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Brine
A paradox: we usually think of brine, which is salt water, as harsh
or corrosive, not "kind." But brine is also a pickling agent, and hence
preservative too. For reason, the brine is kind. This tension between
what corrosion and preservation participates in the poems interest in
what is ruined (opens
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The phrase is also initiates the poem's water references.
Patinated
Patinated means developing a patina. A patina is the green film that
copper and copper alloys (such as bronze) develop with age. The word
has ambiguous connations. It is asscoiated with decay or corrosion,
but having a patina can also connote an enrichment by age. See the chain
of associations around what is ruined
(opens in new window - close window to return to this page) and what
endures.
Muscular
Muscular suggests the crab's strength, but the word is undercut both
by the adjective "oddly" and by the crab's fate. The word participates
in the set of associations of strength and vulnerability. Scuttle Scuttling
is a wonderfully multilayered word in this poem. To "scuttle" is to
scurry, a sense of the word that accords with the awkwardness and vulnerability
of the crab. On the other other hand, to "scuttle" can also mean to
sink a ship by putting a hole in it. Since the crab's claws are compared
to "scuttling works of armament," this meaning is also implied, and
emphasizes the strength rather than weakness of the crab. But since,
as we discover, it is the crab who is scuttled--by the gull--rather
than doing the scuttling, we are finally drawn again toward the crab's
weakness. See strength and
vulnerability (opens in new window - close window to return to this
page).
Gesture
Gesture literally means movement. The crab is strong; it's foreclaws
move with "menace and power." But gesture also has a strong connotation
of incompletion or merely symbolic action. "That was a nice gesture,
but it didn't solve the problem." Hence the word both asserts the strength
of the crab and undercuts this assertion. See strength
and vulnerability (opens in new window - close window to return
to this page).
Chamber
"Chamber," a metaphor for the center of the crab, can refer to a large,
grand room, but here this meaning is undercut both by the relative smallness
of the crab and by an alternative association of the word with the chambers
of the heart. The word thus glances at the possible majesty of the crab,
but also recalls its biological vulnerability. See strength and vulnerability.
Demitasse
A demitasse is a small cup, usually for coffee. In contrast to the preceding
metaphor "chamber," demitasse emphasizes the small size of the crab
(and also, that, like coffee, it is something to be consumed). Yet where
"chamber" begins with a sense of strength and is then undercut, "demitasse"
works in a somewhat opposite fashion. Its sense of smallness is modfied
by the grandness of the word.
Demitasse suggests a world of luxury and elegance; it is the kind of
cup one might enjoy in the chamber of a grand hotel. Hence the pairing
of "chamber" and "demitasse" beautifully preserves the poem's ambiguous
representation of the crab as both great and small. "Chamber" and "demitasse"
are not only opposite words, but each word also carries within it an
opposite sense that it is in turn opposite to the opposite word's internally
opposite sense. (A grand and elegant effect through a couple small words!).
The elegance of a demitasse cup--something an artist in a grand hotel,
or a cafe, might sip--also associates the crab with art
(opens in new window - close window to return to this page) and
cultural production.
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