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This is a content analysis of “The Breasts of the Sea”, a poem by Syl Cheney-Coker. This poem is one of the African poems recommended for the WAEC and NECO curricula. It is designed to support your studies.

Analysis of “The Breasts of the Sea”

Content Summary

The poem, “The Breasts of the Sea” by Syl Cheney-Coker describes the 20th century as a time characterized by war, violence, political instability, and conflicts that harm the people and environment alike. The destruction of life that accompanied the time led the speaker to describe the century as “bloody”. The harm extends even to the sea, which the poem states is filled with “toxins” that hamper its ability to fulfill its roles. This is seen in the expression, “her belly will not yield new islands” (line 3).

Syl Cheney-Coker employed imagery to create vivid pictures and sounds of the time described in the poem. The choice of words is such that the reader can relate to. For example, the sea is personified as a woman, a mother who has to bear the “weight” of the actions of men, the century is “bloody”, and the sea is filled with “toxins”.

The events in history that buttress the violence, death, and trauma in Sierra Leone at the time were mentioned to paint a picture of how history is made, what is left of the memory, and the fact that the entire event may be forgotten or only remembered in fragments in the future. The allusions include:

1. “Noah’s monologue”, a reference to the biblical story of the flood.
2. “The Middle Passage’s cargoes”, a reference to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
3. “Darwin’s examination of the turtle’s shit”, refers to the boom in scientific knowledge and the popular Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.
4. “The Titanic” – the famous boat reputed to be unsinkable but sank on its first voyage in 1912.
5. “The diver’s story about how the coelacanth was recaptured” – describing how things may be lost and found again in later years.

These sad events and the once being experienced in the “bloody century” described in the poem, the speaker says will fade in time. This is because they are seen as a “blight”, a disease that needs a cure, and the sea has the ability to rid itself of these over time. The memories buried at sea will vanish and little or nothing about this history would be left behind.

After examining the historical connections of the Sierra Leonean conflict, violence, and war experience, the writer goes on to quantify the depth of the damage the country has seen. The wounds run too deep and the losses are irreversible. The damage is so great that the speaker believes that the cry of a rapped woman is more valuable; this connotes that there is nothing left to cry for.

Stanza three opens with people seeking safety and sustenance and how some embrace exile for comfort. It then continues to state that those who stay behind in the land struggle to survive with their spirits broken.

In the end, the speaker wonders if the sea can provide some healing, tying back to the self-cleansing ability of the sea to wash itself of the “blight” (stanza 2). The speaker therefore asks the sea if it can provide “the balm” needed “to heal the wound” of the children of Sierra Leone.

Read also:

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Stanza by Stanza Analysis of “The Breasts of the Sea” by Syl Cheney-Coker

Cheney-Coker’s poem, The Breasts of the Sea, consists of three stanzas. In this part of the content analysis of “The Breasts of the Sea”, the focus will be stanza-by-stanza.

Stanza 1

After our bloody century, the sea will groan
under the weight, somewhere between breasts and anus.
Filled with toxins, her belly will not yield new islands
even though the children of East Timor wish it so.

The poem opens with a statement about the “bloody century”. Being written in the twentieth century, the reference points to the wars that characterize this time. Wars are full of violence, bloodshed, and death.

The two world wars were fought in the 20th century as well as the fights for independence in African countries and India. This time amongst the other conflicts also saw the violence and agitations of the post-independence civil war in Sierra Leone. This captures the thoughts of the speaker and the label on the century. With war comes many deaths and lots of dead bodies falling into the sea creating a heavy “weight” (line 2) for the sea to bear. The other burdens that come with the century include the things deposited into the sea as the warheads are transported and secrets to be buried.

As the atrocities committed with the sea as a witness increase, the speaker states that “the sea will groan” under the weight of the outcome. Cheney-Coker went on to explain that this time of pain will surely come somewhere between the desirable and undesirable actions of humans. This is captured in the expression, “somewhere between breasts and anus” (line 2).

Furthermore, the speaker states that the weight laid on the sea is polluting the sea, filling it with “toxins” and these toxins will cause the sea not to yield the nurturing products nor fulfill its other nurturing roles (line 3). Besides the products of war that were being dumped into the sea, the century in question had also seen the oil boom, crude oil leakages, and the disposal of industrial waste into the sea. The sea has also borne witness to the slave trade and its attending atrocities and many more.

These polluting acts interrupt nature and affect the sea’s ability to expand, produce, and nurture the inhabitants of the sea and the nations around it. The sea presented as “her”, means that the speaker acknowledges the sea as nature, often referred to as “Mother Nature”; it exhibits the characteristics of motherhood. However, the pollution would not only interrupt this but may also stagnate or end it.

Finally, the speaker shows that if this persists, nothing could reverse the effect. To emphasize the severity, Cheney-Coker compares it to the longing of the “children of East Timor”. East Timor was a province in Indonesia, it is the present day Timor-Leste. It gained independence in 2002 after years of conflict between Timorese parties and the nations that sought power over Timor (Portugal and Indonesia). Many children in East Timor were separated from their families during the Indonesian occupation and due to poverty, hardships, and other related conflicts and war, some of them also suffered sexual violence. The cries and deep wishes of the children of Timor are to reunite with their parents and to escape the hardship and trauma they were suffering. This is much like the case of Sierra Leone. Referencing the “children of Timor” in line 4 captures the deepest sincerest desires that people may have for the sea which may never be realized after the sea has been damaged.

