MOTIF Mahon uses the sea as a motif in his poetry. For example:
(‘Day Trip to Donegal’)
In ‘Day Trip to Donegal’ the sea is both an awe-inspiring natural spectacle and a dark and foreboding presence. Later it becomes the embodiment of the speaker’s nightmarish visions.
(‘After the Titanic’)
The sea features strongly in ‘After the Titanic’ also, as it serves as a constant reminder to that poem’s speaker of his shame and guilt.
‘turbulent sea’ (‘Rathlin’) The sea also becomes a symbolic backdrop to the haunting events of ‘Rathlin’.