Basking Shark

Fill in the blank:

"To ____ an oar on a rock where none should be"

Fill in the blank

"To have it rise with a ______ out of the sea"

Fill in the blank

"That _________ monster with a matchbox brain"

Fill in the blank:

"This ________ townee

Shook on a wrong branch of his family tree"

Fill in the blank:

"Emerging from the _____ of everything"

Fill in the blank:

"So who's the monster? The thought made me grow ____"

Draw what happened when MacCaig was rowing in the sea.

What have you learned from reading the poem 'Basking Shark'?

Match the following quotes to the techniques.

• Infinitive verb

• Rock

• Contrast

• So who's the monster?

• Rhetorical Question

• That roomsized monster with a matchbox brain

• Metaphor

• To stub

• Neologism

• Slounge

Put the events of the poem in order:

• His thoughts turn to evolution and the origins of life on earth

• He is shocked and afraid as the large creature rises out of the water

• MacCaig is rowing when he accidentally bumps into a shark

• MacCaig's thoughts calm down and he comes to a realisation

• MacCaig is sickened by the thought that humans are the truly momstrous creatures