after the titanic - derek mahon Flashcards
“They said”
he was being talked about at the inquiry, in the media and by the public - discussing his cowardice
“I got away in a boat”
he left the scene physically but this has never left him
“And humbled me at the inquiry”
“humbled” - word choice suggests he feels he has been treated unfairly, making him feel guilty for surviving; suggests a bias towards him - that he was a coward and should have died to save his reputation
“I tell you”
defiant, trying to defend himself and his actions
“I sank as far that night as any”
- “sank” shows his despair, almost like his morale has collapsed
- he owned the ship so he suffered that loss, but also the loss of his life/reputation from his survival
“Hero”
- sarcastic, mocking the way the inquiry and the media use language, praise the drowned, condemn the survivors
- convays sense of morale collapse and isolation, enjambment isolates “hero”
“As I sat shivering on the dark water”
portraying himself as a victim - he had both physical and mental trauma
“I turned to ice”
comparing himself with the dead in the water, shows insensitivity to those who died
“to hear my costly Life”
- his life has been destroyed - his boat sank so he has lost this reputation, but also lost his quality of life by surviving
- foolish to mention “costy life” when so many third class passengers died, shows he is a wealthy man
“go thundering down in a pandemonium of Prams, pianos, sideboards, winches, Boilers bursting and shredded ragtime”
- describes the horror and devastation as the boat goes down
- the listing of things on the boat shows wide variety of people who died, enhanced by alliteration
- violent word choice (“thundering”, “pandemonium”, “bursting”, “shredded”) contrasts with the everyday (“prams”, “pianos”, “sideboards” “winches”, “boilers”, “ragtime”) and gives the idea of normal life dropped into chaos
- “thundering”: horrendous noise of the sinking ship
- “shredded”: music of band is breaking up as the boat sinks
“Now I hide”
- shows how he has been affected - hunted and pursued so he hides himself away
- self imposed exile
“In a lonely house behind the sea”
he is on his own at the scene of his downfall; a broken man
“Where the tide leaves broken toys and hatboxes”
- taunted by the sea - reminders of the dead women and children whose spaces he took on the lifeboat are washed up on the shore
- shows his guilt and paranoia
“Silently at my door”
almost as if the blame is being laid at his door - they need someone to blame
“The showers of April, flowers of May mean nothing to me, nor the Late light of June”
- he is broken - nature and life have no impact on him; he is numb to the world as a result of his guilt
- shows immediate reaction and how long it lasted - he finds no joy in life after the Titanic has sunk
“when my gardener Describes to strangers”
he feels/knows he is being spoken about
“how the old man stays in bed”
…
“takes his cocaine and will see no one”
this shows how he is struggling to cope - he can’t see anyone and needs drugs to numb/ease the pain
“On seaward mornings after nights of Wind”
- he can’t face nature - stormy nights affect him the most, brings back bad memories
- this is when he uses drugs to numb/ease the pain
“Then it is I drown again”
- he suffers nightmares and feels like he is drowning when he pictures the faces of the dead
- “Then it is” reoccuring thing that happens to him
- “drown again” shows he feels he has suffered just as mugh as those who died - he has pain and guilt
“with all those dim Lost faces I never understood”
- he didn’t understand or feel the pain of the dead at the time - the were mostly third class passengers and he was a wealthy man
- shows his guilt has grown over time
“my poor soul”
feeling sorry for himself - had felt victimised but now feels guilty, like his soul cannot be saved
“Screams out in the starlight”
things get worse at night - connotations of pain with “screams”
“heart Breaks loose and rolls down like a stone”
- this is tragic; it shows his immense suffering
- he is tormented by his memories and in his nightmares
“Inclued me in your lamentations”
- direct command - asks mourners to grieve for him along with the drowned victims - his life has been ruined so he is also a victim of the Titanic
- almost a pleading tone
- although he physically got away from the Titanic, he never really got away as it affected him for the rest of his life
- shows irony of him getting away in the boat as mentioned in the first line, he seems worse off now
