Re: Casabianca


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Posted by Ed Kiser on July 12, 2004 at 22:26:17 from 64.12.116.73 user Kisered.

In Reply to: Re: Casabianca posted by Andrew Jones on July 12, 2004 at 20:51:25:

CASABIANCA


Felicia Hemans


The boy stood on the burning deck,
Whence all but him had fled;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck
shone round him o'er the dead.


Yet beautiful and bright he stood,
As born to rule the storm;
A creature of heroic blood,
A proud, though child-like form.


The flames rolled on - he would not go
Without his father's word;
That father, faint in death below,
His voice no longer heard.


He called aloud - "Say, father, say
If yet my task is done?"
He knew not that the chieftain lay
Unconscious of his son.


"Speak, father!" once again he cried,
"If I may yet be gone!"
And but the booming shots replied,
And fast the flames rolled on.


Upon his brow he felt their breath,
And in his waving hair;
And looked from that lone post of death
In still, yet brave despair:


And shouted but once more aloud,
"My father! must I stay?"
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,
The wreathing fires made way.


There came a burst of thunder sound -
The boy - oh! where was he?
Ask of the winds that far around
With fragments strewed the sea!


With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,
That well had borne their part -
But the noblest thing that perished there
Was that young, faithful heart.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary regarding the poem, "CASABIANCA"


The poem refers to the Battle of Aboukir Bay, otherwise known as
the Battle of the Nile, arguably Nelson's most impressive (and
indeed exceedingly bloody) victory over the French.

The "boy" was the son of the French Admiral and the poem relates
the destruction of the French Flagship, the massive L'Orient. At
the height of the battle she caught fire and, not only packed
with gunpowder for her own guns but also for the French Army on
shore, she blew up. The explosion was apparently so great that
the entire battle stopped for several minutes whilst everyone
else recovered from being stunned.

The battle was historically significant, not only because it
scuppered Napoleon's plans to invade India, but also because it
meant that the Rosetta Stone ended up in London rather than Paris
after the now marooned French Army who discovered it were forced
to surrender.

The poem praises an unquestioning obedience that seems almost
unreal in today's world. But I imagine that in that very
different world such attitudes were regarded as amongst the
highest of virtues, especially amongst admirals and their sons.



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