The Sea Eats the Land at Home

Kofi Awoonor
At home the sea is in the town,
Running in and out of the cooking places,
Collecting the firewood from the hearths
And sending it back at night;
The sea eats the land at home.
It came one day at the dead of night,
Destroying the cement walls,
And carried away the fowls,
The cooking-pots and the ladles,
The sea eats the land at home;
It is a sad thing to hear the wails,
And the mourning shouts of the women,
Calling on all the gods they worship,
To protect them from the angry sea.
Aku stood outside where her cooking-pot stood,
With her two children shivering from the cold,
Her hands on her breasts,
Weeping mournfully.
Her ancestors have neglected her,
Her gods have deserted her,
It was a cold Sunday morning,
The storm was raging,
Goats and fowls were struggling in the water,
The angry water of the cruel sea;
The lap-lapping of the bark water at the shore,
And above the sobs and the deep and low moans,
Was the eternal hum of the living sea.
It has taken away their belongings
Adena has lost the trinkets which
Were her dowry and her joy,
In the sea that eats the land at home,
Eats the whole land at home.

Paragraph 1: language of invasion

Awoonor’s language of invasion depressingly conveys the loss of livelihood and dreams

Paragraph 2: introduction of characters

By introducing characters into the poem, he portrays human vulnerability in a heartrending way

Paragraph 3: helplessness against the forces of nature (reference the gods in this)
The poet depicts the hopelessness of the situation through the havoc caused by the sea
 Subject: the sea invades homes, robbing and destroying everything in its path

● Metaphor: This poem is seen as a commentary on colonialism, or the subjugation of a nation by a foreign
power—in this case, the centuries-long colonization of Ghana by European countries like Portugal and
England.
○ In this reading, the sea still symbolizes force, but the destructive force of a colonial power, which
ravages another land and its people. The metaphor of the sea that "eats the land at home" takes
on new meaning, symbolizing the way colonizers extracted natural resources from the countries
they conquered and oppressed and enslaved the people who lived there.

Quote/device Significance

Rhyme No rhyme scheme // unpredictable natural disaster that has caught an entire
town by surprise

Numerous commas and liberal use
of enjambment + present tense
Ongoing, unending, relentless onslaught of the sea
● Amplifies the power of the sea, showing its determination and intent in
its onslaught of the land
● Sweeps the reader into the story without giving them a break, symbolic
of the sea’s endless rampage

Title: The Sea Eats the Land at Diction: ‘eats’ the personification of the sea helps the reader to envision the sea
Home devouring the land, causing it to appear malicious, further highlighting the
devastation and chaos is occuring

Diction: ‘Home’ makes the reader think of a familiar place of security and
comfort; a sanctuary

The title immediately paints the image of water destroying a village and their
lives in the reader’s mind

‘Running… Collecting… sending... ● Personification of the sea brings it to life and makes its actions more
etc’ animated and powerful. This captures the seas living presence- a
capricious deity that man may propitiate but never control.

● Slowly the actions of the sea become more aggressive (“destroying”),

orchestrating an undercurrent of gradually heightening tension →
unease in the reader

‘Collecting the firewood’ Taking away the firewood is symbolic of robbing the civilians of comfort and
warmth.

● Not only extinguishes the literal fire, but the metaphorical fire and life
of the townspeople.

‘cement walls… fowls… cooking- The reference to domestic articles is a reminder that they have lost their safe
pots… ladles’
‘It came one day at the dead of the
night.’
‘The sea eats the land at home….
The sea eats the land at home;’
‘wails... women.... worship’
“Mourning shouts of the women”
‘the wails // And the mourning
shouts of the women, // calling on
all the gods they worship, // To
protect them from the angry sea’
“Aku stood outside where her
cooking-pot stood”
“With her two children shivering
from the cold, // Her hands on her
breasts, // Weeping mournfully.”
haven. The sea swept away their livestock, their food, and any item that brought
them comfort and security. The citizens are alone, and helpless.
● Elaborate a lot on this and how it evokes sympathy
● Written as if the sea made a conscious choice to destroy the town
● Diction: the fact that the action took place at that time demonstrates
the unexpectedness of it. It was as if the sea was sneaking up on the
villagers when they were at their most vulnerable state
The repetition of this line encapsulates the malevolent nature of the sea and
captures the tragic element of the poem. It reminds the speaker that the
sentient sea is hell-bent on causing pandemonium.
The alliterated wispy sound of ‘w’ produces a hushed effect. This highlights how
the women’s pleas went unheard
Assonance // moaning sound that recreates the deep, grief-stricken wails of the
women
This shows their helplessness and the torment that they are going through
● It tells us that the women are powerless. As all of their belongings get
washed away, all they can do is pray in desperation to spiritual beings.
No one on Earth is there to save them.
○ Religious imagery lends a spiritual fervour and desperation to
their pleas, underscoring their helplessness.
Past tense indicates that the cooking-pots are gone, insinuating a sense of loss
● He tells Aku’s story of how she was personally impacted, thus putting a
familiar face to the previously unnamed townspeople. By evoking
empathy in the reader, Awoonor makes ‘The Sea Eats the Land at
Home’ an exceptionally heartrending poem
○ Humanises their struggle
Repetition of “stood” suggests powerlessness in the face of the “angry sea”
Aku stands outside in inclement weather with nowhere to go. She stands in
what used to be her kitchen, a symbol of warmth and happiness. However, she
is not alone. She bears the burden of her 2 children. The weight of their future
and security falls on her shoulders, but in this distressing circumstance, there is
nothing much that she can do. Her ‘guardians’ should have been watching over
and protecting her. Instead, they abandoned her, and Aku is spiritually alone
● Her children are cold without the spiritual warmth of the cooking
 hearth
○ This picture, fresh in the reader’s mind, is exactly what makes
this poem so heart-felt and emotional.

‘Lap-lapping...and above the sobs These auditory images explore how the life force and power of the sea
and the deep and low moans… overcomes the civilians and their muffled cries for help. This suffocation and
eternal hum’ silencing of the citizen’s cries emphasises the human helplessness against the
malicious forces of nature.

‘Adena has lost her trinkets By explicitly stating that the trinkets represent her joy, Awoonor reminds the
which // Were her dowry and her reader that not only are material possessions gone, abstract articles are lost too:
joy’ Her security, her joy, and her sanctuary.

‘In the sea that eats the land at This repetition is crucial in making the poem so momentous and touching. It
home, // Eats the whole land at brings the poem full circle, and indicates that no one and nothing is left
home.’ unscathed. What started with taking away possessions turned to sweeping away
people, and finally engulfing the whole land.