https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g en-us 2023-03-01 14:51:15 UTC 2025-09-24 19:30:30 UTC hello@padlet.com 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2499659904 In the poem, "The Kraken," Alfred Lord Tennyson is able to convey how human fear has manifested into the creations of mythological creatures in order to abolish their own sins for harming nature which is why when described through the lens of humans, the Kraken is a horrifying creature. ]]> 2023-03-01 14:54:00 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2499659904 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2502687306 - Human fears of the unknown
- Nature is both beauty and destruction
- Human accountability 
- Out of the bounds of human reach
- Impending death]]> 2023-03-03 14:23:21 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2502687306 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2533096035 The setting of "The Kraken" is the deep underwaters. Tennyson uses the sea as the setting to incite feelings of weary and fear in the readers. He writes "Below the thunders of the upper deep,/Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,"(Tennyson 1-2). Tennyson uses language like "abysmal" to describe the sea because Tennyson understands the natural fear that humans have of the unknown. The sea and ocean are places where humans cannot travel with most of it undiscovered. This brings out humans' fear, which helps Tennyson deliver a sorrowful and fearful mood to the readers in order to get people to fear the Kraken that lives in such unknown territory. However, in contrast to how Tennyson describes the setting, the descriptions of the Kraken are more 'peaceful.' Tennyson states "His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep/The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee"(Tennyson 3-4). The contrasting state of the Kraken compared to its surroundings helps create dissonance in the reader's mind. It gets the reader thinking that perhaps, the Kraken is not the creature they imagined it to be. It might have a horrifying appearance in the eyes of humans but in the end, the Kraken is an animal just like the rest of us. This lets the reader ponder the question: "Why do we treat the Kraken like it is some monster?" The Kraken itself could be a metaphor for how humans imagine 'evil' to be which is why it is described as a monster. ]]> 2023-03-27 13:24:29 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2533096035 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2534341386 Tennyson uses a lot of irony and symbolism to establish the tone of "The Kraken." Examples are seen when you compare the true nature of the Kraken compared to its human depictions. The Kraken is supposed to symbolize to humans, their own wrongdoings toward nature. Tennyson writes "There hath he lain for ages, and will lie/Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,/Until the latter fire shall heat the deep,"(Tennyson 11-13). The Kraken lies in wait, basically waiting for someone to discover it until then shall it finally appears to humankind. Humans have a tendency to discover new parts of nature just to end up destroying it whether it is through deforestation, climate change, pollution, etc. However, instead of acknowledging that humans themselves are destroying nature for no good reason, they want to justify their own cruelty to nature by creating a monster. They created something to fear that could possibly threaten them so they could destroy nature. Past and past again, evil and bad had been depicted by humans as monsters like devils and Satan. This is the irony that Tennyson is trying to depict which is why the overall tone of "The Kraken" is so sorrowful and sad because the Kraken is being wrongfully treated by the humans. It isn't a monster like the humans make it out to be, its an animal like everything else in the world. Tennyson uses the sublime in order to characterize nature in a more positive light in order to hopefully shift the monstrous depiction off of the Kraken. ]]> 2023-03-28 03:47:14 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2534341386 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2535341920 "The Kraken" is an allusion to the mythical creature often used among sailors as the many reasons why ships went down and disappeared in 1180. People regarded it as a dangerous creature that sailors must be careful of when crossing the Artic Sea. However, years later we now understand that most of the disappeared ships can be accounted to the erratic weather in the Artic Sea and perhaps even pirates, fellow humans. That's irony in the monster known as "The Kraken." At the end of the poem, Tennyson writes "Then once by man and angels to be seen,/In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die,"(Tennyson 14-15). The Kraken isn't some creature that lies in wait to devour humans, in contrast, it is actually a creature that lays very quietly at the bottom sea before simply floating up to the surface once it dies. Tennyson uses irony to show readers that the Kraken might be actually more pitiful than it is dangerous. The Kraken could also be an allusion to the illegal hunting of endangered species in a more present and modern-day sense which is the most ironic part. The Kraken is very reminiscent of the giant squid, a large species of squid that live in the depths of the sea, or the colossal squid that many assume to be extinct as there have never been actually recorded sightings of it in its natural habitat. Ironically, the Kraken is based on a real-life animal that doesn't eat or hunt humans and yet it was made a creature that sank entire ships but in the real world, it is humans who hunt and eat squids. I think that's where the main irony in "The Kraken" is. Tennyson writes "From many a wondrous grot and secret cell/Unnumbered and enormous polypi,"(Tennyson 8-9). Instead of eating humans, the Kraken is eating small animals like plankton or small shrimp. The mood around the Kraken is peaceful until its death. Not a single being disturbing it until it floats to the surface. A start difference to the dangerous tone around the myth the Kraken is based off of. ]]> 2023-03-28 16:43:04 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2535341920 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2535355819 Tennyson believed heavily in the pursuit of knowledge and charting into undiscovered areas life and nature. The Kraken is a part of the unknown which deeply intrigued Tennyson and many others alive. The Kraken was a good look at how nature could be both beautiful and terrifying. Undiscovered, the Kraken would remain the terrifying monster that many fear when sailing ships but once brought into the light, it is just a giant animal that hunts small shrimp. Tennyson writes "Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;/And far away into the sickly light,/From many a wondrous grot and secret cell/Unnumbered and enormous polypi/Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green,"(Tennyson 6-10). Yes indeed, Tennyson acknowledges that the Kraken has a monstrous appearance with an intimidating size and aura but it is nature. Nature has no record of forcefully harming humans which can be shown when the Kraken does nothing more than sleep and eat shrimp. If humans truly took the time to seek out actual knowledge, instead of destroying nature because it seems horrifying, humans would be able to discover the truth within nature and themselves and be able to peacefully coincide with one another. This is the contrast that Tennyson creates through irony. The difference between the Kraken as an animal and the Kraken as a monster. ]]> 2023-03-28 16:53:37 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2535355819 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536570031 The Kraken's ascent to the surface of the sea and dying could be alluding to how tyrants and those with great power will always end up falling. That is because The Kraken had been glorified by the people to be a monster but it is not. It too can die and like all living creatures, the Kraken will go through the cycle of life just like how kings and tyrants are not forever. They bleed the same as every other living thing. 

Additionally, Tennyson believes humans should be in tune with nature in order to become in tune with their own emotions. Humans must understand the Kraken for all of its beauty. ]]> 2023-03-29 11:30:22 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536570031 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536577006 Tennyson believed nature to be a supreme force of immortality. Nature is all around us and it is something humans need to learn to understand. Humans always thought nature to be the worse, something that should be destroyed for human greed and wants for power know no bounds. Humanity will destroy what they see as a threat or destroy in order to gain. However, if humans were able to become in tune with nature, they could understand nature's immortality and greatness. Tennyson wrote "Huge sponges of millennial growth and height,"(Tennyson 6) in order to fixate on the abnormality of the Kraken. It is a creature that can live for many years, far surpassing the life spans of humans. Tennyson writes this because that is the beauty of nature. It is everlasting and all around us. ]]> 2023-03-29 11:36:54 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536577006 23wongc https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536641279 A dreadful creature of mythology from olden day sailors that was used as explanations on missing ship expeditions. A creature that is misunderstood as a monster when just like the rest of us, it is an animal that will die eventually, going up to the surface of the ocean to have its final moments before becoming one with nature again. ]]> 2023-03-29 12:31:20 UTC https://padlet.com/23wongc/f6lctrq3l8fmrt2g/wish/2536641279