"The Haunted Beach" by Mary Robinson

In her poem “The Haunted Beach” Mary Robinson expresses important details and symbolism through repetition of words or phrases throughout the poem. The first word that is repeated is “Hover’d” and in both instances it is used to describe the birds which are surrounding the Fisherman’s hut. For something to be hovering one would picture it as looming perhaps in a malicious or dark way. Robinson could be using this word to enhance the notion of the Fisherman’s looming guilt about the murder. It is constantly around him and screaming out so that it is always heard and never forgotten. The word “bound” and closely related to it “wrapped” are also repeated in the poem. In the second stanza, “bound” describes the weeds on the crags, and in the third stanza the cliff is “wrapped” in shadow. In the final stanza Robinson directly says that the Fisherman is “Bound by a strong and mystic chain,” (Line 77). These descriptions serve to relate the Fisherman to his setting; he shall now remain solitary and is bound to the landscape like so many other parts of it are bound to each other. The crags cannot escape the weeds, the shadows engulf even the high cliffs, and the Fisherman is tied by some unseen force to this beach forever. This omnipresent bondage elicits a sense of hopelessness and of being doomed to suffrage.

Click on the link below of to see a video of hovering birds, its eerie!
Creepy Hovering Birds