Alfred, Lord Tennyson published "The Kraken" in 1830 in Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. A sonnet with an extra line, the poem is about the mythical sea monster known as the "Kraken," a legendary beast that has haunted old sailor stories, folklore, and literature since the 13th century. An enormous squid-like creature, the Kraken is supposedly capable of dragging entire ships down to its dwelling place in the deepest reaches of the ocean. In the poem, though, the Kraken simply sleeps an ancient slumber in the depths, where—the speaker implies—it will remain until a religious reckoning drives it to the surface to die.
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The Full Text of “The Kraken”
1Below the thunders of the upper deep,
2Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
3His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
4The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
5About his shadowy sides; above him swell
6Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
7And far away into the sickly light,
8From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
9Unnumbered and enormous polypi
10Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
11There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
12Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
13Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
14Then once by man and angels to be seen,
15In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
The Full Text of “The Kraken”
1Below the thunders of the upper deep,
2Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
3His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
4The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
5About his shadowy sides; above him swell
6Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
7And far away into the sickly light,
8From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
9Unnumbered and enormous polypi
10Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
11There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
12Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep,
13Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
14Then once by man and angels to be seen,
15In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
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“The Kraken” Summary
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“The Kraken” Themes
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The Eeriness of the Unknown
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History and End Times
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Kraken”
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Lines 1-2
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea, -
Lines 3-5
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; -
Lines 5-6
above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height; -
Lines 7-10
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. -
Lines 11-12
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge sea worms in his sleep, -
Lines 13-15
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
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“The Kraken” Symbols
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The Kraken
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“The Kraken” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Assonance
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Caesura
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Repetition
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Sibilance
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Imagery
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“The Kraken” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Upper Deep
- Abysmal
- Uninvaded
- Sponges
- Millennial
- Sickly
- Grot
- Secret Cell
- Polypi
- Winnow
- Battening
- Latter Fire
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Kraken”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The Kraken” Speaker
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“The Kraken” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Kraken”
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More “The Kraken” Resources
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External Resources
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Practice the Poem's Scansion — Practice your scansion (scanning a line of poetry for its meter) and get a feel for the meter of "The Kraken" by using this interactive tool.
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The Watcher in the Water — Check out this clip from "The Fellowship of the Ring," in which Frodo and the other hobbits encounter a ghastly Kraken-like creature known as the "Watcher in the Water."
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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea — For another look at a giant squid-like creature, take a look at this illustration that was published in the original 1870 version of Jules Verne's novel "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."
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Moby-Squid — Read a short chapter from Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," which mentions a large squid that was based on the legends of the Kraken.
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Release the Kraken! — Enjoy watching a very shiny Liam Neeson yell "Release the Kraken!" while playing Zeus in the 2010 film "Clash of the Titans."
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