Dec 28, 2009

The Angel of History | The Angel of History

At a glance:

Author: Carolyn Forche
First Published: 1988
Type of Work: Meditation
Genres: Poetry, Lyric sequence, Meditation
Subjects: History, Europe or Europeans, 1940’s, World War II, Jews or Jewish life, War, Death or dying, Holocaust, Jewish, Israel or Israelis, Judaism, Nuclear warfare or weapons, Middle East, Genocide

The Poem

Many of the eighteen sections of “The Angel of History” recount recollections of World War II, particularly horrors of persecution, dislocation, and loss. The memories belong primarily to a war victim named Ellie, a deported Jew whom the speaker befriended and has known for a number of years. Ellie is the poem’s magnetic center, attracting a variety of associations, some of which are clarified in notes. While the poem does not proceed chronologically, images and repeated phrases link the sections, some analytical, others narrative.

Indeed, the mental and...

[The entire page is 1660 words long]

The Angel of History | The Angel of History

At a glance:

The Poem

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