Death Over Water Poem Analysis

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In the poem “Death Over Water” by Elizabeth Rhett Woods, juxtaposition between the beauty and grace of ice dancing and the savage fighting between two enemy birds is shown as an eagle is compared to “the male of a pair of ice dancers” (line 9), a gull to the female ice dancer and “a clamour of crows” (line 1) to the crowd watching them. The eagle is the dominant force in the fight that is in control of the movements of the birds maintaining “every advantage of size and speed” (line 17), comparable to the lead dancer of a pair. In ice dancing, the male is often guiding the female through the moves remaining “above and behind” (line 8) the female dancer at all times. The gull is at the mercy of “the enemy” (line 16) eagle and is forced to move