Great Works of Literature II, Fall 2019 (hybrid) HTA

How does the poet bear witness to tragedy or more difficult aspects of human life? Yehuda Amichai

In the poem, “God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children”, Amichai tries to convey that as you grow older you will suffer more, thus bearing more burden. The title and the first sentence reveals that God has pity on the younger children who are ignorant of the world and the surroundings, possibly alluding to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. God, however, pities people less and less as they grow older, even to the point of abandoning them. As a result of the increasing difficulties people face as they grow older, and as the war progresses, people also begin to abandon God by losing faith in him. People begin to lose faith and hope, believing that God has failed to protect them, even when people, “crawl on all fours in the scorching sand to reach the dressing station, streaming with blood.” God is not there for them during the time of war and destruction, but is there to protect the innocence of the younger (Kindergarten) children. Amichai may have written this poem to demonstrate the loss of faith in religion as a result of a tragedy, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was based on religion.

In the poem, “Try to Remember Some Details”, Amichai expresses how to bear witness to tragedy. He urges the reader to try to remember some details about people so when they die, it makes it more bearable. When death arrives, people are often forgotten and the world moves on; in order to keep their spirits alive, it is the duty of the living to remember details about them, from how they dressed, looked, and acted. This was especially important in the time of war/conflict when countless people died and are forgotten on the battlefield. Death has no preferences, it will swallow everyone on the battlefield, so it is the job of the living to carry on their legacy.

Walcott 11/22

How do these love poems, “Bleecker Street, Summer” and “The Fist,” compare with other love poems you’ve read?

Walcott’s poems “Bleecker Street, Summer” and “The Fist” compare to other love poems I’ve read because it revolved around the literary device of imagery.  Edith Wharton’s “Terminus ” also included imagery, you could imagine how the person looks, what’s going on, you could have a daydream about the setting. It seems like a common theme among all these romantic poems deal with the lovers being distant from each other. The speaker is always reciting the lovely moments in the past tense and reminiscing on those great times. The speaker is always dreaming of the past, in “The Fist”, the speaker says, ” But this has moved past love to mania” to convey that this romance has happened in the past.