"Ambush" portrays a society under siege. The isolation of the people pre-empts peace or prosperity. The powers that be appear to hold their subjects in a vice like grip.
By the use of powerful imagery and symbols, the metaphor of a voyage appropriately describes this poet unveils his mood despondency in his deprived transition. and gloomy circumstances. This is also the mood of the citizens of the land, who, individually and collectively, are denied any means or opportunities of improving their lot. By whatever means imaginable (by sea, land or air), various agents, allies of "the land" (the autocracy) reinforce the deprivation of the people. The people's means of livelihood is obliterated; they are frightened and intimidated; their very existence is threatened. Above all, they dare not seek relief outside the land.
Through the metaphor of the "giant whale", the poet conveys the miserable picture of the people's chance of earning any livelihood being put paid to. The image of angling conveys this vividly, for the land swallows the angler's hook, line and sinker, thus aborting dreams of a good catch".
Thus, the people are bereft of hope and expectation as their desires dwindle. The metaphor of the sea rves to convey the harsh restriction imposed on the people. The people are also held in terror unleashed by another agent of "the land" by land. The 'frightful tiger keeps the whole population in fear. None is exempted: both the old and the young dare not exhibit any bravado, nor venture out at night. This is how the "land" denies the people any escape by land.
The function of the agent that hovers overhead is to heighten the people's fear and invite chaos on them. The hawk continuously 'courts' ruin for the land with its "hoots in space". The impossibility of attempting to escape without being picked up is made certain by the hawk's presence.
Matters are sealed for the poor masses as local forces are harnessed and the "land lies patiently ahead/awaiting in ambush" for its own kith and kin. The purpose of the ambush is not to protect the people from invaders. Rather, it is to frustrate any attempt to escape for relief elsewhere. In the homeland, "where nothing happens", the signs of want are apparent and people need to migrate "toward the shore of possibilities". But they dare not.
The hopeless and frustrating circumstances of the poet make him utterly exasperated and depresed. Thus, the mood of hopelessness and frustration permeates the poem.