Holocaust Poetry: An Anthology - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006278752 ISBN 13: 9780006278757

Publisher: Harpercollins/STL, 1995

Synopsis

Published to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of the death camps, this anthology comprises some 85 poems on subjects closely connected with the Holocaust. Each poet and poem is prefaced with a few introductory remarks.

About this title

Review:

"The power of verse to encompass a topic of mammoth scope and render it into painstakingly personal detail is keenly demonstrated in this absorbing and well thought-out anthology of grief."--"Publishers Weekly"
"Can there be poetry about the Holocaust? Isn't this kind of writing an attempt to escape--or to exploit--the suffering of millions? Poet and anthologist Schiff confronts these questions in her eloquent introduction. One answer she finds is that to remain silent is also to lie. Fifty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, great literature about the Holocaust has grown to a flood . . . The pieces here are of astonishing power. In English and in translation from many languages, [nearly 60] poets--including Wiesel, Fink, Brecht, Yevtushenko, Auden, and Sachs--give voice to what seems unspeakable. Schiff points out that compelling historical accounts document the facts and numbers, but a poem, like a story, makes us imagine how it felt for one person. These poems are stark and deceptively simple. No one can read them all at once. Each poem leaves you with an indelible memory. In words of one syllable, the Polish poet Rozewicz writes about having to reinvent language after Auschwitz ("this is a man / this is a tree this is bread" ). There's no healing in this tragedy: the last poem, by Primo Levi, is like a shout of rage to us to remember."--Hazel Rochman, "Booklist"

The power of verse to encompass a topic of mammoth scope and render it into painstakingly personal detail is keenly demonstrated in this absorbing and well thought-out anthology of grief. "Publishers Weekly"

Can there be poetry about the Holocaust? Isn't this kind of writing an attempt to escape--or to exploit--the suffering of millions? Poet and anthologist Schiff confronts these questions in her eloquent introduction. One answer she finds is that to remain silent is also to lie. Fifty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, great literature about the Holocaust has grown to a flood . . . The pieces here are of astonishing power. In English and in translation from many languages, [nearly 60] poets--including Wiesel, Fink, Brecht, Yevtushenko, Auden, and Sachs--give voice to what seems unspeakable. Schiff points out that compelling historical accounts document the facts and numbers, but a poem, like a story, makes us imagine how it felt for one person. These poems are stark and deceptively simple. No one can read them all at once. Each poem leaves you with an indelible memory. In words of one syllable, the Polish poet Rozewicz writes about having to reinvent language after Auschwitz ("this is a man / this is a tree this is bread" ). There's no healing in this tragedy: the last poem, by Primo Levi, is like a shout of rage to us to remember. "Hazel Rochman, Booklist""

"The power of verse to encompass a topic of mammoth scope and render it into painstakingly personal detail is keenly demonstrated in this absorbing and well thought-out anthology of grief." --Publishers Weekly

"Can there be poetry about the Holocaust? Isn't this kind of writing an attempt to escape--or to exploit--the suffering of millions? Poet and anthologist Schiff confronts these questions in her eloquent introduction. One answer she finds is that to remain silent is also to lie. Fifty years after the liberation of Auschwitz, great literature about the Holocaust has grown to a flood . . . The pieces here are of astonishing power. In English and in translation from many languages, [nearly 60] poets--including Wiesel, Fink, Brecht, Yevtushenko, Auden, and Sachs--give voice to what seems unspeakable. Schiff points out that compelling historical accounts document the facts and numbers, but a poem, like a story, makes us imagine how it felt for one person. These poems are stark and deceptively simple. No one can read them all at once. Each poem leaves you with an indelible memory. In words of one syllable, the Polish poet Rozewicz writes about having to reinvent language after Auschwitz ("this is a man / this is a tree this is bread" ). There's no healing in this tragedy: the last poem, by Primo Levi, is like a shout of rage to us to remember." --Hazel Rochman, Booklist

About the Author:

Hilda Schiff is a renowned translator, author, anthologist, poet, and scholar. An annual Hilda Schiff Prize in Holocaust Studies is awarded by the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies at Oxford University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harpercollins/STL
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0006278752
• ISBN 13: 9780006278757
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Schiff Hilda