The lake by Roger McGough

The poet Roger McGough, who was born on the 9th of November 1973 in Litherland, United Kingdom, created the poem “The Lake”. He studied in St Mary’s College, Crosby and the University of Hill. Nowadays, he presents the program “Poetry Please” in BBC.

When I first read this poem I imagined the lake as if it was right in front of my eyes. I imagined that this lake was all black and dark and that apparently there was no life there but pigs. Additionally, I imagined the lake as a repellent of life as animals and people hated it because of its filth and the fear of not knowing what could actually happen once you got near this lake. However, when I read it more times, I realized that this poem was about the pollution in humanity, the damages it can cause in nature and the destruction and extinction of humanity. I believe that the major theme that this poet wants to express is how extreme pollution can lead to the destruction of human race.

The author expresses pollution damage not only to the environment but also to humanity. In this case, the author talks specifically about water pollution and the way polluted water can lead the planet to destruction. To emphasise and express this theme much more clearly, the author uses diverse poetic techniques or stylistic devices, for example, “There are no fish in the lake. But there is life there. There is life”. He repeats this verse twice; at the start an nearly at the end of the poem to remind us that even though the lake is polluted and people do not see life there, there is but it might be suffering because of the damage we have caused by polluting the water. Additionally, he uses metaphors and antithesis to make us reflect upon the real meaning and the real message of this poem, for example, “Birds steer clear and the hedge of course has withered”. This means that animals, especially birds, do not like to go near the lake because it has dried out and died. Furthermore, there are some verses that make us reflect on the real meaning of the poem as it is related to humanity, for example, “Underwater pigs glide between reefs of coral debris. They love it here. They breed and multiply in sties hollowed out of the mud...”. I believe he is referring to people as we keep on living in the mess that we have done but we still like the way it looks like.

In my opinion, the author uses pigs to refer to people. I think that he does this to make the reader reflect upon the real message and make it more complicated for readers to realise that it is talking about us but only when we read it more than once. Additionally, I think he talks about humans as pigs because we are making a mess by polluting the environment and damaging ourselves but we are wallowing in this mess.