"Babi Yar" by Yevgeny Yevtushenko: An Analysis
Yevtushenko speaks in first person throughout the poem. This creates the tone of
him being in the shoes of the Jews. As he says in lines 63-64, "No Jewish blood
is mixed in mine, but let me be a Jew . . . " He writes the poem to evoke
compassion for the Jews and make others aware of their hardships and injustices.
"Only then can I call myself Russian." (lines 66-67). The poet writes of a
future time when the Russian people realize that the Jews are people as well
accept them as such. If you hate the Jews, he asks, why not hate me as well?
True peace and unity will only occur when they have accepted everyone, including
the Jews.
Stanza I describes the forest of Babi Yar, a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev. It
was the site of the Nazi massacre of more than thirty thousand Russian Jews on
September 29-30, 1941. There is no memorial to the thirty thousand, but fear
pervades the area. Fear that such a thing could occur at the hands of......
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Approximate Word Count: 938
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |