Hemans' poem "Casabianca" builds a strong image into the readers mind. The image that stands out in the poem is that of a boy standing on the deck of a burning ship at sea. As the reader reads on through the poem the image only gets stronger as Hemans describes the increase in intensity of the flames as it gets closer and closer to the boy. The boy is eventually engulfed in the flames because he is reluctant to leave his post without the approval of his father. What he doesn't know is that his father is already dead and everybody else has already abandoned ship, while he is still the only one alive on board. The image that I think is the most important is not the burning ship, but that of the boy who is waiting for his father to come and tell him what to do. The author said that the boy was proud and of heroic blood. She also mentioned that his father was the chieftain of the crew. When the author mentioned that he was of heroic blood, I don't think the author was implying that he was brave, but that he was his father's son, who was a hero to him and their crew. This would explain why he would be proud. I think that the reason that he did not leave his post was not because he was brave, but because he had faith that his father would come and save him. He was also to proud to leave his post because he didn't want to disgrace his father's name. I think the point that the author is trying to make is that there comes a time when one must not rely on somebody else. They must branch out onto their own and make their own decisions if they want to survive.
I got the pictures from flickr.com
No comments:
Post a Comment