Life and the Titanic

The poem "Titanic" by David R. Slavitt first got my attention with the rhetorical question in the second sentence. "If they sold passage tomorrow who would not buy?" This provoked the thought of who would willing go sail off to their death and this thinking instantly drew me into the poem.  After reading and re-reading the poem, Slavitt organizes his poem in a series of contradictions going from a sad sentence to painting the pictures of a glorious and welcomed death.  By doing this Slavitt not only makes readers connect with the poem because the emotional roller coaster he puts them on but he also brings out the universal fear that people have of dying and being forgotten. The glorious picture that Slavitt paints of dying part of a legacy with words that have mostly negative connotations is awe inspiring. The tone that is created with connotations that are usually more closely aligned with a sad rainy day rather than glory really made the poem very unique and i throughly enjoyed reading it.  Also the fact that Slavitt brought up a fear that is often not discussed openly and showed the extremes that people will go to in oder to not be one of the forgotten, really made me sit back and evaluate what I want to accomplish with my life so i am not one of the forgotten dead.