...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Casabianca

68 statements
12 feature instances
3 referencing feature instances

Casabianca	type	TVTItem
Casabianca	label	Casabianca
Casabianca	page	Casabianca
Casabianca	comment	"Casabianca", also known as "The Boy Stood on the Burning Deck", is a British narrative poem by Felicia Dorothea Hemans that was first published in the Monthly Magazine issue for August of 1826. It concerns itself with the final moments of Giocante Casabianca, the young son of Captain Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca, aboard the Orient during the Battle of the Nile. Because the poem has been militantly pushed to generations of children in English classes and because its composition is nothing short of melodramatic, "Casabianca" is well-known but regarded with derision. As such, there are countless parodies and some of those, notably "Casabazonka" by Spike Milligan, are better known than the poem itself.The Battle of the Nile is a historical confrontation between the French Navy, led by FranÃ§ois-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, and the British Navy, led by Horatio Nelson, that took place from the 1st to the 3rd of August 1798 at Aboukir Bay in Egypt. In short, NapolÃ©on Bonaparte sent out ships to get a foothold in Egypt. The British got wind of that and sent their own ships to be a bother. The British managed to miss the French, thereby giving the latter time to instigate the Battle of Embabeh and to come up with a counter strategy. While Aboukir Bay was not ideal for naval combat, as it left the French with minimal manoeuvrability, the plan was to form an impenetrable line in order to ensure protection to the troops on land. However, not only was there enough space at the end of the line for a British ship to sneak past, measures to prevent the British from passing between the French ships were not carried out. Because the French had only prepared the starboard sides for combat, they were sitting ducks when attacked on the other side. Add to that food shortage and Bedouin hostility on shore, and things weren't looking good for the French.The Orient was the flagship of the fleet and under command of Brueys and Casabianca. Mere hours into the battle, the Orient caught fire. British gunfire prevented the crew from extinguishing the flames until, eventually, it reached the ammunition supplies and the Orient exploded, probably twice. The crew had counted more than a thousand men, but fewer than a hundred survived the gunfire, the fire, the explosion, and the waves. Brueys, Casabianca, and Giocante, aged between ten and thirteen, weren't among the survivors. For one reason or another, several rumors emerged among the British shipmen pertaining the exact circumstances of Giocante's death and they ascribed a heroic element to the boy's final moments, such as that he was last seen trying to save his father.These rumors formed the inspiration for Hemans's poem, but "Casabianca" doesn't match any of them and is Hemans's own invention. After all, the second line assures the reader that Giocante is alone and if he was, who would've relayed the poem's story? "Casabianca", despite being ten stanzas long, is uneventful and owes its length to the tragedy whipped up around the end of a young and admirable life. The first three stanzas establish Giocante's grandeur and impending doom, the next four describe Giocante's futile attempts to contact his father, and then the final three focus on the ship's destruction to communicate the boy's death."Casabianca" is an accessible poem and its themes of heroism and life at sea are meant to appeal to youngsters. That's one part of why it became part of the English curriculum. The other part is that it has use as a Propaganda Piece. It links heroism to obedience and it challenges its British audience not to be outdone by the enemy in terms of discipline.No relation to Casablanca.
Casabianca	fetched	2024-03-21T16:00:22Z
Casabianca	parsed	2024-03-21T16:00:22Z
Casabianca	isPartOf	DBTropes
Casabianca / int_269e82c1	type	Death of a Child
Casabianca / int_269e82c1	comment	Death of a Child: The poem is about the Battle of the Nile, a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic. More specifically, it's about the destruction of the French vessel Orient and the deaths of all on board. And the absolute spotlight is on the tragic and lonely death of Giocante Casabianca, the pre-teen son of the Orient's commander.
Casabianca / int_269e82c1	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_269e82c1	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_269e82c1
Casabianca / int_31a2a33c	type	Stuff Blowing Up
