"Casabianca" Imagery

-the burning deck

-flame that lit the battle's wreck

-a creature of heroic blood

-the flames rolled on

-booming shots

-fast the flames rolled on

-waving hair

-wreathing fires made way

-flag on high

-a burst of thunder sound

-the winds that far around

-fragments strewed the sea

Felicia Hemans’s use of imagery in her poem “Casabianca” definitely covers a wide range.  As she uses her senses, she describes seemingly everything she can in order to create such a vivid picture of the setting and evoke the necessary dramatic tone.  As the ship travels through the storm, the audience can really understand the intensity—specifically thanks to her use of auditory details (i.e. “booming shots” or “burst of thunder sound”).

However out of all the imagery that Hemans tries to include, her images of flames, fire, and burning seem by far the most prominent.  In fact, the very first image she creates for the audience is that of the boy standing on the “burning deck.”  She uses this to create a little bit of foreshadowing that also allows for us, as the readers, to ask ourselves multiple questions about what may happen to this boy, or how the deck even got to the point of burning.  She then continues on to describe the flames that are surrounding the boat and this boy, but regardless of the fact that “the flames rolled on,” he refuses to move.  As the flames continue to grow, this boy refuses to leave his position until he knows he has fulfilled his duties in its entirety.   In the end, unfortunately these flames, the storm and the battle all put up a strong enough fight and eventually defeat the young boy.  But Hemans refuses to leave the poem at that: she notes that “the noblest thing that perished there was that young, faithful heart.”

Personally, I see the importance of using imagery such as fire and flames in this poem.  The passion and dedication of the young boy can be compared to the power and blaze of the raw fire.  But on a juxtaposing note, the fire and flames could easily represent the struggles that the boy is willing to face in order to please his father and complete his tasks at hand.   Few poets choose imagery that is so versatile and can represent interpretations and meanings in so many different ways, but Hemans’ use of fire and flames successfully add to the work as a whole in a way that different imagery could not compare.

"Violet Bouquet"

My blog title comes from a song called “Violet Bouquet” by Jeremy Current.  But why I chose this goes beyond his involving lyrics.

First of all, Jeremy Current is a small, local singer from Charlotte, North Carolina—which is coincidentally where I am from.  Starting at UCD last week is so far away from what I’m used to, and when I came across this artist and his song, I started to feel the mood of home once again.

Second of all, the idea of fall being around the corner for me is actually exciting.  With graduating high school and not starting college until late September, this summer was quite possibly the longest of my life.  And while there’s nothing wrong with a little extra down time now and again, “I [still] can’t help but think about the fall.”

On a more literary sense, I chose a song lyric as the title of my blog because I tend to connect to “literature” the most through music and lyrics.  One could potentially debate that song lyrics are not actually literature, but for now, I’m going to argue that they are… most of the time at least.  Especially in this case, the first half of the song felt as if it were written for me.  I felt apart of it, and I felt important.  In general, as I read and study literature, I simply want to feel involved and see how it affects the world around us as well.