Compaison of two poems †‘Night Over Birkenau’ and ‘Earrings’ Essay

This essay will be analysing and contrasting two numberss relating to the Auschwitz concentration camp out during WWII and how it diversely affected Jews.The first poem is darkness all over Birkenau, a first hand view poem written by Tadeusz Borowski to display the daily lives of Jewish prisoners in concentration camps and Earrings, a second multiplication poem by Annette Bialik Harchik, written to inform readers how Jewish women were imprisoned whilst exploring spirits such as the racial discrimination by Nazi Germans in the Auschwitz concentration camp.By exploring these aspects it callms that the poems argon written to father a voice to the deceased Jews who strike died without having the chance to inform the piece about the inhumane crimes inflict upon them deceitfully.From the start of nighttime over Birkenau readers atomic number 18 bearn a clear insight to the poems setting, hence the title Night over Birkenau. This gives readers the virtuoso of insecurity as a setting in the night is homogeneously to be more vile. This is then reinforced in, Again the grim sky closes. Grim gives readers a sense of horror and sky closes apparent(a)ly proves that the prisoners are captivated in this horror, it is inescapable. Again reinforces that it is cyclic, constant and never ending within their hearts.The Jews feeling of horror is initially derived from the surly methods employ by the Nazi Germans to exterminate them. These were methods such as the crematorium, and the eyes of the crematorium blaze. The news blaze allows readers to interpret the vividness and aggressiveness of the flame moreover it is the substance ab habituate of personification in eyes which emphasises the intensity of the heat as the eyes symbolise the shape of an igniting red and blue flame. The personification allows readers to interpret how muffled the Nazi Germans have made the length of the termination process, as the eyes represent a quality of live humans. They were burnt alive which emphasises the woe that Jews had to go through. Just to die in the end.All this gives us a like comparison of hell. In my opinion, the Germans in the poem possess a font sympathetic Gods, turn outn by their possessiveness over a wide nation, and, how they wiped them easily because of their ignorant, unjustified hate.There is boost reference to the eyes later in the poem which lav effectively be connectered to stanza cardinal where Borowski refers to the eyes and the poison on the selfsame(prenominal) pull out, my eyes are poisoned from sleep. This reinforces the psyche that the prisoners were tortured in the methods of death utilise as poison takes a long time to distil in the body, slowly working its means through the body resulting in the victim leftover in agony. Alternatively, the reference to the eyes made in the above quotes can mean that the Germans crimes were existence watched and would not go without being k forthwithn to the world (hence how we now know). The use of eyes shows that they are being watched more widely than just saying eye.Imagery of natures deceitful and unwilling peculiar(prenominal) is similarly portrayed in Earrings.At the end of the poem, we are similarly shown how nature trying to contri plainlye to the Germans crimes.This is shown on the ending stanza of the poem. Harchik does this by describing the holes dug in which the camp prisoners corpses to be buried in, The empty holes, and, on the beside line they are described as grown shut. This is a rattling effective way to use language, it emphasises natures attempt to stop the finding of the Jews corpses after the massacre. This is shown by the use of oxymoron to emphasise how the holes that the Germans have dug to mass bury the prisoners corpses is conceal by grass growing over the burial sites eventually levelling gain with the rest of the earth.The predilection of natures conceal of the Germans crimes is similarly portrayed in Night ove r Birkenau. Fog descends over Birkenau. Descends allows readers to watch out the slow approach of the fog covering all signs of reality. The use of fog allows readers to interpret the spreading of blemish and confusion on its progression. The fog concealing Birkenau can symbolise the ignorance of the outside world. They were blinded by mere fog which the Germans use as a flying veil to their crimes. The worlds ignorance is shown by the way the outside world did not have a basic outlook of what was really happening privileged this typical, yet deceitful looking camp. mean solar day be day, the tension of hungersickness and fear accumulated within the prisoners. Even their feet were not put to rest. But, instead, they had to demote wooden shoes. A source of pain and can sometimes prove fatal. And with all this people in the Auschwitz camp were losing sanity. They were afraid of anxious(p). Not just dying but not being found again. Borowski cleverly presents the loss of sanity t o readers by the theme of astronomy, blue hunting watch- lost among the stars. For one, a setting in out space is in truth effective as it reinforces the same theme as the night, as space, likewise, is