Shooting Stars

Theme: War, Death and Destruction, Identity (Loss of)

Annotations:

First Stanza: The speaker narrates the events happening in the concentration camp. Her fingers are broken and her wedding ring is taken after she "no longer speaks", implying that she may have been murdered. These lines show the Nazi brutality where they break a woman's fingers just to obtain her wedding ring. Six names are mentioned without any punctuation - the victims' identities are stolen in the concentration camp and they are only categorised as "Jewish" names. The Jews were forced to wear the Star of David, a symbol of their religion, on their forearm to mark them as prisoners. They are "beneath the gaze of men with guns", indicating that an act of bloodshed is about to occur. "Mourn for the daughters" is an indication that family lines ended since Judaism is matrilineal - family lines continue with the woman.

Second Stanza: The poem continues enjambed from the previous stanza. Though the woman is about to be shot, she is brave and being still, waiting for the bullet to fall. She says the reader would not know her, just as most of the world remained blind to the atrocities committed upon the Jews. She then tells the reader to remember these days of horror, which has made the world "forever bad", since the Holocaust will forever remain a taint on mankind. A soldier sees her alive.

Third Stanza: The soldier who sees her alive then loosens his belt. He is about to either beat or rape her. The phrase "ragged gape" has several implications. The speaker might have been so scared, she may have soiled herself. Otherwise, it could be an implication of sexual assault committed upon the woman by the soldier. She thinks about her death, which might only be a matter of a few days, if she continues to get tortured the way she currently is. She can see a child among the corpses around, who was shot in the eye. Meanwhile, the soldiers simply laugh. This again, shocks the reader, showing the horrific extent of Nazi brutality, by shooting a child in the eye.

Fourth Stanza: The woman asks the reader an odd question, on how they would prepare to die on an April evening. She calls the evening "perfect" with "with young men gossiping and smoking by the graves". April is the time of spring, a season associated with mirth and life, while the themes of the poem are the complete opposite. The graves symbolise the deaths of all the victims of the Holocaust, including the speaker. The "young men" symbolise the future generation, who will gossip and smoke by these graves, completely apathetic to the suffering the Jews once went through. In such a setting, the woman asks the reader how they would prepare to die. She makes the reader puts themselves in her shoes and identify with her.

In the next line, the speaker goes back to the present scene. Overcome by shock and fear, she soils herself. She is barefoot because of the basic necessities denied to her at the concentration camp. She waits for the bullet, hearing a click but not being shot. She is being tricked by the Nazis, where it was common practice for soldiers to amuse themselves by scaring the prisoners. They would do so by loading a single bullet in pistols and fire at prisoners to see when the bullet hit. A similar situation is happening in the poem.

Fifth Stanza: This stanza juxtaposes suffering and happiness. Despite the suffering of the Jews in the concentration camps, there are people on the other side of the world who are happy, loved and comfortable. There is repeated use of "after" to stress on the future, as well as the current happenings. "The world turns in its sleep" can symbolise those who are apathetic or ignorant to the Jews' suffering. This is followed by "spades shovel soil", where bodies of the dead prisoners are buried. The use of Sara and Ezra without punctuation shows the stolen identities of the Jews - similar to the first stanza.

Sixth Stanza: The speaker asks her fellow sisters if she is not considered, or remembered, just because she is away from them through parted seas. This question is also aimed at the readers. She says she sang her ancient pslams at dusk, which are Biblical pslams. There is a certain peace in this line. However, the scene jumps back to the horrors of the Holocaust, where she is "inside the wire" - the barbed wires placed around concentration camps to prevent prisoners from escaping. Inside these camps, the prisoners' hopes were crushed, people broke and "strong men wept". In the last line, the woman prays to God, since she is desolate and lost.

Global Issue: The impact of religious intolerance on ethnic groups.

FOI: Beliefs, values and education.

Stylistic Devices:

• Enjambment: "Loosened / his belt."
• Repetition: "After immense suffering.../After the terrible moans.../After the history lesson..."
• Alliteration: "Rebecca Rachel Ruth"
• Anastrophe: "upright as statues, brave."