LESSON PLAN

Lesson : Casabianca
Periods Allocation : 03 periods
Duration : 40 minutes (per period)
Class : (National & Cambridge)
Teaching Aids : video clip, flashcards (literary devices)
Objectives : Upon successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
 Listen, understand and appreciate the poetic devices in the poem.
 Identify the different elements in the poem.
 comprehend the unique character of Casabianca and draw valuable
life lessons.
Step 1
Introduce the poem and the poet. A general background has to be explained and how it’s based
on a true story during the battle between the English and the French.
Step 2
Next, Show the students the video and get them to take turns and read the poem with proper
pauses, stress, intonation and emotion. Point out the structure, the rhyme scheme and the
elements used in the poem.
Step 3
Begin to analyse the poem line by line. The teacher will ask them the meaning of the words.
Students should be given a chance to guess. Students should be guided to take down the
meanings of the words and form their own thoughts and expressions.
All poetic techniques should be explained in detail and students can highlight them in their
books. Teacher should write the poetic techniques on the board and use flashcards.
Evaluation.
Oral questions have to be asked in class. Written exercises- 1 context and 5 short answer
questions should be discussed.
Could there be a different ending to the poem? …. Could casabianca have escaped the dreadful
situation he was in and saved his father?
Why does Hemans say “childlike form” what is she trying to convey?
Comment on the use of punctuation and how Hemans uses it to bring out the tone of the poem.
What can you conclude about Casabiancas character?
Theme
Bravery, faithfulness, heroism, violence and war
Message
1. Hemans wanted to make the British readers of her poem want to be like Casabianca and
follow his example of how brave he was
2. To be obedient and steadfast in face of trials/adversity
Character traits of casabianca
Brave, heroic, faithful, obedient
Literary devices
Simile- 1.yet beautiful and bright he stood As born to rule the storm
2. and streamed above the gallant child like banners in the sky
Metaphor
1. A creature of heroic blood.
2. Burst of a thunder sound
Personification
1. He felt their breath
2. The wreathing fires made way

Alliteration
1. Beautiful and bright he stood
Casabianca was first published in 1826 which is also popularly known as 'The Boy stood on the
fire Burning Deck'. This poem is about the actual incident that happened in 1798 during the
Battle of the Nile where Casablanca, a 12-year old boy, the son of Luce Julien Joseph was the
commander of a warship.
Casabianca by Felicia Dorothea Hemans is a ballad telling a heroic deed of a small boy. The boy,
son of the Captain of the ship which is under attack by the English remains alone at his post even
as many have been killed and others have fled. His father is lying under him in unconscious
condition, but however his death seems very near. As he has not been given the command to
leave the boy remains even the enemy’s bombing has set the ship into fire. As the ship explodes,
the boy is killed. The poem commemorates his heroic deed, obedience and devotion to duty.
Hemans narrates the events leading to the boy’s death using characteristic diction of heroic feats,
structure, alliteration, personification and visual imagery. The use of direct speech in some
stanzas leaves a profound impact on the reader as they bring alive the agony and desperation
experienced by the boy as he facing the ruthless enemy.
Hemans creates a sense of shock at the beginning of the poem “The boy stood on the burning
deck” (line 1) making the reader anxious and feel sad for the boy. The words ‘wreck’ (line 3) and
‘dead’ hold the gravity of circumstances which involves destruction and loss of lives. When
readers read the first stanza, they are going to feel sympathy for the boy standing on a burning
deck with dead corpses lying around him.
While the first stanza portrays the danger facing the boy, the second stanza hails his impressive
demeanour “Yet beautiful and bright he stood” (line 5). The alliteration highlights the boy’s
determination and indomitable will. The reader is able to feel the sense determination, bravery
and obedience which the boy embodied by his diction in ‘brave despair’ (line 24) gallant child
(line 30) and faithful heart (line 40)
Hemans use of direct speech while referring to the boy’s utterances to his father who was lying
under him, almost dead, “Say father, say, If yet my task is done?” (lines 13-14) makes the reader
appreciate the boy’s pitiable plight with more of empathy than sympathy. The use of
interrogation and exclamation, “If I may yet be gone!” (line 18), and “My father! Must I stay?”
(line 26) presents the desperation the boy was experiencing with vividness and liveliness.
Hemans describe the fire as an ‘angry’ and ‘hungry’ demon- And fast the flames rolled on (line
20) The personification here tells how ‘keen’ the fire was to engulf all that it saw on its way. The
reader is able to feel the still more terrorising face of the fire in line 21- “Upon his brow he felt
their breath” This makes the reader think that fire having already caught hold of its prey, the boy,
is just pausing before devouring it.
the visual imagery makes the reader feel the magnitude of the danger rather horror the young lad
was confronting
In the last stanza line20 “They wrapt the ship in splendour wild” describes the swift, aggressive
nature of the fire which has enveloped the ship. Hemans admires not just the heroic deed of the
boy but also the loyalty and determination of the ship which had borne to its utmost limit the
destruction caused by the English foe. - “With mast and helm and pennon fair” (line 37)
Felicia Dorothea Hemans’s Casabianca is a poignant account of a heroic deed of the small boy
who had pushed himself to his utmost limit standing for implicit obedience, and devotion to
duty. Through her use of varying sentence structure and diction befitting a heroic tales and has
kept the narration emotional and engaging. Further by using of personification and visual
imagery Hemans heightens the effect of the boy’s miserable plight and gory face of fire, on the
reader The poem which celebrates values of obedience and steadfastness in the face of adversity
commemorates countess soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for their country in the warfront.

The topic of heroism comes to light many times in the poem. The prime example is when
Casabianca does not leave his post throughout the fire that is sinking his ship: “He called aloud–
'say, Father, say/ If yet my task is done? These two lines from the poem show how obedient
Casabianca was. He was told to do something so he was going to do it. Lauren Matz wrote in her
article that Hemans was so moved by the story of this boy’s bravery that she decided to write a
poem about it (Matz). The thought of Hemans writing this poem as an example for British boys
to follow was discussed in the Matz’s article as well. Bravery and heroism is such a strong and
wanted virtue in the British armed forces that Hemans putting that virtue into a boy who was a
British enemy would make English boys want to aspire to be like Casabianca (Matz). Hemans
wanted the English to try to be better.
fathers that had served in the navy gave their sons orders. Some of those orders were ridiculous
and seemed inappropriate to give young boy. The young boys would be obedient though,
because that was the way of the times then. Hemans uses this act of blind obedience in her poem
through Casabianca. His Navy father gave him an order to stay at his post, but that order was his
death sentence