pitch black. The real reason to why Borowski employ this quote is because the Orion is visible to eitherone, all around the world. Yet, historically, because of the business (and lack of care) the world gave no attention to the crimes which were happening.Physical loss is shown in Earrings in stanza four. On the first line, Harchik shows readers how abominable her frets physical condition is once she left her earrings from the last stanza, Under her wavy white hair. The use of white emphasises the dramatic change in physical attributes that happen within a character this emphasises how much the camp prisoners must have been worked out. The use of the alliteration, Wavy white, gives a double impact and meaning to the ageing idea, as similarly wavy hair is often degraded in qual ity and is the last stage of hair development within a person thus it is a characteristic of an ageing person.Fear is to a great extent referred to in Night over Birkenau. It was the initial reason to why people in concentration camps lost sanity. This fear of death and humiliation had a huge psychological impact on the prisoners. Which, with the deprivation of food and water, depression and over working it could precisely get worse.The first stanza describes the potential threat which the camp prisoners are facing, and this is done in very simple and deeply understood language, comparable a crouching beast over the camp. The word beast is used to portray a grim character which will do anything possible to harness its goal. This fear is further reinforced because a beast overly possesses a savage, daunting appearance. But fear is shown whenBorowski uses the word crouching, to show that prisoners lived under threat as the Nazi Germans have the potential to take you. Just like th e beast. The use of enjambement helps to reinforce the beasts potential tokill by the use of death imagery, The moon sets queasy as a corpse. The colour of the moon is comparable to corpse. The aftermath of death. Alternatively this can show fear by the way that prisoners could not look up to the sky for foretaste but misery.At the beginning of stanza two, Borowski shows readers the lack of defence prisoners had and their vulnerability to the Nazi Germans in, And like a shield abandoned in battle. The use of shield abandoned and abandoned in his simile allows readers to see the situation the Jews were in. They could not retaliate, as, without a shield, they could not defend themselves enough to make it a pretty battle. They were betrayed and their only chance of survival was by following their enemies instructions until their fates are decided.This quote can link with, Lead foot crushing my chest. Lead is a metallic element, and without the shield mentioned earlier, prisoners wer e not able to defend themselves against the metallic crush attack style inflicted by the Nazis boots, making them resign for the humiliation. We can see this by the way the poet chooses to describe all images of fear and death figuratively to personify how they were mislead to the gate of hell, The transports growl in darkness. Borowski chooses to use transports instead of simply saying transport, to emphasise the abnormal amount of train activity in the camp. The fear is further reinforced by the use of onomatopoeia, growl which can be linked to animal imagery of the beast in stanza one.The purposeful play of plurals is used similarly in stanza 4 to convey a disparate meaning, Like Gods judgement on the corpse of the earth. This only refers to one thing corpse, instead of saying corpses this is done to show that the Jews sensation. They all went through the same experience and they all die in the same place, they were all equal in such a tragedy.Fear is presented in a differentl y in Earrings. Harchik identifies her familys name on the first line instead of keeping anonymous as Borowski does in his poem. This shows us that the intention of the poet was to speak out to give a voice to the Jewish women almost 45 years after the mass termination of the Jews in her poem published in 1989 with opposite similar poems speaking about Jewish women in the Auschwitz camp. The way in which the Jewish generation suddenly arises from its dormant state in decades shows how survivors were afflicted with fear from the experience they had to go through.Earrings shows speaks out by, first of all, giving her familys name, with the basis of the poem coming first hand from her mothers perspective but is also based around other Jewish women, the general picture. In comparison to Night over Brikenau, Earrings surround itself around a more itemual and of import theme thus it is less(prenominal) emotional. Readers are shown the poems factual content by Harchiks straightforward la nguage, which is effective and to the point, stripped, shorn and tattooed. Straightforward and to the point. breathing out is presented in both poems. But, in Earrings Harchik shows the readers the loss by deprivation of vital things to Jewish girls, such as culture.Ears pierced in infancyadorned in stringgolden hoops for girlhooddiamond studs for marriage.Harchik shows the loss of identity and culture by the way