The Kraken - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
A Mysterious Sleeper of the Deep
Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber'd and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battening upon huge sea-worms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “The Kraken” conjures an eerie glimpse of a colossal sea creature dwelling in the darkest reaches of the ocean. First published in 1830 as part of his juvenile poetry collection, the poem is notable for its atmospheric depiction of a nearly immortal beast slumbering far from humanity’s view. Drawing on the folklore of the kraken as a giant cephalopod-like monster, Tennyson transforms maritime myth into a meditation on hidden, ancient forces.
Through vivid imagery, Tennyson describes an underwater world of “millennial growth” and massive sponges, where “unnumber’d and enormous polypi” drift in the twilight. The Kraken itself lies in a “dreamless, uninvaded sleep,” emphasizing its timeless separation from the realm of mortals. Its dormancy persists until a prophesied upheaval—“the latter fire”—disrupts the ocean depths. Only then will the creature arise, briefly revealed to “man and angels” before dying on the surface.
The poem’s tight structure and evocative language create a sense of vast immensity and foreboding stillness. Tennyson employs a sonnet-like form, though altered, to shape his mysterious aquatic scene. While short, the poem resonates with grand themes of time, apocalypse, and the unknowable. Through the Kraken’s story, Tennyson points to the liminal space between myth and reality, suggesting that what lurks unseen beneath the waves might eventually breach into the everyday world—only to meet an inevitable end.
Key points
• Depicts a legendary sea monster as a symbol of vast, unseen depths
• Marries mythic imagery with a modified sonnet form
• Explores themes of timelessness, prophecy, and inevitable destruction
• Illustrates Tennyson’s fascination with the boundary between known reality and cosmic mystery
• Highlights the idea that even the most ancient powers must eventually come to an end
