“Basking Shark”

Question 1

“on a rock”

Answer 1

• metaphor
  compares shark to the rock, bulky or solid without feeling or intelligence, could still cause harm

Question 2

“roomsized monster”

Answer 2

• metaphor
  “roomsized emphasises vast size, monster low down on evolutionary scale.”

Question 3

“matchbox brain”

Answer 3

• comparison
  while the shark is large it lacks intelligence which makes it dangerous, the poet believes humanity is superior.

Question 4

“he displaced more than water”

Answer 4

shark makes him rethink his life and man’s position in it.