This is an example of litotes. This refers to a figure of speech that emphasizes a point by stating a negative to further affirm the positive. Litotes also tend to incorporate double negatives for effect. The way in which we can tell this is an ironic statement depends both on context and intonation. In this case, the author tells us that the sword was "not useless" in order to convey that it was actually extremely important.
In “Hanging Fire” Lorde's focus is on several issues that confront the teenager within the poem and affect teenagers in the extended world: the preoccupation with death, the problem of living in a sexist society, and the fear of isolation within the home
Explanation: Proper names of ships and other vessels are italicized in MLA format. If the name has a prefix, such as USS or HMS, do not italicize the prefix and do not punctuate the prefix with periods.