that people, without her earrings, would not be able to differentiate whether she is unify or not they lost their identity. And the magnificence is shown by the clever use of semi-colons to emphasise how each step and any step was equal in importance and must be conducted in a womans lifetime and the deaths of Jewish children shows the deprivation that is caused by the Germans.Harchik explores the aspect of death in the concentration camp. This is shown in stanza three to show the death toll of the prisoners using the earrings as a symbol of their identityleaving behind herearringsin a huge glint pile of jewelry.The word huge emphasises the sheer amount of women imprisoned as they have all left their belongings in the pile. Harchik uses the word leave to show the that her mother left her possessions with her intention which reinforces the deceitfulness of the Nazi Germans as they lied and told the Jews that they were only going in for a shower, when, in fact they were to be inhaled with toxic gas.Glittering shows that the jewellery was new and polished in other words, it was to give an impression. This can be referred historically to the way Jews were deceived into a incorrect destination, the total opposite of what they have been told. A destination in which there minds would never dwell on. Alternatively, glittering can suggest the speed at which everything is happening, which is very fast. Whilst the pile of jewellery is huge, it is still glittering to emphasise the activity of women leaving their possessions and never coming back out. both (prenominal) poems portray the same sense of unity between the Jews making them one. This is shown in a simpler and more effective form in Earrings because the link of unity between the Jewish women was also a link of culture as all the women carried at least earrings. Harchik shows us this by using the world pile in, in a huge glittering pile of jewelry. Pile suggests the disorganization in the camp which reinforces the idea how everything in the camp was going at extreme speed. But, it is this pile which suggests the equality that all the Jews had every persons possessions was mixed in a huge pile with other cheaper or more expensive items. There is a huge paradigm of whos this jewlerry may belong to whether it was a poor or a rich person. All that really mattered was that these people were Jewish.In Night over Birkenau, Borowski displays the aspect of humiliation in a discreet way to emphasises his feelings. A clear example of this humiliation is shown in stanza three. Humilia tion is shown here when the Nazi Germans stamped their shoes on the prisoners to show how their dominance over them as they are the Arian race and how Jews were inferior in comparison to them. This lead foot crushing my chest.The use of words like crushing is effective, it does not simply say stamping but goes into a higher level of complexity to relate it to make it deadlier to emphasise that the Germans were never lenient with the camp prisoners. This can subtlety linked with the previous line of the Stanza Breath rattles, which is a sound of suffocation as the Germans crushed the prisoners chest.From this, we can subtract how Jews were racially ridiculed as soon as they reposeed the camp. They were not only humiliated but seized in a deadly way which is reinforced in the enjambment, is the lock up of three million dead. This is what almost all Jews had to go through regardless of who they were in the other world the world were they had their own names.Prisoners humiliation is portrayed in Earrings. Harchik guides readers through it in a chronological format where commas identify the pause between every step, my mother was stripped,shorn,tattooed. Harchik uses a continuous 3 line enjambment to show the speed at which everything is happening. Once prisoners are off the train they must do what the Nazi Germans tell them without a pause. The personal reference to her mother will make readers more sympathetic towards the situation since a mother is a character of significance. Prisoners were treated barbarically like a herd of sheep.We can see this by the way they had to follow all orders given to them, just like the sheep would do to the farmer without a halt. What is even more humiliating, is the way that the womens heads were shaven off completely, shorn. This is done to remove any environmental variation between them. They could not be themselves they were almost clones of each other serving the Germans. They were not easily differentiable and in some ca ses it was non-deferential between a man and a woman. And this mark of identity is shown by the way they were tattooed almost a sign from the Germans of their permanency in the camp. This shows the how some prisoners were even humiliated by their simple, indirect thoughts.There is also an effective use of alliteration in both Night over Birkenau and Earrings. Both of the poems use alliteration to convey both both the onomatopoeic meaning and a hidden historical inference. In Night over Birkenau, alliteration is used to show death Its steamy stifling. This refers to the sound of a snake Ss, which is an example of animal imagery with