Heritage of Words (5. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies ) - William Shakespeare

Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies | Heritage of Words

Writer : William Shakespeare

 

SUMMARY -1 

The poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies” is a song sung by the Spirit Ariel in Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. The Spirit sings this song to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned.

                                  The speaker of this poem is Ariel who is very powerful spirit of wind who flies lightly and invisibly playing music and singing songs. Here he sings the song about the death of Ferdinand’s father. According to him, Ferdinand’s father lies thirty feet below the surface of the sea. Ferdinand is very worried about the death of his father. Giving him sympathy Ariel says that his father has got quite meaningful death. His body is not decayed. Every part of his body has been changed into something beautiful, valuable and strange. His eyes are transformed into pearls and bones are’ changed into coral. The sea nymphs welcome his death by ringing the death bell “Ding-dong” every hour.

                                 In this poem, the spirit Ariel has presented very artful and melodious description about the death of Ferdinand’s father. The prince of Naples is worried thinking that his father is drowned. He is very sad about the meaningless death of his father. However, Ariel gives him sympathy by making the death meaningful through his powerful and magical description. He says that nothing of the dead body has decayed or rotten wastefully. Everything of the dead body is changed into meaningful and precious objects at the bottom of the sea. Ariel finally requests Ferdinand to listen to the death-bell rung by the sea nymphs to welcome his father’s beautiful and meaningful death.

Summary - 2

"Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies" is taken from Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest”. Here the spirit Ariel sings this song to Ferdinand, Prince of Naples, who mistakenly thinks that his father is drowned. Ariel says that Ferdinand’s father is dead and is lying thirty feet below in the sea bed. The Prince is very sad to miss his father in a sea-wind, so Ariel gives sympathy to him by saying that death is a meaningful change. He says that the bones of his father have turned into coral and eyes into pearls. Sea-nymphs respect him with death bell every hour. None of the parts have wasted but changed into more valuable. Ariel pretends that he is listening the ding dong sound of the bell. In this poem death is shown as a meaningful change. Death is not an absolute end but only a process of transformation into another natural object. 

The main idea of this song is that – man who is part of nature transforms into another natural objects after death. The body of Ferdinand’s father has been changed into something more valuable and strange. His bones have changed into corals and eyes into pearls. Even after death, he is warmly welcomed in heaven by nymphs by ringing the bell.

Summary (3)

‘Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies’ is a song taken from an act, scene 2 of “The Tempest” by William Shakespeare. A spirit Aerial sings this song to the prince of Naples, Ferdinand who mistakenly thinks that his father has drowned into the sea.

Aerial says that the father of Ferdinand lies 30 feet below the sea. His bone has been changed into coral and eyes into pearls. Not a single part of his body has faded away but has been changed radically into something rich and strange.
Finally, Aerial tries to assure Ferdinand of his father’s death asking him to listen to Ding Dong sound of the bell.

The poem is rich in the use of alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia. This poetic devices, add a musical and magical effect to the poem.

Question. Is death meaningful in the poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies”?

Answer. The death described in the poem Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies is a meaningful one. Usually, when somebody dies drowning into the sea, the dead body is either eaten up by sea creatures or gets decayed. But the dead body of Ferdinand’s father has neither decayed nor has been eaten up by the sea creatures. Instead, it has been transferred into something rich and strange. For example, his bones have been changed into Coral and eyes into pearls. Moreover, the ritual of ringing the death bell that is usually absent in unnatural death is present in the death of Ferdinand’s father. So the death described in the poem is a meaningful one.

Question. Find examples of onomatopoeia, alliteration, and assonance in the poem “Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies”. How do they contribute to the meaning of the poem?

Answer. Onomatopoeia is a word which sounds like the thing it refers to. An example of onomatopoeia used in the poem is, “Ding-Dong”

Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sound especially in the stressed syllable of a word. Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies is an example of alliteration.

Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sound. An example of assonance is, “Of his bone are coral made”.

These poetic devices add a musical and magical effect on the poem.

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