holocaust poem 2

It was Christmas eve
and there was no room in the inn,
the Oswiecim inn,
so the Arrow Cross
took the children,
barefooted
and in their nighties,
out to the Danube
and filled their little bellies
not with bread
but bullets
flipping them
like tiddlywinks
into the congealing, icy river below.

It was the Red Danube
that night,
choking on the blood
of orphan Jews
whose little Blue faces
floated downstream
touring even all of Europe
until they washed up
on the shores of Eretz Yisrael (Jewish homeland)
and came back to life,
their little blue and white
bodies
raised high,
flapping in the wind.

1.  How is imagery used in this poem? - imagery is used in this poem through use of rhyme and lots of describing words, simile and metaphor e.g.  “their little blue and white bodies “

2.  Discuss the effect of the simile in this poem. - The simile " like tiddlywinks" describes how the German's shot the Jewish children which shows how Gruesome and heartless the German Nazi’ were which evokes sad and angry emotions in the reader.

3.  How is alliteration used in the poem? What is the effect?

Alliteration has been used to describe the children's innocents and how how heartless the nazi's were. "filling their bellies not with bread but bullets"

4.  How does the author juxtapose the innocence of the children to the cruelty they experienced?

The author Juxtaposes the children’s innocence to the cruelty of the German Nazi’s by using childish words such as ‘nightie’ and ‘ little bellies’ and contrasting it with words such as ‘bullets’, ‘flipping’, ‘congealing’, ‘icey river’. the author juxtaposes how they should of been treated to how they really were by saying that their bellies weren't filled with bread and instead with bullets.

5.  What is meant by 'touring all of Europe'?

‘ touring all of Europe’ is how the children’s  bodies floated through the stream. The poet is trying to say that they were just left there as if they were nothing. It shows that nothing could be done at the time to stop this from happening.