Death

    Death is an inevitable part of life for everyone. Death was a constant situation in the Nazi concentration camps during World War Two. Death came by the evil doer Nazi soldiers. Death was everywhere in the concentration camps. The death camps even smelled of death. Death was a daily event. Paul Celon endured living in a concentration camp. His emotions, thoughts, and memories were a constant nightmare. Celon did survive the concentration camp. Paul Celon wrote about his experiences in a concentration camp during World War Two. Paul Celan wrote the poems “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree”. The poems can be found in The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set.

  The beginning of “Deathfugue” is about black milk. According to Paul Celan “Black Milk of daybreak we drink it at evening/we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night/we shovel a grave in the air where you won’t lie too cramped” (Ins. 1-3). Black is used here as a meaning opposite of white. White is for angels, milk, light, clouds, and goodness. Black is associated with demons, bad food, dark, night, and evil. The prisoners saw death in the evening, midday, and morning. We shovel a grave in the air would be the spirits going to heaven. The part where Celan wrote “you won’t lie too cramped” refers to the death train and the over crowed conditions that led to death for some of the people. Celan wrote “he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground/he commands us play up for the dance (Ins. 10-11). The Nazi soldiers forced the Jews to dig graves and play dance tunes. The entire poem is about death.

  “Aspen Tree” is a short poem about Paul Celan’s mother who died in a Nazi concentration camp in the Ukrain. An Aspen Tree is also called a “shaking tree”. Celan makes reference to his mother shaking with fear about dying by the hand of the Nazis. The Aspen tree is also identified with color. According to Celon “Aspen tree, your leaves glance white into the dark. /My mother’s hair never turned white.”(Ins. 1-2). Celan’s mother, innocent and good, saw the black death from the evil Nazis. Celan’s mother was killed before she got a chance to grow old like she should have. According to Celan, the last two lines he wrote were:”Oaken door, who hove you off your hinge? /My gentle mother cannot return” (Ins.9-10). Here the oak is used in the poem. Oak trees are strong. The Nazis uprooted the tree to use to build their concentration camp. Lives were uprooted to be killed.  The Nazis even killed the strong people. Celan’s good mother would not return. Death was a daily event in the death camps. Paul Celan wrote “Deathfugue” and “Aspen Tree” about his experiences and the atrocities of the death camps during World War Two. 

Works Cited

Celan, Paul. “Deathfugue”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print.

Celan, Paul. “Aspen Tree”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature: Shorter Third Edition, Two- Volume Set. W.W. Norton. Ed. M Puchner. 2012. 1469-1470. Print