Slavitt'S Titanic

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Explication of Titanic David Slavitt wrote a poem called Titanic that is about a ship that sunk into the sea. There is something compelling about Titanic; he ask who wouldn’t want to aboard a ship going to America? Most immigrants would want to aboard this ship because it was bringing them to better opportunities. The only problem is that these people did not know their lives were about to end. Slavitt expresses why people are willing to die for this opportunity. Titanic is an uncomplicated poem that uses informal diction to express the main points. In the beginning, it asks who wouldn’t want to buy a ticket for a doomed ship? Slavitt uses words that have two meanings: “If they sold passage tomorrow for that same crossing, who would not buy?” (2-644). Crossing has a double meaning in this poem; the denotative meaning is actually crossing the sea. Its connotative meaning is death. People associate death with crossing over. Also, Slavitt writes an image of sinking: “To go down/” (4-644). Again the denotative meaning is the physical downward of the ship sinking but it also means death is upon you. Later, Slavitt shows the things people die with. These luxuries show the sweeping romance of the trip. The mood of poem should be concerned about the great tragedy, it’s contemplative and lighthearted. The tone is happy and almost celebratory. The two explanation points in line six, “With lights! Ah!” gives it a festive tone (6-644). The Titanic was thought to be a luxury ship with great parties until it was doomed. This poem uses many images to get the point across. Lines four through six bring to mind sensations of sight and hearing. “Crowds of people, friends, servants, well fed, with music, with lights! Ah!” (4-6-644). The reader can hear the crowds talking and the music playing in the background. In this poem it is easy to visualize what is going on. For
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