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Craig Santos Perez expresses his devotion to raising awareness about our interaction with the ocean in his "Praise Song for Oceania". Through a strong dialect and antagonizing tone, he is able to bring to light our exploitation and lack of appreciation for the ocean. Perez uses an interesting form of dialect by speaking directly to the ocean. He personifies the subject of the song (the ocean) and creates a strong dialect between himself and mother nature to encourage us to appreciate and acknowledge the natural state of the ocean.
Even though the ocean is the subject of the song, we are the intended audience.
The song is literally structured like that of a wave, and accentuates the flow of the natural ocean. The wave-like structure of the song can be grouped into three parts that flow together chronologically to emphasize our imposement on and lack of appreciation for the ocean. The first part of the song focuses on the natural beauty of the ocean without human intervention.
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After establishing his appreciation for the ocean, Perez introduces his antagonizing tone by focusing on the cruelty we have imposed on the ocean.
Finally, after opening the eyes of the audience to the problems we have brought upon the environment, Perez concludes his song by recognizing the efforts we have made to restore the natural state of our oceans. In doing so, Perez leaves a positive taste in the listeners mouth to instill hope and encourage more change for the future. By playing with the dialect of the song, Perez is able to capture the full emotion of the audience.
He builds a sentimental relationship between the audience and mother nature all while emphasizing our lack of appreciation for the ocean. His message is clear, and by the end of the poem the listener can't help but have some form of appreciation for the ocean.
In the beginning of the song, Perez builds his motive by recognizing the natural and unimposed state of the ocean. The tone of the introduction is positive because Perez wants us to feel guilty for altering the naturalness of the ocean. He accentuates his appreciation for the ocean by recognizing its important place in our world. For example, Perez states "your capacity
for renewal / your rise into clouds and descent into rain / praise your underground aquifers / your rivers & lakes, ice sheets & glaciers / praise your watersheds & hydrologic cycles". He is recognizing the impact of the ocean in other facets of the world that one might not associate with being related to the ocean. He is using a positive tone to acknowledge the importance of the ocean while also emphasizing our lack of appreciation for it. In addition, Perez's tone insinuates that the ocean is naturally independent from us and should have remained that way. Perez stated "your capacity to endure the violence of those who claim dominion over you / who map you empty ocean to pillage / who divide you into latitudes & longitudes." At this point in the song, Perez exploits our unappreciative relationship with the ocean. After establishing his appreciation for the ocean he bashes our imposement on the natural environment. This shifts the song in a more negative direction because the ocean becomes the victim and the audience becomes the culprit.
After this shift in the song, Perez takes on a more angry tone to guilt the audience for its lack of appreciation for the ocean and imposement on its natural beauty. He cites to all the specific imposements humans as a whole have made on the ocean. The important part being, all these imposements were made without consideration for the future of the ocean. All the specific imposements Perez cites to build off of and accentuate the lack of appreciation for the ocean that was established at the beginning of the song. Perez uses the repetition of the words Praise and Capacity throughout the length of the song.
However, after using the repetition of those words in the beginning of the song to establish his concerned tone, he changes his repetition and proceeds to beg the ocean for forgiveness. Perez says " please forgive our territorial hands & acidic breath / please forgive our nuclear arms & naval bodies / please forgive our concrete dams & cabling veins / please forgive our deafening sonar & lustful tourisms / please forgive our invasive drilling & deep sea mining / please forgive our extractions & trespasses". In my opinion, this is the most influential part of the song. Not only is Perez literally begging for forgiveness but he covers our imposement on the ocean from all facets of the world. He cites to the specific ideological complications of our politics, economics, and ecologies. Perez emphasizes the cruelty we have brought upon our ocean all while making the audience feel guilty for our lack of appreciation for the ocean in the first place.
At this point in the song, Perez has changed up his constant repetition to hammer away his powerful message. This part of the song is the strongest point of emphasis for his message in the entire song. By begging for forgiveness from our cruelty on the ocean he has instilled a considerable amount of guilt in the audience. The guilt I felt at this point during the song is incomparable to the rest of the guilt in the song. He has set up his entire song to instill this guilt in the audience in hopes of changing the way we perceive the ocean.
After bashing on our lack of appreciation throughout the majority of the song, Perez makes his final shift in tone at the end of the song. By this point, the audience has encompassed the guilt of Perez's antagonizing message. With this in mind, at the end of the song Perez decides to leave the audience on a more positive note rather than a negative one that dominated the majority of the song. For example, rather than continuing his emphasis on all the cruelty we have imposed on the environment he cites to specific examples of the efforts we have made in restoring our imposement on the ocean. In the final stanza of the song, Perez states "praise your activist kayaks & canoes / praise your ocean conservancies & surfrider foundations /praise your aquanauts & hydrolabs /praise your coastal cleanups & Google Oceans /praise your whale hunting & shark finning bans /praise your sanctuaries & no take zones / praise your pharmacopeia of new antibiotics / praise your wave and tidal energy / praise your #oceanoptimism & Ocean Elders". By citing to these specific examples, Perez instills hope in audience and distracts them from negativity of the song. At this point of the song, Perez has acknowledged the cruelty we have imposed but emphasizes the positive efforts we have made to leave the audience with an optimistic approach to the future of our environment.
Perez's manipulation of the structure and dialect of the song contribute predominantly to his heavy message in the song. The beginning and end of the song are specifically crafted to hammer away the guilt that is instilled in the middle of the song. The theme of our lack of appreciation for the ocean is consistent throughout the entire song. The direction of the song isn't clear until Perez condems our cruelty we have imposed on the ocean. However, after a full listen of the song, it's evident that the beginning and end of the song contribute just as strongly to the sentiment we are intended to feel. Everything in the song is intentional and contributes directly to the change of opinion that the audience is left with at the end of the song. Perez's "Praise Song for Oceania" raises awareness for our lack of appreciation for the ocean and encourages a change of pace in our interactions with the natural environment.
Craig Santos Perez expresses his devotion to raising awareness. (2019, Dec 15). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/craig-santos-perez-expresses-his-devotion-to-raising-awareness-example-essay
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