Joseph Moullet
English 225 DeVos
Textual Analysis Essay #1: Writing As Social Witness
Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue” Analysis
The poem “Death Fugue” was written by Paul Celan in 1948. “Death Fugue” focuses on the atrocities of the holocaust; most notably those committed by the Nazis against the Jews of Europe at the many extermination camps. Celan’s piece works well to capture the moment and horror of a Nazi extermination camp through short and succinct, but deeply layered language. As well, his use of strong and disturbing imagery help to effectively move the reader and bear witness against the regime of Nazi Germany and its mass genocide. Celan strives to recreate the same chaotic feelings that were endured by those interred in the extermination camps so that, in the reader’s mind, the concept of “never again” is cemented even further. The purpose of “Death Fugue” is to highlight the holocaust as the gravest crime committed against all of humanity, and to reinforce this idea that the holocaust must remain in the minds of every individual from this day forth so as to prevent anything similar or worse from ever happening again.
The first three lines of “Death Fugue” are foundational to the poem as a whole because they offer the strongest and most disturbing of images and are repeated throughout the poem a total of four times. This means that a very large portion of the poem is dedicated completely to the repetition of the ideas conveyed through these three lines. The importance of the words “Black milk of daybreak we drink it at evening we drink it at midday and morning we drink it at night we drink and we drink” are central to the poem. “Black milk” on the surface, is a literal description of the milk that was drunk by the prisoners of the concentration camp in the poem. The milk is black because, throughout day and night the ashes of those exterminated and cremated are falling from the sky and landing in the milk, thus tainting and discoloring the milk. “Black milk” also has several figurative interpretations. First, the “black milk” alludes to the promise from God to the Jewish peoples that he would deliver them unto a land of milk and honey. This allusion offers stark contrast to the reality of the Jews in the concentration camp because they were often starved and extremely malnourished. Furthermore, the allusion also describes the regular loss of faith that the Jews in the concentration camps commonly experienced after being interred for unbelievably long periods of time under extremely harsh conditions, because God is unable to deliver anything but “black milk” from above. During the whole of the incantation, it is described that they drink it at evening, midday, morning, and night. They are not drinking milk all the time, they were rarely given any nourishment, but whenever they are rationed milk it is black because morning, day, and night there are people being cremated. It is a constant drizzling of ash that discolors their milk. Also, it is possible to interpret the “black milk” not as milk at all, but as water that has been given the texture of milk because of the falling ash. This would further accentuate the perception of cruelty from the Nazi’s because they are not even willing to serve the detainees the nourishment of milk. The repetition of the beginning lines throughout the entirety of the poem offers a mirror effect of the overwhelming and constant flow of death from the concentration camps. The symbolic meaning of “black milk” in “Death Fugue” is one of death, which is contrary to the natural intentions of regular milk, because natural milk is supposed to nourish and support life, while the “black milk” here is a symbol of death. It is black because it is death, and the Nazi’s are feeding the Jews death. Celan’s focus on death through the use of the symbol “black milk” assuredly compounds the purpose of the poem, that the holocaust was and still is the blackest of marks on the history of the human race.
