Key Images In The Swimmers Moment By Margret Avison

In reading “The Swimmers Moment” by Margret Avison the first line Avison addresses the poem “for everyone” by doing so she allows readers to feel and picture the cross roads people deal with in the day to day life. The “whirlpool”, “Black pit”, and “deadly rapids” give the reader the image of death and danger. The reader then sees the swimmer is an active participant in the rough “whirlpool” of life who faces challenges and feels the moments of risk and crisis. The mood set along with these images is anxiety, where the “whirlpool” is dangerous to be in and many want to avoid. There are some people who do not want to take the risks and dive into said “whirlpool” and take the risk of not coming out victorious.

Another key image is “silver reaches of the estuary” which gives the reader peace and a calming feeling, that it is the calm after the storm. By giving the reader a peaceful ending allows the reader to feel as though the end is near, all the anxiety and build up throughout the poem by using “deadly rapids” “whirlpool” “blank-bland faces turn and turn” has come to an end and they are able to catch their breath. The special swimmers “where one or two have won” have their moment and achieve a private place/condition which only they have the “knowledge”.

The main literary device used is metaphor. Metaphor is another figure of speech which makes a comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics without using like or as. The comparisons maybe implied or hidden. The metaphor in The Swimmer's Moment is the whirlpool. The whirlpool represents a challenge that one must face at any time. Some people may miss it, ignore it, or they take the challenge head on. "By their refusal they are saved from the black pit" but if they are "saved" "And so their bland-blank faces turn and turn Pale and forever on the rim of suction" They will be bored "bland-blank faces" and they will be stuck on the sidelines forever "forever on the rim of suction. ". The people who do take on the challenge, "those who dare the knowledge", could either succeed or fail. "For them an eternal boon of privacy, so that we turn away from their defeat" or "Where one or two have won: (The silver reaches of the estuary)". Estuary means that part of the mouth or lower course of a river in which the river's current meets the sea's tide.