Essay - Analysis of the Poems 'Titanic' and 'Refinement' by David R....

Analysis of the Poems "Titanic" and "Refinement" by David R. Slavitt

***** R. Slavitt is a well-known poet ***** film critic of the Newsweek M*****gazine, and as a literary writer, he has already published almost seventy-three volumes of poetry, and one ***** the most interesting and memorable poems written by David Slavitt are the poems "Titanic" and "Refinement." Both poems illustrate a special message that can be applied to any individual through a personal and social perspective. Because of this special and interesting *****me in Slavitt's poem, a critical analysis will be made. These two poems will ***** critically analyzed according to its theme and ***** (implicit and explicit).

***** first poem, in 'Titanic," Slavitt uses the ship Titanic ***** its history in sending out a soci*****l and personal message about the high-class people of ***** society. The ***** extends the ***** about an individual's longing, want, ***** preference to 'drown first-class,' just like what happened ***** the passengers and crew of the famous ***** Titanic. However, despite the fact that Slavitt seems to be voicing out an opinion that favors the high-class society ***** *****'s passengers, Slavitt also ***** a message that is a serious social issue: ***** poem "Tit*****ic" is a poem meant ***** criticize ***** take notice of the elite class of ***** *****: the poem uses a h*****torical event such as ***** sinking of the Titanic to remind us readers of the lesson everybody learned with what ***** to the ship, that is, that ***** 'high and mighty' is still vulnerable to danger, especially natural ones. This main point is sarcastically delivered in the poem "*****," and a line-by-line ***** will be provided in order ***** underst*****nd ***** sarcastic tone and the satire in ***** poem.

The first stanza of the poem illustrates the h*****torical importance ***** the sinking of ***** ship Titanic, and Slavitt immediately 'steers' his ***** in ***** attitude of awe and admiration to the prestige that comes ***** the privilege in being one of the passengers of the famous ship ("If *****y sold passage tomorrow... who would not buy?"). The seconds stanza goes straight to the point: Slavitt ***** refers to the tragic sinking of ***** ship, but Slavitt ***** this event/situation to again illustrate his seemingly na ve and irritating outlook about the rich *****. Slavitt displays awe in 'going down' with the rich people, the high-class of the society: "To go down...But with crowds, *****, friends, servants, well fed, with music, with lights! Ah!" He also gives us ***** point of view of many people, who will treat the event (the ***** of the ship Titanic) as a tragic one, ***** ********** is hypocrisy even in the act of mourn*****g, and this is shown in Slavitt's line saying, "And the world, shocked, mourns as it ought to do and almost never does." Slavitt accepts and knows this hypocritical reasoning and *****, ***** this shows that even though he acts in awe about ***** rich, ***** people, ***** is aware that