Unified Imagery

Throughout “View,” Bell uses the image of water symbolically in various ways, each having its own significance while also adding to the poem's overall meaning. Images of actual water include Sag Harbor, the waterways used to transport logs, the dark cloud, and the dew and frost. More obliquely, water is explained as the base constitutional element in the air, in plants, and in human bodies, which dissolve upon death. Since the poem focuses on the interconnectedness of life and the widespread impact of war and terrorism, these variations on the properties of water are appropriate. The water imagery remains a consistent mirror of elements of society throughout the entire poem.

Incidental Enjambment

The term enjambment refers to the poetic practice of breaking a line in a place where there is no punctuation or other natural pause between the words in question. The term comes from the French...