Carl Sandburg

On the Breakwater

On the Breakwater - meaning Summary

Silent Intimacy by the Sea

The poem depicts a quiet, intimate moment between a man and a girl on a breakwater at dusk. They sit close—she on his knee—and communicate without words, exchanging a private, rhythmic silence. The scene is framed by a passing boat whose white funnel and searching light briefly breaks the blue evening, creating an external, puzzled movement that contrasts with and highlights the couple’s still, wordless communion.

Read Complete Analyses

On the breakwater in the summer dark, a man and a girl are sitting, She across his knee and they are looking face into face Talking to each other without words, singing rhythms in silence to each other. A funnel of white ranges the blue dusk from an out- going boat, Playing its searchlight, puzzled, abrupt, over a streak of green, And two on the breakwater keep their silence, she on his knee.

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