"The Kraken" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Chaucer, and Tale

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, 
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; 
And far away into the sickly light, 
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.

I really like the imagery Tennyson uses in this poem to bring to life the famed Nordic sea monster. His words seem to flow into a scary tale of the mysterious Kraken.

Paraphrase: 

In the deep sea, a kraken sleeps. Very little light illuminates him and his size. Around him winnow large amounts of polypi from a cave. The kraken has lied here for ages and will for many more eating sea-worms. Until the apocalypse, in which the kraken shall rise to surface roaring and die.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40372078?&Search=yes&searchText=chaucer&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dchaucer%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3Dchaucher%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Da%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=14&ttl=38140&returnArticleService=showFullText

This fascinating article on JSTOR describes Chaucer's tombstone and the two quotes that adorn it showing how they represent his life and work.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/25093259?&Search=yes&searchText=Wife&searchText=Bath&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3D%2528Wife%2Bof%2BBath%2529%26Search%3DSearch%26gw%3Djtx%26prq%3D%2528Wife%2Bof%2BBath%2529%2BAND%2Biid%253A%252810.2307%252Fi40016338%2529%26hp%3D25%26acc%3Don%26aori%3Doff%26wc%3Don%26fc%3Doff&prevSearch=&item=3&ttl=36984&returnArticleService=showFullText

This fascinating article again on JSTOR examines Chaucer's specific choice to have the Wife of Bath have five husbands. The author notes that Chaucer and other medieval writers were influences by number theory and the beauty of numbers.

Note that you will have to use the EA libraries login to view the JSTOR articles.

"The Kraken" by Alfred Lord Tennyson Recording



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