- description
- # THE MALDIVE SHARK
## Overview - What this is (type, form, dates, scope)
"THE MALDIVE SHARK" is a chapter of poetry extracted from the text file [john_marr_and_other_poems.txt](arke:01KG89J19Y3FNVN5KWASY78BP4). The chapter was extracted on January 30, 2026, and is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The text spans lines 1296-1318 of the source file and is part of the larger poetry collection [John Marr and Other Poems](arke:01KG8AJ5CWVMSM9AY2938E996H).
## Context - Background and provenance from related entities
This poem is one of many chapters contained within the poetry collection "John Marr and Other Poems," which is itself part of the "Melville Complete Works" collection. The text file "john_marr_and_other_poems.txt" was the source for this chapter. The structure of the text was extracted by the "structure-extraction-lambda" tool. The chapter is preceded by "THE TUFT OF KELP" and followed by "TO NED" within the "John Marr and Other Poems" collection.
## Contents - What it contains, key subjects and details
The poem "THE MALDIVE SHARK" describes the relationship between a shark and pilot fish. The poem depicts the pilot fish as being in attendance to the shark, and finding "a haven" in the shark's mouth. The poem describes the shark as a "pale ravener of horrible meat."
- description_generated_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:10.033Z
- description_model
- gemini-2.5-flash-lite
- description_title
- THE MALDIVE SHARK
- end_line
- 1318
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:47:32.310Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1296
- text
- THE MALDIVE SHARK
About the Shark, phlegmatical one,
Pale sot of the Maldive sea,
The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim,
How alert in attendance be.
From his saw-pit of mouth, from his charnel of maw
They have nothing of harm to dread,
But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank
Or before his Gorgonian head:
Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth
In white triple tiers of glittering gates,
And there find a haven when peril’s abroad,
An asylum in jaws of the Fates!
They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey,
Yet never partake of the treat—
Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull,
Pale ravener of horrible meat.
- title
- THE MALDIVE SHARK