 7).

The Wind and the West Moon

In the first stanza, the speaker references “the wind” and “the west moon” as part of an enigmatic vision of the cosmos (lines 2–5):

        Dead men naked they shall be one
        With the man in the wind and the west moon;
        When their bones are picked clean and the clean bones gone,
        They shall have stars at elbow and foot.

Overall, this passage conjures an image of eternity, when all things become one and coexist in a timeless stasis. Within this timeless eternity, men’s skeletons will float in a cosmic void with “stars at elbow and foot.” Though these men are, as the speaker tells us, officially “dead,” the eternal oneness of the cosmos brings the living and the dead into a unity. That is, the deceased “shall be one / With the man in the wind and the west moon.” The relationship between “the wind” and “the west moon” stands in as a symbolic contrast for life and death. Wind, for instance, is essential for the health of the atmosphere, and it therefore sustains life. By contrast, the image of the moon in the west symbolizes decline and death. Just like the sun, the moon sets in the west, and the image of these cosmic bodies passing over the horizon has been a traditional symbol for death. Here, however, these symbols of life and death coexist in an eternal balance.

The Sun

In the poem’s final lines (26–27), the speaker references the sun and its eventual breakdown:

        Break in the sun till the sun breaks down,
        And death shall have no dominion.

This image of the sun’s breakdown offers an apocalyptic vision of an end to all life on this planet. When the sun eventually falters and ceases to produce either light or heat, then life will no longer be able to survive on Earth. Logically, the breakdown of the sun betokens absolute extinction and the end of all existence on the planet. Yet even here, the speaker confounds logic by persisting in their claim that “death shall have no dominion.” In this case, it would seem that the speaker maintains faith in the everlasting nature of the universe at large. That is to say, even when the sun explodes and decimates all known forms of life, the wider universe will remain, and its vast machinations will continue on indefinitely.

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