Seal Lullaby

Fiction | Poem | Middle Grade | Published in 1900

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Nature

“Seal Lullaby” features a seascape as the setting of its lullaby. Through the seal mother’s voice, Kipling creates a separation from human culture that exists on land. Instead of green fields that might be more familiar to a human mother, it’s “the waters that sparkled so green” (Line 2) in the daylight. The moon looks “over the combers” (Line 3), which are the peaks of the curling waves, rather than over a line of trees or mountains. The waves “rustle” (Line 4) as they meet and form “hollows” (Line 4), rather than leaves or grasses that make a similar sound. The soft place for a child’s sleepy head appears next to a tall “billow” (Line 5), a large wave, instead of a “pillow” (Line 5) that might appear in a human child’s song. Threats take the form of sharks, rather than tigers, bears, or dream monsters. Despite these differences, the maternal consolation takes the same form as in human lullabies, as the seal child sleeps in “the arms of the slow-swinging seas” (Line 8) as the baby rocked in a cradle.

The sea theme has historical, social and literary implications. The seals who inhabit and adapt to this environment exhibit tenacity and resilience in order to live in harmony with a world that represents adventure, danger, and nature at its most powerful and unpredictable. As a literary dominion, the sea often represents the unconscious or the unknown, worlds that existing beyond human understanding. While the seals may exhibit human traits in their love for their children, as the lullaby demonstrates, the song also reminds readers that the seals’ world demands a tough physicality. In the story that follows the lullaby, only a display of force secures the seal community from harm. The seals who spend childhood sleeping the arms of a rough sea learn throughout their youth to respect power, resulting in a species that only strength can move.

Maternal Gestures of Care

Mothers often sing lullabies to a child in a rocking cradle or chair, and lullabies traditionally contain a rocking motion in both rhythm and narrative. In “Seal Lullaby,” the imagery of the high waves of a dark sea evoke a rocking motion that signifies a maternal gesture of care. Other lullabies do present children rocking in unlikely places, like tree-tops or the sky, but whether the crib mimics the rocking of a swaying tree or the wind’s movement through the clouds, nature provides a haven, withholding its darker force in order to protect and soothe a sleeping child. The rocking waves in “Seal Lullaby” is, in this way, a logical location for a seal child to sleep. That rocking motion repeats throughout the poem’s anapests and feminine rhyme: “billow meets billow, there soft be thy pillow” (Line 5). The waves lull the seal baby who sleeps between them. The “flipperling” (Line 6) can “curl at thy ease” (Line 6) and take on the physical shape of the waves in order to enjoy the rocking motion. Nature herself holds the baby seal like a mother as the seal child sleeps “in the arms of the slow-swinging seas” (Line 8), an image that tames the black waters and tall waves of the open ocean. In this lullaby, Kipling reminds readers that what might seem inhospitable to some constitutes home and safety for others.

Safety and Rest

“Seal Lullaby” has the same intentions as most lullabies: to assure the sleeping child of safety in order for the child to rest. In some cases, the words of a lullaby can offer as much assurance to the singing mother, who understands their meaning more than a young child might. This lullaby conveys that promise of security through unexpected language and terrain; its description of a sea turned “black” (Line 2) might be chilling in a human landscape. But for the seals, the night brings quiet, as a dark sky with stars in a different lullaby would convey a peaceful evening for a human family. The same moon “looks downward” (Line 3) protectively, and the “slow-swinging seas” (Line 8) further demonstrate a benevolent nature enfolding the child in its embrace.

The song refers to the theme of safety with specific language: the baby seal can “rest in the hollows” (Line 4) with its mother and find its comfortable “pillow” (Line 5) among the waves. By rhyming “billow,” a tall wave, with “pillow,” Kipling makes the waves itself seem more threatening, allowing the reader to imagine a seal’s perspective, in which waves and the sea make a perfectly good bed, rather than a peril to avoid.

The mother’s voice in the song promises her child that none of their natural predators will interrupt sleep with violence. As often with lullabies, the song as much reflects the mother’s fears. While a human mother might brush away calamities like illness or a lost father away at sea, the seal mother chants a spell against storms and sharks in line 7. She addresses her child with affection, showing her own bravery and calm by calling her baby a “weary wee flipperling” (Line 6), granting permission to “curl at thy ease” (Line 6), creating the space of peace and rest her child needs in order to be ready the next day for the real world and the challenges it brings.