"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.