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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
and cultural production.
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