the intention to bring death. The use of steam emphasises the intensity of temperature whilst stifling reinforces the idea of the Germans control. Despite the living conditions they are in they are forced to live through it. The punchy full-stop is used to show an end to the life of prisoners who chose to give up than live under control.Alliteration is similarly used in Earrings to show the camps treatment towards prisoners My mother was stripped,shorn. The alliterate use of Ss is used here again, striped,shorn. The main use of alliteration here is because of its historical reference. SS stood for Schutzstaffel, a major Nazi military organisation run by Adolph Hitler during World struggle 2 this organization was primarily responsible for the crimes for the crimes against humanity, thus was the major inflict of pain and suffering to the Jews. Onomatopoeia is used in shorn and when read gives a Shhh, a sound of sheering which reinforces that the women prisoners heads were shaved off.Reference to religion in poetry helped prisoners to keep sane during very demanding times. With the prisoners loss of identity, culture and even their name there would only be one thing in which they can truly embrace in their hearts without the feeling of a threat, which is religion.In Night over Birkenau apparitional issues are raised and introduce d in the first stanza to set an instant scene of terror, Grim sky closes circling like a vulture over the dead silence. The idea of the sky circling in vulture like motions, in Jewish scriptures is a sign to determine the Day of Judgement. They tangle that this was the end of the Jewish spurt. And indeed it was the Day of Judgement for them this was the Nazi Germans intention. To wipe out all Jews from existence. Alternatively, the quote can be used to show the death by animal imagery. The Nazi Germans are seen as the vulture, circling around its prey, the Jews. This simile further emphasises the vulnerability of the prisoners. Borowski chooses a vulture to show how strongly patrolled the prisoners were. Whilst they may think that they are safe they are still watched cautiously by the Nazi Germans.On stanza three, readers are pellucidly shown the death. Not figuratively but statistically. Is the silence of three million dead.Furthermore, these quotes can link us as to how Borows ki consciously gives evidence to the silence in the camp emphasising the Jews fearfulness speak. Silence is shown when Borowski coherently uses death imagery and death implies silence this is evident by the poet in the fourth stanza, like a vulture over the dead silence and this is reinforced by Is the silence of three million dead.In comparison with Earrings, there is no involvement of religion.Earrings concentrates on culture and identity.Night over Birkenau is structured chronologically. The first stanza gives readers an insight to the poems setting including the thematic information to give the reader an idea as to what the poem is about.The first two lines of the second stanza progress to tell the reader about the emotions that the people felt including their loss which is an effective follow-up from stanza ones description of the night, the last two lines of stanza two show us the feelings of the people on the way to enter the camp, The transports growl in darkness.Stanza thr ee concentrates on the suffering and humiliation that the camp prisoners went through. The image of death is effectively shown throughout this stanza and there is an effective use of punctuation mark to reinforce death and tension, Its steamy, stifling. Sleep is a stone. Contracted form is used to reinforce the idea of stifling as it can be used to show the suffocation and lack of space the prisoners had. The full-stop at the end of steamy, stifling. can be used to show an end of life to some prisoners. The obvious idea of death is shown at the end, is the silence of three million dead.Stanza four is cyclic to stanza one and gives the repetition of night, Night, night without end. No dawn comes. The repetition of the night shows us the routine of the prisoners daily life in the camp but an alternative interpretation would be that the prisoners did not have hope, and hence No dawn comes. cluck is the opposite of night, thus it must mean hope and the dawn not coming reinforced the id ea that hope did not come.Also, notice how there is a consistency in the number of lines in each stanza this can also show how there was the same daily routine in the camp, Borowski makes everything in the poem repetitious just to show the number of times these crimes have happened without the world knowing the prisoners did not have a voice. We can see Borowskis cyclic approach from the beginning of the poem, Night again. Again the grim sky closes. The use of repetition, again, reinforces the idea of routine and the tediousness of camp life. This is also effective when the poem is actually being read as again is repeated twice.This is similarly portrayed in the Earrings. Both poems follow the same gradual chronology birth to death. This is slightly different in Earrings. Harchik does not set a scene but ironically shows us the earrings as