This poem describes a surfer enjoying himself as he surfs, and then what happens to the sea at night. The emotions and feelings he experiences whilst surfing.
The main theme is that the sea can be fun, but can also be dangerous. “Turn home, the sun goes down; swimmer, turn home.” This is the moral too.

The mood of the poem changes from the joy and excitement of the surfer to the caution of the day ending and the dangerous atmosphere of the sea at night, “For on the sand the grey-wolf sea lies, snarling,”
The structure of the poem is a three stanza free verse. This best conveys the change in mood. The craftsmanship is used descriptively and appropriately to the poem, and includes similes (“like a gull diving”), personification (“sea crouches on land”) and metaphors (“Hawthorn hedges in the spring,”). Images are created by word choice such as “weirs of water” and rhyme “Curve,” and “Serve,”. The word choice is descriptive and detailed, giving the reader both an image and an understanding of the events within the poem, eg. “How his brown strength drove through the hollow and coil of green-through weirs of water!”
The sea being personified as a wolf represents the danger of the sea at night. Alliteration makes the poem more fun to read, such as, “weirs of water” or “Shoulders, speed and serve,”
In conclusion, this poem is a very descriptive poem describing both the joy of surfing and the danger of the sea at night. The word choice and craftsmanship create an image in your head, and you can see the tanned surfer far out at sea, the sun coming down and the sea thrashing wildly against the shore. This also gives the reader an understanding of the events that are occurring within the poem. This poem is both happy and almost scary; changing when the sun comes down and the sea becomes violent. The poem has both a theme and moral of the fact that the sea can be fun, but when night falls, the sea can become very dangerous.

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