"Death Fugue" by Paul Celan (1945?, a Romanian-born German Poet)

2/26/2020

Black milk of morning we drink you at dusktime
we drink you at noontime and dawntime we drink you at night
we drink and drink
we scoop out a grave in the sky where it’s roomy to lie
There’s a man in this house who cultivates snakes and who writes
who writes when it’s nightfall nach Deutschland your golden hair Margareta
he writes it and walks from the house and the stars all start flashing he whistles his dogs to draw near
whistles his Jews to appear starts us scooping a grave out of sand
he commands us to play for the dance

Black milk of morning we drink you at night
we drink you at dawntime and noontime we drink you at dusktime
we drink and drink
There’s a man in this house who cultivates snakes and who writes
who writes when it’s nightfall nach Deutschland your golden hair Margareta
your ashen hair Shulamite we scoop out a grave in the sky where it’s roomy to lie
He calls jab it deep in the soil you lot there you other men sing and play
he tugs at the sword in his belt he swings it his eyes are blue
jab your spades deeper you men you other men you others play up again for the dance

Black milk of morning we drink you at night
we drink you at noontime and dawntime we drink you at dusktime
we drink and drink
there’s a man in this house your golden hair Margareta
your ashen hair Shulamite he cultivates snakes

He calls play that death thing more sweetly Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland
he calls scrape that fiddle more darkly then hover like smoke in the air
then scoop out a grave in the clouds where it’s roomy to lie

Black milk of morning we drink you at night
we drink you at noontime Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland
we drink you at dusktime and dawntime we drink and drink
Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland his eye is blue
he shoots you with leaden bullets his aim is true
there’s a man in this house your golden hair Margareta
he sets his dogs on our trail he gives us a grave in the sky
he cultivates snakes and he dreams Death is a gang-boss aus Deutschland

your golden hair Margareta
your ashen hair Shulamite

9 Comments

Juan Lopez - Jorge Cortez

3/3/2020 11:34:49

This poem uses Diction, Imagery and Analysis to show his experiences in the Nazi work campus. Although never saying it or mentioning the Nazi party it is very safe to conclude this because of the explicit events and examples the author put forth. The reason for writing this in my opinion is to share his experiences and to teach and possibly show other people that went through this that they are not alone

3/3/2020 11:37:02

Camp*

Jane/Joaquin

3/3/2020 11:40:08

In the poem <Death Fugue>, the tittle has two meanings on word, “Fugue”. One represents type of song and another one describes suffering of trauma. Paul Celan, the author of the <Death Fugue>, is ethnic German who experienced labor camp. He wrote this educational poem in order to honor victims of concentration camps after Holocaust and to make people know about the depressing routine of the concentration camps. To deliver his main purpose successfully, he utilizes symbolism of colors, imagery of violent moments, parallelism which creates gloomy rhythme and juxtaposition of Germans and Jews.

3/3/2020 11:50:36

* FIXED. In the poem <Death Fugue>, the tittle has two meanings on word, “Fugue”. One represents type of song and another one describes suffering of trauma. Therefore, the author is portraying unforgivable trauma by using a form of rhythmic poem. Paul Celan, the author of the <Death Fugue>, is ethnic German who experienced labor camp. He wrote this educational poem in order to honor victims of concentration camps after Holocaust and to make people know about the depressing routine of the concentration camps. To deliver his main purpose successfully, he utilizes symbolism of colors, imagery of violent moments, parallelism which creates gloomy rhythme and juxtaposition of Germans and Jews.

Leo and Ralph

3/3/2020 11:51:52

The structure of the poem heavily realize on reputation of words and phrases that begin in almost each stanza. “Black milk of morning” show a syntax formation that talks about different situations and experience that happened within the camps. The author repeats that there is a man who cultivates snakes, which is a symbol used to represent Germans. Throughout the entire poem “Deutschland” is repeated to inform the reader where this is happening.

Sarahi & Elida

3/3/2020 11:52:29

In the poem Death Fugue by Paul Celan, the tone is depressive and the reason behind this is because of the words and phrases the author uses. For example, Celan says, “we scoop out a grave in the sky where it’s roomy to lie”. This indicates that the Jews were forced to dig their own grave which is sad and inhumane. The mood of the poem is the same as the tone, depressing. It saddens anyone that comes across this poem because of how Celan explains what happens in the death camps.

Daniel Rodriguez

3/3/2020 11:53:02

Paul Celan’s poem, “Death Fugue,” uses a variety of stylistic devices to create a sad but solemn memoir. The title itself is a double entendre that shows the structure of the piece while providing a reason as to why there is so much repetition in the piece. A fugue is a musical term that often has a short repeating piece that is succeeded by another piece and is often developed by interweaving these pieces. Thus, we see the repetition of phrases such as “nach Deutschland” and “Black Milk of Morning.” However, as a psychiatric term, fugue is a mental state that makes people lose awareness as a result of shock. A common thing among those in a fugue is the repetition of certain actions or only remembering doing certain actions. In this case, drinking the ‘black milk,” which may be an analogy to death, and digging a grave. Several more analogies show up as well, such as the Jews being dogs. The man we see writing at nightfall and cultivating snakes might be an allusion to Hitler himself. The writings might have been either mein kampf or his speeches, although with the constant “nach Deutschland” and “aus Deutschland” in the text, it might have been another allusion to how Hitler did his speeches. The snakes might have been referring to nazi’s, which have sunk their poisonous fangs into Germany. Not to mention how there's several Aryan features referenced to nearby the Hitler allusions and to ‘death.’

Samantha & Tania

3/3/2020 11:54:57

The purpose of this poem is in response to the cruelties and mistreatment of Jews during World War II. The title of the poem is Death Fugue which rerfers to musical composition and loss. During the Holocaust, Jews were treated like “dogs” because they were seen as an inferior race compared to the Aryan race. They were invaded by death and persecuted by the Germans. Through this poem, the intended audience is allowed to feel what they went through in the sense of death.

Itzmaray & maria

3/3/2020 12:01:37

Content:

This poem was written by Paul Celan around 1945. In the poem “Death Fugue” it descrbes a concentration camp officer ordering Jewish prisoners to play music while the others prisoners were murdered or abused, this was form of torture. The author also repeats some of the phrases throughout the poem to create a sense of repetition in each day.

"Death Fugue" by Paul Celan (1945?, a Romanian-born German Poet)

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"Death Fugue" by Paul Celan (1945?, a Romanian-born German Poet)

Leave a Reply.

What Grade is My Writing?​www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp

Pillar of Persuasion:a 5-paragraph writing templatepillar_of_persuasion.docx

Primary and Secondary Source Documentation:

What Grade is My Writing?
www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp

Pillar of Persuasion:
a 5-paragraph writing template
pillar_of_persuasion.docx