Holocaust Poetry #2

Homeland
Lois E. Olena

It was Christmas eve
and there was no room in the inn,
the Oswiecim inn,
so the Arrow Cross
took the children,
barefooted
and in their nighties,
out to the Danube
and filled their little bellies
not with bread
but bullets
flipping them
like tiddlywinks
into the congealing, icy river below.

It was the Red Danube
that night,
choking on the blood
of orphan Jews
whose little Blue faces
floated downstream
touring even all of Europe
until they washed up
on the shores of Eretz Yisrael (Jewish homeland)
and came back to life,
their little blue and white
bodies
raised high,
flapping in the wind.
How is imagery used in this poem?
 
Discuss the effect of the simile in this poem.
How is alliteration used in the poem? What is the effect?
How does the author juxtapose the innocence of the children to the cruelty they experienced?
What is meant by 'touring all of Europe'?

1) The imagery is used greatly throughout the poem. In the quote 'filled their little bellies not with bread but bullets' you can just see in your mind the way the Jews were treated by the Nazis and you can tell that they were not treated in a good way. This was how imagery was used in the poem.

2) The simile used in the poem is 'like tiddlywinks into congealing, icy river below'. The effect of the simile just makes the children more innocent and it is telling us that they did nothing wrong to deserve the pain and blood which was spilt.

3) 'Bread but Bullets' is the alliteration and it helps convey imagery and can stress timing. The use of alliteration helps make a line more memorable and gives the effect the poet intended, sad,loud, happy, evil, etc.

4) The author uses juxtaposition when they say ‘choking on the blood of orphan Jews’. You can see the pain that the Jews experienced when they say choking on the blood because straight away you think of pain and suffering. While on the other hand when it says orphan Jews you feel this sense of innocence as they were orphans and did nothing wrong to deserve such cruelty.

5) It means that they were taken all over Europe to get to their concentration camps where they were held and treated badly.