Casabianca by Felicia Hemans, Interpretation of Imagery

Imagery:

1.       Boy (gallant/proud child-like form)

2.       Burning deck/ship

3.       Flames/wreathing fires

4.       Father

5.       Voice / word / speak

6.       Death/perished

7.       Brave despair

8.       Shouting

9.       Thunder sound

10.   Sea

11.   Youth faithful heart

Through the use of sounds and imagery, Hemans amplifies the child’s devotion to his father.

The poem starts off by presenting the image of a lonely boy standing on a flaming deck which was over perished people. He stood proudly, brightly and beautifully, as if he could “rule the storm”. He seemed to be a “creature of heroic blood” because everyone had fled, except him; the boy with a child-like form. One can conclude that these images portray the boy as an innocent child who has seen these people die, is literally surrounded by flames, able to escape, but has the heart to remain put. There is something he is hoping for, before the fire consumes him.

Later in the poem,  it is mentioned that the boy would not go without hearing his father’s  consent through “voice” and “words”. At one point, the boy shouted and cried out, “Speak, father!”  By Hemans using positive connotation to explain that the child heard only “voice” and words” from his father and not shouts or commands, shows his father to be contained. The child saw no harshness in his father. But by the boy shouting and crying out to his father, implies that the child’s has incredible faith in his father’s life. Also, it can be interpreted that the boy does not know, or doesn’t want to accept the fact that his father has perished. He has strong faith that his father has not died.

At the end of the poem, a thunder sound was heard. Hemans writes, “The boy–oh! where was he?”. Then, she adds an image of wind carrying “fragments” across the “sea.” And concludes the poem by mentioning that the noblest thing that perished there was a faithful heart. The image of “fragments” in the wind “strewing” the “sea” implies that the ship has blown up. The wind has carried the debris of the destroyed ship and gallant child across the “sea”. By using the word “sea,” Hemans portrays the image of how strong the child’s faith was. Also, the  boom of the explosion amplifies the significance of the child’s respect and faith for his father’s existence, possibly putting his father before any god. All he probably had in his life was the respect of his father, and without his father everything perished, specially his faithful heart.