More Light! More Light! | Anthony Hecht | The Poetry Of The Holocaust| Dark Poetry

Please do Comment on, Like, Share, and of course Subscribe to The Elocutionist to keep enjoying our forthcoming videos. If you would like to assist in our efforts to keep this channel going please make use of the 'Thanks' option that we have received from YouTube. Every little helps!

Description: Part of Hecht's 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning ' The Hard Hours ' this gripping and dark piece (More Light, More Light) transcends centuries and centres on two horrific incidents the first originating in 16th century England when an innocent men was burnt at the stake and then shifting it's the focus to the atrocities perpetrated in Nazi Germany on Jews in a German forest outside the concentration camp of Buchenwald.
The poem is written in narrative form and is sans emotion. This is precisely why it hits you like a sledgehammer. Imagery has been used, the two incidents have been compared to tell the reader that although the first execution was terrible, at least the person had the opportunity to say a few feeble words in his defence albeit, in the face of a certain and terrible death. Moving forward to the 20th century, a community had no voice in the all-consuming face of fascism and hatred. This superb eight-stanza piece is a first-hand account of the barbarism and genocide in Nazi Germany. It is also a wake-up call to our collective conscience. The poet leaves us with a thought and does not tell us what we should or shouldn't do. The greatest element of this marvellous piece is that each is called upon to muse on history and how any community can be subjected to unspeakable atrocities, if no one at the very least speaks out. The comparison of one terrible wrongdoing with another is simply put forward to underscore the scale of acts of cruelty perpetrated in Nazi Germany.
The poet's tremendous sadness at the unspeakable, indescribable acts of cruelty by man on man resounds through this poem. On World Holocaust day 2023, we leave the rest of the interpretation to you. An interesting fact is that the title alludes to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's final words. The poem does not preach, it simply narrates and the force of the narrative is gut-wrenching.

Follow ‪@theelocutionist1725‬
Instagram: https://instagram.com/the_elocutionis...
Email: [email protected]

#genocide #purge #antisemiticism #holocaust