Justin Arredondo

English 3

“Casabianca”

“Casabianca” by Felecia Dorothea Hemans portrays a vivid picture of a boy standing on a burning deck. While reading this poem you feel deep emotions for the boy the poet is writing about. I think Hemans purpose was to create sensual feelings in his readers. While reading I imagined many different pictures. They consisted of mainly a kid out on a huge battle boat in the ocean. This boat had many guns surrounding the deck occupied by many men. The other weapons that were not being used were engulfed in flames. There was a widespread panic upon the boat, but only one boy remained calm. He stood there and watched as everyone jumped off the boat to keep from being burned alive. Courageous as he looked, all he wanted was to find his father. That is what made you feel sympathy for this child. He has every chance to leave the burning boat and escape death, but will not leave without his father. That is true courage, knowing that you are risking your life to save someone that could possibly be dead.

The poem describes a boy upon a burning warship, expressing no emotion even though his life is in grave danger. Everyone else on the battleship has fled for their lives, but this boy is on a mission to find his father. In the poem it says he would not leave without his father’s words even though he could potentially be dead. The boat is burning in the middle of a storm and yet this child stands courageously on the deck waiting for his dad’s miraculous arrival. It is hard to tell if the child knows his father has died during the battle. It seems as if he is patiently waiting for his time to die along with the other men. In the last line of this sonnet the boy cries aloud and asks, “If yet my task is done?” I think he is asking his father if he has fulfilled his purpose in life.