The Haunted Beach

Robinson begins this poem by setting a rather dim mood. She describes the landscape as "lonely" and "haunted". He describes the ocean and surrounding caves as "yawning" with "shad'wy jaws". After the first few descriptions we see that this beach is a dismal place where one could also feel very erie. Throughout the poem, Robinson ends each stanza describing the "green billows", this monotonous, almost hypnotic description, adds the the erie mood. This escalation makes the reader believe that there is something more to this story than what simply is described. We find out that the body of a mariner lay dead in the sea weed while the waves roll it about. When the fisherman sees this it is a sight he will never forget. "Destin'd mis'ry to sustain", Robinson tells us that the fisherman will forever be haunted by that night.

I believe it wasn't the sight itself but the atmosphere in which he saw the lifeless body that haunts him. When seeing a dead body it is not always terrifying, it could even be somewhat peaceful to some, such as seeing an undisturbed body laying in a casket at a funeral. The difference between the sights of dead bodies is in the context they are seen. As many Loyola students know, a body was seen by students washed up against the rocks outside of Lake Michigan. I had a friend who had seen the body personally, and though she was disturbed by it, I could tell it was something she was not terrified by. It was not an event that will haunt her for the rest of her life like the fisherman in Robinson's poem. The difference between the two is that in the case on Lake Michigan there was no haunting environment to further the horrible scene. Nonetheless, seeing a dead body in real life is most always disturbing, but can have different effects depending on the situation. Here's a link to the article of the body found on the shores of Loyola.

http://cbs2chicago.com/local/loyola.body.found.2.1305948.html