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Greece and Rome
Referring to the Greek and Roman empires. Both empires have become symbols
of power, artistic accomplishment and longevity.
Demitasse
A demitasse is a small cup, usually for coffee. In contrast to the preceding
metaphor "chamber," demitasse emphasizes the small size of the crab
(and also, that, like coffee, it is something to be consumed). Yet where
"chamber" begins with a sense of strength and is then undercut, "demitasse"
works in a somewhat opposite fashion. Its sense of smallness is modfied
by the grandness of the word.
Demitasse suggests a world of luxury and elegance; it is the kind of
cup one might enjoy in the chamber of a grand hotel. Hence the pairing
of "chamber" and "demitasse" beautifully preserves the poem's ambiguous
representation of the crab as both great and small. "Chamber" and "demitasse"
are not only opposite words, but each word also carries within it an
opposite sense that it is in turn opposite to the opposite word's internally
opposite sense. (A grand and elegant effect through a couple small words!).
The elegance of a demitasse cup--something an artist in a grand hotel,
or a cafe, might sip--also associates the crab with art
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and cultural production.
Giotto Blue
Another of the colors of the poem. The underside of the crab shell is
not just blue, but "Giotto blue." Doty again associates the crab with
works of art. It is also significant hat Giotto, famous for his blues,
is considered one of the first Renaissance painters. The crab has died,
but with an unexpected beauty that not only recalls the work of art
(and becomes the occasion for Doty's poem), but also the work of art
that lives on and is even associated with Renaissance--rebirth. In the
ruin of the crab shell, the artwork lives.
Traveling Case
The poem compares the crab's shell to an elegant, even luxurious suitcase
with "lavish lining." The comparison again associates the crab with
a world of high culture in which one might sit in a hotel chamber and
sip coffee from a demitasse cup. Yet the comparison is also ironized
because just before it we are told that the crab smells of "seaweed
and ruin."
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