Download Document

Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies
-
William Shakespeare
This poem is taken from Act I, scene II of Shakespeare's famous play “The Tempest". It is a song
sung by the spirit, Arial, to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who thinks his father, is drowned.
Arial says to Ferdinand that his father lies five fathoms (thirty feet) below the surface of the sea.
His body has undergone a great change. It has changed to something beautiful and strange. The bones
have changed into coral. His eyes have been changed into pearls. Every part of his body has changed to
something permanent and beautiful which is never going to change or fade like the body of flesh and
bones. And the sea Nymphs ring the death bell every hour. Arial says that he can hear ding-dong bell
even there.
The poem is musical. The musicality is given by the figure of speech like onomatopoeia,
alliteration and assonance used in the poem. In the First line of the poem 'f' sound is repeated - 'full
fathom five thy father lies'. This repetition of a consonant sound is alliteration. In the same time the vowel
sound 'i' is repeated in 'thy' & 'lies'. This repetition of a vowel sound is called assonance. The sound
‘Ding-Dong' refers to the bell which produces this sound. It gives the sound like the ringing of the bells.
This is an example of onomatopoeia. All these sounds give a musical effect to the poem.
In this short musical poem, the poet has expressed his view on life after death. He believes that
death is an entrance into permanent spiritual life which is more beautiful than the physical existence. Thus
death is not the end of life but the beginning.