Poetry Interpretation: CASABIANCA

Images:
- a lone boy stands on a burning ship deck, his head high and body straight
- fire grows and moves around the boy crowning him in light
- fire creeps along the deck
- dead bodies litter the ship and waters below
- the boy's father's dead body floating below in the water
- the boy speaks to the silence asking for his father's permission to leave ship
-the boy calls out to the father again
- the sound of gun and cannon fire answers the boy 
- the wind from the flames blows through the boy's hair and touches his brow
- the boy looking straight out into the dark and smoky air, silent and still in his death
- shouts burst from the boy once again asking the father if he may leave
- the fires crept up the mast and lights the flag on fire, waves in the wind
- a loud explosion, and the boy can no longer be seen
- pieces of the ship litters the water, including the mast, helm, and pennon fair
- the death of the boy

Interpretation:

The images of the lone boy standing amongst the dead while being surrounded by fire, the sincere questioning from the boy to his father, and finally the explosion of the ship are all images linked together by the noble spirit of the boy. The boy in the poem was mostly likely ordered by his father to stay on ship and guard the ship, because the boy questioned his father if he may leave and if his task is complete. However, the boy stayed on ship and adhered to his father’s order even amongst death and fire, which showed the loyalty and noble spirit of the boy.

The fire that moved around the boy surrounded him and crowned him in his glory of his nobility and shining spirit. The noble act of staying and adhering to his father’s words while facing the certainty of his own death shown in the line "lone post of death" showed the gallant spirit of the boy which the surrounding fire enhanced as a symbol of the boy’s fierce and brightly burning spirit. The fire served as the symbol of the boy’s nobility by waving above the boy “banners in the sky” as if the fire is trying to tell the world of the boy’s bravery and noble spirit. The final explosion of the ship that litters the sea with fragments of the ship served as a physical signal and reminder of the existence of the boy. The explosion instead of diminishing the presence of the boy further heightened it by asserting the boy’s existence with noise and signaled to the surroundings that there was a boy, a light, that existed among the chaos of death. The explosion also further proved that the boy was a fragment of light and his existence belongs in the light of which the explosion is. After all, explosions are made up of light and sound. Thus, the light of the explosion signified the light of the boy and the noble spirit of the boy.

So, through the images of the poem one can interpret the message that even among the darkness of death, light will still shine. Through the presence of the boy among the dead and the fierce fire upon the ship, the nobility which served as a beacon of light among the darkness of death shone through with the boy as the symbol.