Seal Lullaby

“Seal Lullaby” features a seascape as the setting of its lullaby. Through the seal mother’s voice, Kipling creates a separation from human culture that exists on land. Instead of green fields that might be more familiar to a human mother, it’s “the waters that sparkled so green” (Line 2) in the daylight. The moon looks “over the combers” (Line 3), which are the peaks of the curling waves, rather than over a line of trees or mountains. The waves “rustle” (Line 4) as they meet and form “hollows” (Line 4), rather than leaves or grasses that make a similar sound. The soft place for a child’s sleepy head appears next to a tall “billow” (Line 5), a large wave, instead of a “pillow” (Line 5) that might appear in a human child’s song. Threats take the form of sharks, rather than tigers, bears, or dream monsters. Despite these differences, the maternal consolation takes the same form as in human lullabies, as the seal child sleeps in “the arms of the slow-swinging seas” (Line 8) as the baby rocked in a cradle.

The sea theme has historical, social and literary implications.