Anniversaries of War - Yehuda Amichai -Analysis of the Poem

Anniversaries of War

Yehuda Amichai

About the Poet

Yehuda Amichai is an Israeli poet who won the prestigious Irael Prize. He is considered as the poet laureate of Israel. Now and in Other Days published in 1955 was his first work. He has written children literature, short stories as well as plays. His only novel is Not of This Time Not of This Place published in 1963. It was later dramatized as a play titled Bells and Trains in 1967. Critics often refer to him as the “The Walt Whitman of Jerusalem”. Having suffered the atrocities of war first hand as a soldier Amichai became a pacisfist.

Analysis of the Poem

The poem talks about the visit that the narrator made to Tel Gath which is considered as the birth place of Goliath. Goliath was a giant who was killed by David according to the Bible. Tel refers to a site which has multiple layers of soil; each layer corresponding to a particular period in history. The narrator discusses wars which took place at the place at different points in history. Tel Gath is also famous for its winepresses (a place where wine is made). As a historical site, the narrator is aware of the fact that wars have been fought at the place even during the middle ages. Personally, the narrator has a memory associated with the war, as he too fought a war at the place. He is taking his children along with him so that they will forgive him for what he did and what he did not do. He knows that wars are not decided by powerless individuals like him. The narrator is trying to teach his children about the history of war. The narrator although he is at Tel Gath in the present, travels back in time to the period when wars were fought in the middle ages. He is reminded of a Jewish poet who fought and also wrote poems during the middle ages. His name was Shmuel Ha- Nagid. The poet identifies himself with the poet from the middle ages as he too was a soldier-poet. Although he feels that the former was a greater poet than himself. The poet talks to his children whereas Nagid talked to his heart. The mound is a place where a lot ofdeath and destruction has happened. However the poet feels that he and his children stand there as symbols of resurrection that overcame death. He knows that their life too will end. But the eternal cycle of births and deaths will continue irrespective of what men do.

Landscape of the Capibaribe River - Joao Cabral De Melo Neto-Analysis of the Poem

Landscape of the Capibaribe River

Joao Cabral De Melo Neto

About the Poet

Joao Cabral De Melo Neto is a Brazilian poet who served as a diplomat for his country. He is identified with the Generation of 45, a group of poets of the post world war II period. Their poetry is marked by a bare and austere style. There are traces of surrealism and cubism in his  early poetry. His most famous work is The Death and Life of Severino. He is often considered as a member of the concrete poetry movement. Some of his important works are A Knife of All Blade, Museum of Everything and Two Parliaments. His last work is Walking around Seville. Neto is noted for his use of concrete visual imagery in his poems. His poems are not lyrical and he does not use romantic and sentimental elements in his poetry. He believes that writing poetry is a very deliberate process and there is nothing accidental or unpremeditated in art.

Analysis of the Poem

The poem describes the Capibaribe river without any sentimentality. The images in the poem describe a landscape and waterscape that are scarred by waste, poverty and environmental pollution. The poet makes a lot of social commentary through the poem. The poet says that the river does not know the blue rain, the rose coloured fountain, the water in the pitcher and breeze on the water. These are images of relative purity. Thus the poet is suggesting that the river is not at all pure. Then the poet goes on to say that the river knows silt, mud and rust. All three are images of pollution and degradation. This suggests that the river is slowly dying. The poet also says that the river must have known the octopus. This suggests that the biodiversity which once existed in the river is no longer present there. The poet uses the image of the river to make comments on the society at large. The stagnation of the river is symbolic of the stagnation of hospitals and asylums in the place. As long as the river keeps flowing, it can maintain its purity. But the dirt and silt in the river is slowly choking it to death. The sugar factories mentioned in the poem also contribute to the pollution of the poem. Towards the end of the poem the poet challenges the use of the colour blue to represent rivers on maps. The rivers with all their pollution are almost brown in colour. Thus brown is a better colour to represent rivers on maps. He says that it is true not just of the Capibaribe river, but almost all rivers in the world.

Homeward -Bassey Ikpi-Analysis of the Poem

Homeward -Bassey Ikpi-Analysis of the Poem

About the Poet

Bassey Ikpi is a Nigerian born American poet who made her name as a word artist. At the age of four, Ikpi had to leave Nigeria to join her parents in Oklahoma. However she was never able to let go of her Nigerian identity. She became interested in performing her poetry while studying English at the University of Maryland. Her histrionic skills helped her to excel in the field of performance poetry. She suffered from bi-polar disorder and later on founded Siwe project to promote mental health among people. “Sometimes Silence is the Loudest Kind of Noise” is one of her famous poems. She also published a collection of essays titled I’m Telling the Truth But I’m Lying on the effects of psychic problems.

Analysis of the Poem

Homeward is a poem which talks about the loss of culture in a foreign land. The poem begins with a reference to the poet’s grandmother who is a representative of the Nigerian culture throughout the poem. The grandmother connects the poet with her Nigerian self. Her skin smells of Nigerian history. She reminds the poet of her childhood in Nigeria. The poet recollects memories involving her grandmother while she was in Nigeria. She says that she was taken to America on an iron bird. However when the bird returned with the girl, she was no longer the girl who went away from her grandmother. The white man’s language had destroyed her ability to speak her mother tongue properly. She finds it difficult to utter some of the words in her native language.

The poet says that she finds herself unable to express her love for her grandmother in their native language. The poet does not still believe that she belongs to America. She has not accepted America as her home. She feels that Nigeria is her true home. She wonders what she will teach her children. She wants to talk to them about the place that shaped her. She wants them also to consider Nigeria as their home. The poet feels that she has inherited the strength of women in her native country. However some of it has been lost in her life in America. Life in places like Oklahoma, Washington DC and Brooklyn has not helped her to remember her roots. However they have not made her forget Nigeria either. She feels divided between her American and Nigerian self. She feels that she is both and neither at the same time. While Nigeria asks her to remember her identity, America wants her to forget it. But for her past, future, children and grandmother, the poet wants to remember her identity as a Nigerian woman.