Sinbad Poem Analysis

What would one expect to be the feelings of a man who was born and raised in Mumbai, but travelled the world during his child- and adulthood? A man who has lived in London, New Delhi, New York and Hong Kong? It are the feelings of just a common man that Dom Moraes - an Indian poet - portrays in his poem ‘Sinbad’. An analysis of the poem reveals that through the apostrophe which addresses ‘Sinbad’ and formal characteristics such as rhythm, free verse and punctuation, the reader gets an impression of desultoriness. This represents the theme of belonging nowhere, travelling and the author’s personal quest for finding a ‘home’.
The title of the poem refers to the character of ‘Sinbad the Sailor’. He is the hero of a cycle story of Middle Eastern origin. That cycle story is actually part of a bigger framework called ‘One Thousand And One Nights’. Sinbad is the narrator of seven of the tales in this framework. During his seven voyages Sinbad travels to strange lands, encounters new people and phenomena, meets unique creatures and he has to go through a lot of danger. In the poem, Moraes makes several references to …show more content…
Moraes uses this stanza as an evocation of his own experiences, even though he addresses Sinbad. He refers to Sinbad’s second voyage as said before. Remarkably, he uses the metaphor of a vulture instead of the Roc. The vultures are not circling over dead animals, but over defunct countries scarred by colonisation. Travelling seems to come with many disadvantages as well. Moraes identifies himself to Sinbad, as he himself has flown “over defunct countries”. It is as if Moraes leaves and loses pieces of himself everywhere he travels. He uses a synaesthesia (raw colours) to create a harsh atmosphere. Again his personal life is reflected in this figure of speech. Moraes always floated between British and Indian identity, which left him in an eternal struggle of finding a place worth calling