Poem Interpretation
In the “Pride” poem by Dahlia Ravikovitch, rocks are compared to human beings. The metaphor is an exploration of human perseverance towards obstacles that shows how people get hurt without showing but later become affected.
The significant elements used in the metaphor include; the seal, crack, and natural elements such as cold, heat, and the sea. The author describes that rocks are faced with several natural factors such as the sea, cold, and heat to show the challenges and pressure experienced by human beings to test their durability and endurance. Such factors subject rocks to invisible cracks for a given time, but later the rocks crumble unexpectedly. Therefore, the factors symbolize how human beings endure challenges without showing them, but later, the challenges overcome people (line 19). The seal represents the distinction between dry rocks and soft living rock. Hence, it is used to compare between permanent and temporary endurance capabilities of human beings. Crack is used to show the breaking point of the human being’s endurance.
The poem basically explores human behaviors by use of the extended metaphoric technique. The author implies to mean that human beings behave just as rocks; rocks are affected by the sea and other environmental factors such as heat, seaweeds, and cold, which cause them to break and have invisible cracks. However, the invisible cracks extend, generating a total breakdown of rocks. Similarly, human beings face several barriers and impervious feelings that describe their pride level. Different people are differently affected by different feelings. Hence, the pride level is tested by the breaking pint of people after hiding their pride and perseverance for a long time. The poem generally refers to human experiences and their interactions with worldly cracks.
Works Cited
Ravikovitch, Dahlia. “‘PRIDE’.” (1977): 845