Can anyone tell me what the whole meaning and point of this poem is?
I don't really understand this poem, and i have homework based on it.

[www.english.uiuc.edu]


The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be--
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?

Seems to me that it's saying that the sea draws our attention- more so then the land does- even though we can't know very much about it.

pam

I feel that this poem is choosing between land and sea, the human and inhuman, the finite and infinte. The sea then has to be the infinite that is endlessly flooding us, the hypnotic monotony of the universe that is incommesurable. This poem recognizes the limitations of modern man without denial or protest

I don't know who the last person was, but looks like they stole that analysis from here
[www.english.uiuc.edu]

Good catch, Amanda!