World War II Poetry Paper
Below are three different poems that offer a first hand account of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb, the Japanese American Internment Camps, and the Nazi Consecration Camps.
For part of your project you need to write a paragraph essay, which compares and contrasts two of the three poems considering any of the following elements:
For part of your project you need to write a paragraph essay, which compares and contrasts two of the three poems considering any of the following elements:
- What is the form or structure of the poems?
- What is the situation or subject of each?
- How are the poetic devices used?
- What imagery is developed?
- What thematic statements are made?
- What is the tone of each poem?
- What is the organization or progression of each poem?
- What attitudes are revealed?
- What symbols are developed?
Hiroshima Shadows
Hiroshima shadows, mother and child ...
Oh, when will our hearts ever be beguiled
to end mindless war ... to be wise, reconciled?
Hiroshima children, now one with the shadows,
do you hear their faint voices from distant dark meadows--
the mothers you lost, whom the pale radiance hallows?
Oh, Hiroshima shadows, return to the porch
before the bombs reign again and the bright lightnings scorch ...
Come, teach us to love, not to worship such Force!
- Michael R. Burch
Oh, when will our hearts ever be beguiled
to end mindless war ... to be wise, reconciled?
Hiroshima children, now one with the shadows,
do you hear their faint voices from distant dark meadows--
the mothers you lost, whom the pale radiance hallows?
Oh, Hiroshima shadows, return to the porch
before the bombs reign again and the bright lightnings scorch ...
Come, teach us to love, not to worship such Force!
- Michael R. Burch
That Damned Fence
Anonymous Poem
Circulated at the Japanese-American Poston Camp
They've sunk the posts deep into the ground
They've strung out wires all the way around.
With machine gun nests just over there,
And sentries and soldiers everywhere.
We're trapped like rats in a wired cage,
To fret and fume with impotent rage;
Yonder whispers the lure of the night,
But that DAMNED FENCE assails our sight.
We seek the softness of the midnight air,
But that DAMNED FENCE in the floodlight glare
Awakens unrest in our nocturnal quest,
And mockingly laughs with vicious jest.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do,
We feel terrible, lonesome, and blue:
That DAMNED FENCE is driving us crazy,
Destroying our youth and making us lazy.
Imprisoned in here for a long, long time,
We know we're punished--though we've committed no crime,
Our thoughts are gloomy and enthusiasm damp,
To be locked up in a concentration camp.
Loyalty we know, and patriotism we feel,
To sacrifice our utmost was our ideal,
To fight for our country, and die, perhaps;
But we're here because we happen to be Japs.
We all love life, and our country best,
Our misfortune to be here in the west,
To keep us penned behind that DAMNED FENCE,
Is someone's notion of NATIONAL DEFENCE!
Circulated at the Japanese-American Poston Camp
They've sunk the posts deep into the ground
They've strung out wires all the way around.
With machine gun nests just over there,
And sentries and soldiers everywhere.
We're trapped like rats in a wired cage,
To fret and fume with impotent rage;
Yonder whispers the lure of the night,
But that DAMNED FENCE assails our sight.
We seek the softness of the midnight air,
But that DAMNED FENCE in the floodlight glare
Awakens unrest in our nocturnal quest,
And mockingly laughs with vicious jest.
With nowhere to go and nothing to do,
We feel terrible, lonesome, and blue:
That DAMNED FENCE is driving us crazy,
Destroying our youth and making us lazy.
Imprisoned in here for a long, long time,
We know we're punished--though we've committed no crime,
Our thoughts are gloomy and enthusiasm damp,
To be locked up in a concentration camp.
Loyalty we know, and patriotism we feel,
To sacrifice our utmost was our ideal,
To fight for our country, and die, perhaps;
But we're here because we happen to be Japs.
We all love life, and our country best,
Our misfortune to be here in the west,
To keep us penned behind that DAMNED FENCE,
Is someone's notion of NATIONAL DEFENCE!
A Poem of Belief by a Jew in the Cologne concentration camp.
Written on a wall of a cellar in the Cologne concentration camp.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone's there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I'll give you strength,
I'll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there's no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace....
- Unknown
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love,
even when there's no one there.
And I believe in God,
even when he is silent.
I believe through any trial,
there is always a way
But sometimes in this suffering
and hopeless despair
My heart cries for shelter,
to know someone's there
But a voice rises within me, saying hold on
my child, I'll give you strength,
I'll give you hope. Just stay a little while.
I believe in the sun
even when it is not shining
And I believe in love
even when there's no one there
But I believe in God
even when he is silent
I believe through any trial
there is always a way.
May there someday be sunshine
May there someday be happiness
May there someday be love
May there someday be peace....
- Unknown