Unit Two
Lesson Two
Full Fathom Five Thy
Father Lies William
Shakespeare
"Full Fathom Five
Thy Father Lies" is taken from Shakespeare's play The Tempest.
In this play a prince
thinks that his father is dead by drowning into sea. So to inform and console
the prince about his father's death, this song is sung by a spirit.
The speaker of the poem
is the spirit Ariel. He tells the prince Ferdinand that his father had died and
his body is under the sea. His bones have now become coral and his eyes have
changed into pearls. He also says that no part of his body has disappeared.
Rather they have been changed by the sea into something strange and rich. He
further says that every hour sea creatures ring his funeral bell.
Shakespeare
has presented death in an unusual manner. In the poem death has been presented
as something beautiful. For example, the bones of the dead person have been
changed into precious corals and the eyes have become pearls. The dead body has
been changed into something beautiful and strange. Besides, the sea creatures
are ringing the funeral bell from time to time. Thus the poem does not lament
death but celebrates it. In this way, the poet has described death as a
pleasant experience
