The poet, Philip Booth (1925 - 2007) , derives much of his poetic and psychological landscape from his childhood spent in a coastal town in Maine. The setting of the following poem is the sea. Understanding the metaphor of the poem brings it to almost a spiritual level.
Click here to see the poem: "First Lesson"
Hear the Poem
This poem, like most, is best experienced first by hearing it read out loud. The voice of this poem is at once confident and caring. Toward the end, the speaker's voice becomes softly reassuring. Hearing the voice of the speaker in this poem is necessary for one to understand and experience the poem's spiritual quality.
A Loving Father
"First Lesson" begins tenderly: "Lie back, daughter...Gently, and I will hold you." The speaker sustains that tenderness to the very last clause: "and the sea will hold you."
This reader hears the speaker's voice to be a father's voice. This is a gentle man, a loving and protective man. This is also a man with conviction, who transmits to his child one of life's most important lessons: In time of fear, compose yourself, and trust that the "sea will hold you."
Notice that the poem moves from the father holding the daughter, to the sea holding her. But what - or who - is the sea?
The Depth of the Sea
What does the speaker mean by 'the sea"? A better question might be, what does the reader feel the sea to be? The sea in this poem is that which will hold you when "fear cramps your heart." What holds you when you are debilitated by fear? When you become frantic, what calms you down? What buoys you up? The answer will be unique for each person experiencing the poem.
Extending the Metaphor
Most of the nouns and verbs of the poem relate to the floating lesson in the sea, and can also be understood as a larger lesson about life.
Consider the line, "When you thrash your way to your island, lie up, and survive." The verb 'thrash' conveys a frantic struggle. The island can be interpreted as any destination or goal, unique to each reader of the poem. But whatever that destination may be, at some point, one will thrash one's way toward it, and all but drown - unless one learns to 'lie up.' What happens to a thrashing swimmer when she turns on her back to float, rather than continues to thrash and splash? What happens?
Spiritual Surrender
What happens might be the buoyancy of spiritual surrender. This is the lesson the father is so tenderly and viscerally teaching his daughter: Trust something enough to surrender into it, to lie back and trust that it will hold you, during frightening times.
The source of that trust may be one's own inner strength; it may be memory of parental protectiveness. It may be a mysterious benevolent Presence in the Universe, something that feels like God. But if one relaxes, and lies into it, and believes in it - the thrasher will be held up, not be let down - or allowed to drown.
A Poetic Prayer
Understanding "First Lesson" in this way informs it with prayerfulness. As such, one can make it a gift to others in time of need for inspiration or time of desperation. Experiencing this poem can be a spiritual experience, offering solace, succor, confidence, and strength to the reader. Teaching the poem can, in itself, be a spiritual experience, as this writer can attest.
This writer experiences "First Lesson" as a prayer uttered for one's beloved child: When life is hard, and the tendency is to fight, may my child be blessed with the faith to lie back, and let the sea hold him.
Sources: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/first-lesson. website. Accessed Oct. 12, 2011.
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/175. website. Accessed Oct. 12, 2011.
Leah Abramovitz - Laura Bernell, Professional Writer since 1984; Community College Adjunct English Instructor since 1982.
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