Cargo Hulks

Cargo Hulks

By Peter Tower

Ramshackle barges
limp the coastal passages
carrying hogfuel and sulphur
to the ever-hungry mills—
food for the insatiable
bellies of the digesters,
ammunition for the smokestacks
to vomit at the gulls.

Cargo hulks
stripped of masts and superstructure—
name rank identity
any vestige of esteem
they flounder through waves
like great gutted whales
behind the structuring tugboats
and they dream

of full sail—
ferocious high seas thundering,
merciless Antarctic gales,
and howling challenge of the Horn,
shrouds under full stress bulging
like a trumpet player’s cheeks –
the pitching the early foundering
the forging on

to dolphin country
in the long rolling heat
past stark coasts where volcanoes growl
like old men in beds –
equatorial becalmings –
deckboards cracking in the sun –
parched voices croaking for a wind
on the hard green road

Blowing north again
before a good kicking gust
through starhung climbing nights
and new-minted days
to drop anchor at last
winner of the harrowing marathon
before new-raised cabins smoking welcome
in the pioneer bays

Memories melting
in the cold reality of the rain
they wake to ultimate winters by wharves
in the overwhelming stink
become mere pawns
in the same industrial equation
that fouls the water brown foaming
along their flanks.

Summary of Cargo Hulks

  • Popularity of “Cargo Hulks”: The poem ‘Cargo Hulks’ was written by Peter Gerard Tower, a Canadian poet, writer, and novelist. The poem first appeared in 2002 in his collection There are Many Ways: New and Revised Poems. The unique quality of this poetic diction lies in the personifications the poet has used from his own life experience. The verses show the poet’s own experience in working on the ports, which is deeply entrenched in the poet’s psyche.
  • “Cargo Hulks” As a Representative of Industrialization: Peter Tower opens the poem with dry wording, saying barges are ramshackle. They are limping in the docks carrying different raw materials for the hungry mills. They digest this entire ammunition and retch out smoke at the gulls. This cargo does not have any identity when it arrives with tugboats. Some of it arrives from Antarctica, while others come from several other places. The poet also outlines the passage through which these barges and containers pass to reach the ‘dolphin country’ from where they embark upon the land journey toward the factories. The situation of the bays, the cabins on them, and the race of the ships to bring this cargo to the factories show the impacts of rapid industrialization. The human memory becomes stale as it loses its capacity to keep things in it. It is just a pawn in this game of industrialization that is polluting everything.
  • Major Themes in “Cargo Hulks”: The rat race of industrialization, pollution, and dehumanization are three major themes of the poem. The poet used personification to show that industrialization moves everything from barges to mills, from smoke to gulls, and from cargo to hulks to the factories, playing havoc with nature and causing gulls to fly away due to excessive smoke. Also, this race causes much of the pollution, taking little care of gales, dolphins, winds, green roads, or anything else. It just makes human beings machines, the final process of dehumanization.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in ‘Cargo Hulks’

literary devices, when used by a skillful poet, make poetry worth reading. The analysis of these devices in the poem is given below.

  1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “merciless Antarctic gales”, the sound of /uh/ in “bellies of the digesters” and the sound of /e/, again, in “any vestige of esteem.”
  2. Alliteration: It is a literary device in which initials of two or more successive words are consonants, such as /g/ in “great gutted whales.”
  3. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of  /m/ in “ammunition of the smokestacks”, the sound of /r/, /s/ and /t/ in “stripped of masts and superstructures” and the sound of /t/ and /z/ in “they wake to ultimate winters by wharves.”
  4. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break; rather, it rolls over to the next line. For example;

Memories melting
in the cold reality of the rain
they wake to ultimate winters by wharves
in the overwhelming stink
become mere pawns
in the same industrial equation
that fouls the water brown foaming
along their flanks.

  1. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. The poem shows the use of imagery such as “Memories melting”, “in the cold reality of the rain” and “that fouls the water brown foaming.”
  2. Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the objects that are different. The poet has several metaphors such as barges, mills, ammunition, cargo, country as well as memories.
  3. Personification: The poem personifies several things, such as mills, volcanoes, barges, and memories, as if they have life and emotions of their own.
  4. Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from literal meanings. The poem shows the use of the symbols of freedom, air, and earth.
  5. Simile: The poem shows the use of similes such as;

they flounder through waves
like great gutted whales
shrouds under full stress bulging
like a trumpet player’s cheeks
past stark coasts where volcanoes growl
like old men in beds

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in ‘Cargo Hulks’

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

  1. Free Verse: The poem does not follow any rhyme scheme. Therefore, it is a free-verse poem.
  2. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. There are six stanzas, with each having eight verses.

Quotes to be Used

 These lines from ‘Cargo Hulks’ are relevant to use when teaching about the ravages of fast and blind industrialization.

Memories melting
in the cold reality of the rain
they wake to ultimate winters by wharves
in the overwhelming stink
become mere pawns
in the same industrial equation
that fouls the water brown foaming
along their flanks.