Monthly Archives: November 2014
Dulce et Decorum Est
Dulce et Decorum Est
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of gas-shells dropping softly behind.
Gas! GAS! Quick, boys!—An ecstasy of fumbling
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time,
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime.—
Dim through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.
If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,—
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.
NOTES: Latin phrase is from the Roman poet Horace: “It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.”
Source: Poems (Viking Press, 1921)
Todesfuge (Death Fuge)
Todesfuge (Death Fuge)
Black milk of dawn we drink it at dusk
we drink it at noon and at daybreak we drink it at night
we drink and we drink
we are digging a grave in the air there’s room for us all
A man lives in the house he plays with the serpents he writes
he writes when it darkens to Germany your golden hair Margarete
he writes it and steps outside and the stars all agisten he whistles for his hounds
he whistles for his Jews he has them dig a grave in the earth
he commands us to play for the dance
Black milk of dawn we drink you at night
we drink you at daybreak and noon we drink you at dusk
we drink and we drink
A man lives in the house he plays with the serpents he writes
he writes when it darkens to Germany your golden hair Margarete
Your ashen hair Shulamite we are digging a grave in the air there’s room for us all
He shouts cut deeper in the earth to some the rest of you sing and play
he reaches for the iron in his belt he heaves it his eyes are blue
make your spades cut deeper the rest of you play for the dance
Black milk of dawn we drink you at night
we drink you at noon and at daybreak we drink you at dusk
we drink and we drink
a man lives in the house your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Shulamite he plays with the serpents
He shouts play death more sweetly death is a master from Germany
he shouts play the violins darker you’ll rise as smoke in the air
then you’ll have a grave in the clouds there’s room for you all
Black milk of dawn we drink you at night
we drink you at noon death is a master from Germany
we drink you at dusk and at daybreak we drink and we drink you
death is a master from Germany his eye is blue
he shoots you with bullets of lead his aim is true
a man lives in the house your golden hair Margarete
he sets his hounds on us he gives us a grave in the air
he plays with the serpents and dreams death is a master from Germany
your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Shulamite
anselm kiefer's “your golden hair, margarete”
The Cage
Critical Questions and Reflections on the Cage.
Guidelines:
- Please include email a short book review after you are finished reading the book
- You may choose one or several questions to answer in a media format.
- Preference is for formal paragraphs or academic essay format.
- Please email Ms. Ruck for alternative format proposals.
1. Discuss the importance of community in Lods, Poland, and what community meant for Riva and her family.
2. Discuss the purpose of the ghettos established by the Third Reich and the conditions suffered by Jews in the ghettos. How does Riva’s narrative help to inform the reader about these ghettos?
3. Examine how Rita was treated in comparison to others and conclude why she was given second chances on many occasions. Discuss how this impacted her emotionally.
4.Analyze the significance of the statement that the bombs were “music”.
5. Examine the role that writing had in Riva’s life.
6. Discuss the types of punishment used in concentration and labour camps during the Holocaust and determine the purpose of the punishment. Analyze whether the punishment fits the “crime”.
7. Examine the meaning of the statement “if we forget the past, it could happen again”.
8. Discuss Sender’s use of foreshadowing and other literary devices in the Cage.
As long as there is life, there is hope
After Mama is taken away by the Nazis, Riva and her younger brothers cling to their mother’s brave words to help them endure life in the Lodz ghetto. Then the family is rounded up, deported to Auschwitz, and separated. Now Riva is alone.
At Auschwitz, and later in the work camps at Mittlesteine and Grafenort, Riva vows to live, and to hope – for Mama, for her brothers, for the millions of other victims of the nightmare of the Holocaust. And through determination and courage, and unexpected small acts of kindness, she does live – to write the unforgettable memoir that is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.
Track Changes: PAR-HEAP
