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Transcript

"Children were neither just the mute and traumatized witnesses to this war, nor merely its innocent victims; the war invaded their imaginations, and the war raged inside them."

The title of the poem is "Campfire". Campfires are usually built on happy occasions when families and friends gather together. Perhaps the author is thinking of a happier time.

In considering the lines in the coming stanza, it is clear that this is not a happy campfire, but one that "snatches" things away.

Possibly the fire being referred to here are those in the crematoriums where people are taken and killed.

Campfire

The authors words again bring in the imagery that this campfire is actually a fire that destroys. She uses the word "snatched" which indicates something is taken against its will.

She also gives the imagery that the branches (which represent people) are taken one after another.

She personifies the fire as something that takes away the branches.

The last lines of the first stanza continue

the negative mood and tone of the poem. There is darkness around the campfire and as the poet looks into the distance she sees darkness.

Fire is the first word of this stanza. Here the poet

makes mention of reflecting on the past as she watches the fire. Being in the concentration camp consumes her thoughts as the fire consumes the branches. There is a shift of tone in this stanza as she reflects on memories of the past which she says fall like leaves. Her tone here is more positive as the reader pictures falling leaves from a tree and the color they create on the ground.

Theme

The theme of this poem deals with memories and loss. Sometimes it is best to let the memories flow likes leaves from a tree. While memories can make us sad, there is relief in thinking about those we loved but lost.

Here I sit on a rock

in front of the campfire

One branch after another

is snatched by the fire.

Into the darkness

the forest recedes.

Fire makes one reflect...

Terezin is all I think about.

But now memories gather 'round me

like the falling leaves.

Fall is here.

The leaves turn yellow on the trees,

the campfire dies out.

My thoughts are far from here,

somewhere far,

where integrity lives.

It lives in my friend.

Now I think of her.

Memories gather 'round me

like the falling leaves.

Fall is here...this is how this stanza begins. The short, concise words create the tone of loneliness. This image is supported when she goes on to write that the campfire "dies out". Fall is often thought of as a season of dying or impending death. The author remarks that the leaves turn yellow which indicates their life is coming to an end.

The death and dying imagery leads the reader to think that this stanza is about the Jewish people dying in the concentration camp.

In this stanza, the author continues to be lost in her thoughts. She says her thoughts are "far from here." This is how she copes with the loss taking place around her. She longs for a place where "integrity" lives. Integrity is being honest, having morals, and doing what is right. She longs to be in a better place.

This poem definitely shows the trauma a child could deal with in the Holocaust. As the "memories fall like leaves" the reader gets the sense that the child is surrounded by loss which can be overwhelming. This poem is about death, loss, and loneliness. The child's emotions come to the forefront with words like "into the darkness the forest recedes." What is outside the child's memories is only darkness.

The author uses a simile twice in the poem -- "Like the falling leaves.

She uses this simile to indicate that she is not actually writing about leaves but about people. Both times she refers to her memories as the falling leaves. The last time she mentions this she is talking about her friend. This leads the reader to infer that the leaves are the people she is remembering as she stares into the fire.

That they fall around her likes leaves emphasizes the many people she has lost.

In the last stanza, the poet makes the poem personal. She is writing to her friend who she believes is a good person. She says integrity lives in her friend. Possibly this friend has died in the concentration camp because she says, "Memories gather 'round me like the falling leaves."

Again the falling leaves symbolize the lives of the Jewish people lost in the Holocaust.

In creating the butterfly to represent the poem, I chose the image of fire for the top of the butterfly and fall leaves for the bottom of the butterfly. The poem starts with the author staring into the fire and reflecting on her memories. The poem ends with the author wrapped up in her memories as leaves fall around her.

"Memories" runs across the butterfly as the author's memories run through her mind. Her memories are dark so I used black to represent this darkness and traced the butterfly in black to look like the char from a fire.

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