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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 and what endures. The phrase is also initiates the poem's
water references.
Greece and Rome
Referring to the Greek and Roman empires. Both empires have become symbols
of power, artistic accomplishment and longevity.
Armament
A metaphor that compares the crab's claws to military weapons, particularly
the weapons used on a ship. The metaphor emphasizes the claws' strength,
but this strength is elsewhere undercut.
Seaweed
Seaweed is a good example of imagery
(opens in new window - close window to return to this page) in the poem.
The word works on two senses, sight and smell. The word is also another
in the chain of references to water and ships. The tendency of loose,
seemingly unorganized seaweed to gather around objects is the ocean's
equivalent of weeds growing up around abandoned objects on land. Its
strong smell also suggests decay.
Rinse
Rinse continues the thread of references to water and ships in the poem.
But it is the first reference to a cleansing fresh water, as opposed
to the corrosive salt water, the kind brine, that begins the poem. The
turn to fresh water toward the end of the poem marks the poet's interest
in what endures past ruin; indeed it begins the suggestion that the
ruin the crab undergoes is might even be cleansing.
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