Casabianca / int_31a2a33c	comment	Stuff Blowing Up: The poem ends with the iconic explosionnote It's believed there were actually two. of the Orient, which is what kills Giocante Casabianca.
Casabianca / int_31a2a33c	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_31a2a33c	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_31a2a33c
Casabianca / int_44fc28e8	type	Honor Before Reason
Casabianca / int_44fc28e8	comment	Honor Before Reason: Giocante refuses to dishonor his father by deserting his post despite the evident danger and the fact that everyone else is either dead or already has abandoned ship.
Casabianca / int_44fc28e8	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_44fc28e8	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_44fc28e8
Casabianca / int_6977c45e	type	Purple Prose
Casabianca / int_6977c45e	comment	Purple Prose: Not a lot happens in the ten stanzas that make up the poem and without all the purple prose about the ship being on fire it could easily be only half as long.
Casabianca / int_6977c45e	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_6977c45e	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_6977c45e
Casabianca / int_9303d6d1	type	Battle Amongst the Flames
Casabianca / int_9303d6d1	comment	Battle Amongst the Flames: The Orient is on fire while engaged in naval combat, meaning its crew is having a battle amongst flames but not their enemy. It still is very dramatic and a key component of the scenario, which the poem repeats every other stanza.
Casabianca / int_9303d6d1	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_9303d6d1	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_9303d6d1
Casabianca / int_93520e35	type	Plucky Middie
Casabianca / int_93520e35	comment	Plucky Middie: Giocante is Commander Casabianca's son and has come along on the Orient to learn the ins-and-outs himself. He shows tremendous bravery when faced with the prospect of burning to death as he refuses to leave his post unless he is given permission. That permission never comes because his father is already dead, and so Giocante dies, though mercifully in an explosion rather than fire.
Casabianca / int_93520e35	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_93520e35	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_93520e35
Casabianca / int_a6cda066	type	Rule of Three
Casabianca / int_a6cda066	comment	Rule of Three: Giocante calls out for his father thrice to relieve him of his duty and allow him to look for safety.
Casabianca / int_a6cda066	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_a6cda066	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_a6cda066
Casabianca / int_ae853f28	type	Parody
Casabianca / int_ae853f28	comment	Parody: The poem of the same name by Elizabeth Bishop is a brief and clever homage to the original, equating the boy's loyalty and sacrifice with love.
Casabianca / int_ae853f28	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_ae853f28	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_ae853f28
Casabianca / int_dc89ddb7	type	Epic Ship-on-Ship Action
Casabianca / int_dc89ddb7	comment	Epic Ship-on-Ship Action: The ship catched fire during combat and it stays locked in combat until it explodes.
Casabianca / int_dc89ddb7	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_dc89ddb7	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_dc89ddb7
Casabianca / int_e4b69188	type	Very Loosely Based on a True Story
Casabianca / int_e4b69188	comment	Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The facts are that Luc-Julien-Joseph Casabianca was the commander of the Orient, that he had brought his son along for the expedition to Egypt, and that the Orient went up in flames and explosions during naval combat. Every detail more the poem offers about Giocante Casabianca's final moments is Hemans' embellishment.
Casabianca / int_e4b69188	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_e4b69188	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_e4b69188
Casabianca / int_f765e2d3	type	Dying Alone
Casabianca / int_f765e2d3	comment	Dying Alone: Giocante dies alone amidst the corpses of the crew, unaware his father lies dead too elsewhere on the ship.
Casabianca / int_f765e2d3	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_f765e2d3	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_f765e2d3
Casabianca / int_name	type	ItemName
Casabianca / int_name	comment
Casabianca / int_name	featureApplicability	1.0
Casabianca / int_name	featureConfidence	1.0
Casabianca	hasFeature	Casabianca / int_name
Casabianca / int_name	itemName	Casabianca

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

Casabianca	hasFeature	Accidental Aesop / int_6686260b
Casabianca	hasFeature	Common Meter / int_6686260b
Casabianca	hasFeature	English Literature / int_6686260b

Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.