being a part of the prisoners life, it was a sign of hope for them. Harchik instead uses tabbing structure to separate the earrings away from the poem to similarly show the lack of hope but it is now shown ironically in comparison to Night over Birkenau as the object of hope is now away rather than the object of misery being within the text. This can be interpreted to show how far away it was for the prisoners to be heard by the rest of the world and the lack of voice they received.Earrings is a personal second generation poem and and so the language nor the structure did not touch on sensitive issues that the Jewish generation in general felt, but bases it on what Annette Harchiks mother. The tabbing structure is heavily relied on by the poet to describe what it was before and after the entrance in the camp. The first stanza talks about her own familys perspective and we notice how it consists of 3 lines to show that it has a lower priority in comparison with stanza 2 which gives background information relating to all the women in the camp and thus given four lines.The third stanza is the biggest with the factual conten t of what has happened to her mother, my mother was stripped. Although Harchik bases this on the mother, she does go forward to give the idea on the wider perspective of what has happened to the people on the last line of stanza three, in a huge glittering pile of jewelry. The enjambment used from the last line follow on from earrings, the symbol of the people this is effective use of the enjambment because it links very well to the huge glittering pile, which again evidently shows that a wide number of people were involved.Punctuation in Earrings is less intense than Night over Birkenau. Harchik uses punctuation to separate different thing in the camp in a step to step format, mother was stripped, shorn, and tattooed. light upon how there is a comma between every step that her mother has to go through, this is effective to the reader as they have to pause between every step. This can also be interpreted to show the sheer humiliation that the camp prisoners had to go through the pause emphasises that the prisoners had to stand there waiting for the next step to be conducted right in-front of crowds upon crowds of other, humiliated people.Lack of hope is similar between both Earrings and Night over Birkenau, both poems repeat the symbol which is transport misery or ironically in Earrings, hope. In Earrings, we witness the presence of the word earrings in the first stanza to start the poem and the third stanza where the conflict is being described, once again the tabbing structure between the text and earrings emphasises that there is a lack of hope which is similarly show in Night over Birkenau but with the text to show the lingering presence of evil..From studying these poems. I can evidently see that Borowski is a poet who has went through a lot of pain and agony before having the courage to show the world exactly what happened to Jewish prisoners during WW2. This is shown in his poem by the coherent references to methods of deaths, torture and disturbing images. We can learn from the poem, and his character is that living through demanding times like a concentration camps can totally change ones state of mind and this is why Borowski has a coherent reference to death imagery to feel like hes not the only one.But even with all this, it was amazingly with child(p) to escape the camp, but even harder to escape the mental scars which the camps life has subsided within him resulting in an arousal of his suicidal feelings, and hence this mental solicitude caused him to commit suicide at the mere age of 28 despite being freed from the camp. Both poems allow us to relate to the massacres that have occurred during World fight II to the Jews, as both flow progressively in a structured order. Earrings has successfully explored the identity, culture and humiliation aspect in stanza three, whilst on the other hand, Night over Birkenau heavily related to the fear and the death.In my opinion, the poet is trying to show readers that nothing exceeds humiliation, loss of culture and identity. And hence why Harchik after some years after the Holocaust she merely goes into the aspect of death but instead comments on the humiliation, loss of identity and culture. Her determination to inform the world is evident in her poetry. Her determination to tell the world about the Germans crimes gained her credaince to publish Earrings in Blood to remember a 21st century version of the original Earrings with a wider use of structure to further convey the loss of people.Personally, I preferred studying Night over Birkenau as Borowski conveys his meaning to readers in a very vivid way. It is very inspiring and makes me think about how horrible it must have been to be in such a demanding situation. Night over Birkenau allowed me to see how the world can be very deceitful to obtain and help who it wants and the constant repetition to the silence allowed me to think about how can the outside world not pay any attention to anyone. Not eve n a threatened nation fore coming the plague of World War 2s plagued war-zone.