From the very first line, the speaker associates "woman" with the Sargasso Sea, and this turns out to be the beginning of an extended metaphor, because the personality and The woman's interactions are consistently represented by marine imagery throughout the poem. The speaker never indicates that the woman herself has any real connection to or interest in the Sargasso Sea. In fact, she appears to have been a long-time resident of London. He may have stumbled upon this association because the Sargasso Sea is known for collecting masses of algae and debris, thanks to the ocean currents that surround it. The speaker seems to see the woman as having a whirlwind-like nature in the way she collects "ideas, old gossip" and "strange fragments of knowledge" (4-5). In the first line, the speaker immediately establishes that the Sargasso Sea is a metaphor for woman; for the woman's spirit and for herself. In line 3, the "shining ships" described here symbolize the various visitors the woman receives, the "great spirits" who seek her out (6) and leave her ideas, gossip, and knowledge (4-5). In...