Another section of repetition follows the “drinking of black milk.” This section is echoed throughout the poem multiple times but changes slightly with each repetition. The one constant in the section is “A man.” This “man” is a major representation of many governmental and Nazi figures. Along with the “man” the section “we shovel a grave in the air where you won’t lie too cramped A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair Margareta” introduces the female figure “Margareta.” The leading idea of “shoveling a grave in the air” is metaphorically speaking of the ashes of those exterminated rising above the crematoriums into the sky. It is a metaphor because you are unable to shovel a grave in the air and rarely were the victims given proper or improper burials into the ground. This image of “a grave in the air” aids in the effect to move the reader and to further instill the idea of mass dehumanization. In addition, the phrase that follows “where you won’t lie too cramped” brings a feeling of meaninglessness and triviality to the reader; feelings that were prevalent with all those who were interred. The “man” is introduced in the next line and is denoted by a capitalized “A.” Nothing else in the poem is referenced by an uppercase article. One of the interpretations for this “man” is Adolf Hitler. Also, the “man” is a guard or an officer of the SS, but by chain of command they are one in the same. Through these layers, Celan is accusing all those who served under Hitler, but were not put on trial because they were “just following orders,” with the same crimes against humanity. Such a statement represents the ideas of Celan, that no one can be absolved of their crimes of affiliation, because they were in junction with something as awful as the holocaust. Both the figure of Hitler and the guard are invoked by “the house” and the “vipers.” The “house” is a reference to the guard house in which the guard will be stationed, and the vipers serve as metaphors for the militaries of the Third Reich, because they were use quickly through blitzkrieg and they were deadly effective. The structure of the remaining line “A man lives in the house he plays with his vipers he writes,” is run-on and chaotic. Such structure produces a rhythm of chaos and exhaustion, which in turn, accurately reflects day to day living of those interred at the concentration camp. This rhythmic structure of run-on and spliced sentences is continuous throughout the whole of the poem. It stresses the reader, which compounds upon the stress induced by the vivid, horrific imagery. At the end of the line, the “man” is said to “write,” this is a reference to history itself. In the next line “he writes when it grows dark to Deutschland your golden hair,” the “man” writes when it is dark and the holocaust was most surely a dark time. Also, he writes to Deutschland, he does not write to Germany because he is proud of his language, suggestively too proud. The line continues to run-on with “your golden hair,” then in the next line a female figure is introduced, “Margareta.” This woman, “Margareta,” is another form of repetition used in the poem. Similar to the other repetitions, she is changed slightly as the poem continues. Later in the poem “Margareta” is compared and contrasted with another female figure, “Shulamith.” The hair of the two women are contrasted by the phrases “your golden hair Margareta Your ashen hair Shulamith.” Again, the use of a proper pronoun suggests importance for the woman called “Shulamith.” The two women are one in the same, and she is Jewish. The “German” name of the woman is “Margareta,” while her Jewish name is “Shulamith.” Celan gives respect and regard to the woman’s Jewish name and Jewish heritage through the use of the proper pronoun “Your.” This offers contrast to the less personal and less respectful proper article that is used in reference to the “man,” that is always mentioned before the woman; also the contrast goes deeper into the genders of the two figures. The “man,” later in the poem, is said to be “Death” and “a master from Deutschland,” this offers further contrast between the “man” and Margareta/Shulamith through the interpretation that women are the vessels of life. The “master from Deutschland” is taking the “life” from the Jews by killing and burning Shulamith, also he is killing a part of Deutschland itself by killing and burning Margareta. This deep and elaborate contrast between human symbols builds upon the amorality of the holocaust and the humanness of the conflict, which further influences the emotions of the reader.
The development of symbolism continues in the subsequent lines. The lines 8-11, “he writes it and steps out of doors and the stars are all sparkling he whistles his hounds to stay close he whistles his Jews into rows has them shovel a grave in the ground he commands us play up for the dance,” continue the rhythm of chaos and exhaustion. The phrase “he writes it” is interesting because he never explains what “it” is. One interpretation is that “he” the “man” is writing history, he is writing the history of the holocaust at night because it is an awful and dark thing. Immediately following that line is “and steps out of doors and the stars are all sparkling he,” this line suggests an idea of romanticism that the Nazis had with their ideology, and how out of reach was the idea of a “perfect race.” Furthermore in the next line, “hounds” are a reference to further subjects of Hitler. Hitler wishes his officers and all the way down to the guardsmen to stay close to his ideological cause. In the next two lines, the man “whistles his Jews” which is parallel with him whistling his hounds but is meant in a degrading way, Hitler was degrading the Jews. He also whistles them into rows and “has them shovel a grave in the ground.” This line and the entire stanza in which it lies are descriptors of the beginning of the holocaust. Hitler “whistles his Jews into rows” by gathering them into ghettos and then shipping them to concentration camps. Thereafter he “has them shovel a grave in the ground,” this is reference to the beginning of the forced labor that was done by the Jews. The last line of the first stanza, “he commands us play up for the dance,” this means that Hitler was “commanding” the Jews to prepare for the sick “dance” of death.
Paul Celan’s “Death Fugue” is important to the world because of its efficacy in transposing the emotions of the victims of the holocaust onto the minds and the hearts of its readers. “Death Fugue” employs radical imagery and deeply layered word choice to accurately express the complex environment that was found inside concentration camps by all those who were exterminated, most notably the Jews. The value of the poem to humanity as a whole is incontrovertible if the mind of a single reader of “Death Fugue” has been more precisely tuned to the conflict of the holocaust.
