Paper plan: For my final research paper, I am planning on using my Discovery 2 post about “The Sea is History” by David Walcott where I analyzed how the poem uses extensive Biblical knowledge and references to depict the sea as containing even forgotten human history. I am planning on connecting this discovery to the week 10 reading by Eric Paul Roorda, where I wrote about terracentrism and the human tendency to base our worldviews around land-based narratives. I am planning on connecting these two works by discussing how the poem points out that human creations and history are only temporary moments in an infinite timeline, despite them seeming so strong and powerful at their time, however the ocean actually is forever, and that is the human fallacy of overestimating the greatness of land that Roorda’s work points out. Based on my feedback, I can also connect Steve Mentz’s ideas of how this fallacy is perpetuated by human’s language and way we chose to frame our worldviews.
Thesis: In David Walcott’s “The Sea is History,” the poem’s extensive use of biblical allusions and oceanic imagery exposes how human history, no matter how powerful it seems, is ultimately temporary and easily forgotten on land, a claim that aligns with Eric Paul Roorda’s critique of terracentrism by revealing the human mistake of centering our worldview on land-based narratives instead of recognizing the ocean as the deeper and more enduring archive of human experience.
You have a strong claim here and good So What: “revealing the human mistake of centering our worldview on land-based narratives”. I don’t know how the watery ocean is a ” more enduring archive of human experience” since it is clearly not. But, I think you don’t need that part of your claim to make this work. Just focus on how the poem supports Blue Humanities thinking, and how BH ideas support reading the poem. Eager to read this!