The Millennial Pedestrian

Recent news that Japanese fishermen had landed a Colossal Squid — even bigger than a Giant Squid! — reminded me of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s fabulous poem, "The Kraken." As we watch our planet’s warming we will doubtless witness many marvels and terrors, but Tennyson’s vision of The Kraken bursting to the surface of the sea when "the later fire shall heat the deep" is both thrilling and apocalyptic. And the language! "Many a wondrous grot and secret cell"!

If ever a poem was meant to be recited aloud in dramatic fashion, this is it.  

The Kraken

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth; faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
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 fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the later fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.