Holocaust Poetry Assignment

Holocaust Poetry Analysis Name:__________________
Global Literature

Poetry can express, in language, feelings and ideas that are often the most difficult to express. Today we will be looking at a number of poems written during and following the Holocaust where the authors tried to give words to an almost indescribable ordeal. You will be exploring these poems and analyzing them for form, sound, and meaning. Below is a refresher regarding how to analyze a poem. Each analysis should be about a half page (I’d prefer typed if possible).
• Read the poem once, then re-read it making notes on: sound, form, and meaning. Since this poem is hanging up, you may want to copy it down or just write notes on what you are seeing.
• Finally, make a conclusion about what the poem’s message seems to be. (Relax: there is not one “correct” meaning as long as you can give support from the poem that would be convincing and intriguing to reasonable people.)
• Analyze this poem using the methods we talked about in class. Begin with your conclusion about the main message. Support this argument with examples you found in the form (syntax), sound, word choice (diction), imagery, and figurative language.

You must analyze at least four poems today in class using the method above. However, you are not “done” once you have analyzed four. Extra strong work will receive extra credit. Extra strong work includes more than four strong analysis write-ups or four strong write ups in a poetry book like the example in class.