Stanza 2

The sea is only capable of so much history:
Noah’s monologue, the Middle Passage’s cargoes,
Darwin’s examination of the turtle’s shit,
the remains of the Titanic, and a diver’s story
about how the coelacanth was recaptured.
Anything else is only a fractured chela
we cannot preserve, once the sea’s belly
has washed itself clean of our century’s blight.

In this stanza, Cheney-Coker uses many historical allusions to express the depth of the impact of the events of the century, and the expected turn of events in time to come. The speaker refers to the sea as a custodian of history beginning from the earliest times to times beyond the century depicted in the poem. The first mention of history in this stanza is “Noah’s monologue (line 6), reminding us of the destruction of the world with flood recorded in the Bible.

Then it proceeds to mention “the Middle Passage’s cargoes”. This allusion is about the trans-Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries. This is also very significant in the history of Sierra Leone as the people were not only victims of the slave trade, but the nation is also home to many of the returning slaves. The sea is witness to these events as the slaves were taken on ships across the sea, some were thrown into the sea when they got ill or died in transit, and some, like the Igbo slaves, jumped into the sea as they chose to brave the waters or die trying over being sold as slave in another country.

In line 7, the historical allusion is about “Darwin’s examination of the turtle’s shit”. This allusion points to the breakthrough in science as scientific knowledge exploded during the Victorian era; a notable case is Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. This focus on Darwin’s theory is important as it points to the survival of the fittest; a concept relating to how species with the power of stronger traits survive over the weaker ones. This also relates to how conflicts and violence can accompany such survival of the fittest contest. The concepts of masters and slaves, adults and children, and the rich and poor were common dividers and categories.

Right after the allusion to Darwin’s theory is the reference to the Titanic (line 8). The story of the giant vessel that sank during its first voyage in 1912 despite being said to be unsinkable. Once again, Cheney-Coker identifies the failure of science and the death that followed which the sea witnessed. The remains of the ship are buried in the sea and have continued to attract divers and marine explorers, each returning with a tale. The mention of the coelacanth, an ancient sea creature known only by fossil until it was discovered in 1936 points to the cycles in scientific knowledge and discoveries – things lost and found again. This can also be attributed to history as the stories fade and resurface when someone comes across the evidence.

Lastly, the speaker ends with words on the uncertainty of the preservation of human history. Some of the knowledge is fragmented and becomes useless. The speaker captured this with the expression “fractured chela”. The last two lines of this stanza identify that the sea can preserve history but only for so long until it rids itself of the remains it holds within its belly. This refers to the sea’s ability to erode the materials of which these memory tokens are made and cleanse itself as a cycle of nature. This means that whatever this “bloody century” brings with it will eventually wash away, never to be remembered.

Stanza 3

Throbbing, the sea’s breasts will console some exiles,
even those shut out of Australia, drifters on a tired moon
but Sierra Leone won’t be worth a raped woman’s cry,
despite her broken back, this shredded garment,
her hands swimming like horrors of red corals.
But do you, O Sea, long-suffering mistress,
have the balm to heal the wounds of her children,
hand to foot the axe, alluvial river flowing into you?

This stanza opens with a mention of the comfort the sea offers those in exile. It shows that those who do not find comfort in their homeland can sail the sea to another land to escape what ails them. It suggests that the sea is not partial in choosing who it comforts. Once again, Cheney-Coker refers to a historical event where some exiles were denied a place in Australia “even those shut out of Australia”. When the English colonialists took over Australia, some Australian Aborigines fled the land to find safety.

“Throbbing, the sea’s breasts will console some exiles,
even those shut out of Australia, drifters on a tired moon”

(Stanza 3, lines 13-14)

These exiles did not only leave for safety but also for sustenance as the lands they were allocated were unproductive and could not cater to their needs.

Further, the speaker likens what the country Sierra Leone has gone through to a rapped woman. Cheney-Coker holds that the country has seen way worse with its wars and the attending war crimes like child soldiers, rapping women, etc. The pains, losses, and deaths the people have known are far too damaging that the cry of a rapped woman is viewed as more valuable, Sierra Leone’s value has been shredded beyond repair and the people’s spirits have broken for many decades (lines 15-16).

“but Sierra Leone won’t be worth a raped woman’s cry,
despite her broken back, this shredded garment,”

(Stanza 3, lines 15-16)

In the wake of things, the nation is struggling for survival, her people struggle for a will to live (line 17).

Lastly, the speaker ends with a question as he ponders if Sierra Leone will heal from the horrors, wounds, and trauma it has endured. The speaker goes ahead to compare the sea’s self-healing abilities to what Sierra Leone needed at the moment but also worries that the wounds of the people may be too great. Therefore, the poem closes with the question of the sea, asking if its patience and tender care provide sufficient “balm to heal the wounds of her children”.

“But do you, O Sea, long-suffering mistress,
have the balm to heal the wounds of her children,
hand to foot the axe, alluvial river flowing into you?”

(Stanza 3, lines 18-20)

It also asks if they can take up the future given their current state. As the river brings silt and other materials to enrich the land, the speaker asks this question in the hope that the future will be brighter.

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