Hi Everyone! Today, I wanted to write about “Cassabianca.” I found it tragically fascinating in many ways, but my favorite part was how, despite all the surrounding death in the poem, the fire is described in lively ways. The first moment where I noticed this was when I read “Upon his brow he felt their breath” (21). In this line, the speaker personifies the flames, describing them as “breath[ing]” entities. Thus, the speaker gives life to the very thing thing that is killing the crew of the ship. However, the imagery of the flames “breath[ing]” onto the “brow” of the boy also evokes lively images of the boy, alluding to the story of God breathing life into the nostrils of man. This allusion is ironic considering that it frames the flames as giving life to the boy, when they are ultimately the thing that takes his life away. Earlier in the poem, the speaker describes how the the fire spotlights the boy: “Yet beautiful and bright he stood” (5). This line further frames the flames as giving the boy life, “brighten[ing]” his frame and showing his beauty. My interpretation of this central irony within “Cassabianca” is that it serves as a commentary on how nobility and loyalty are the true drivers of life, not the physical beating of one’s heart. The flames highlight the boy’s loyalty to his father, as they show that, even in the face of death, the boy is not willing to leave his father and his father’s orders behind. So, by my interpretation, the flames actually demonstrate the boy’s life-force, despite being his killer.