Leningrad Cemetery
Dehumanization of the War and the Desire of the Dead shown in “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941”
When we think of war graves, the image that comes into mind is the spatial area full of white tombstones interred with the remains of deceased people. Because we did not experience war, it is hard to imagine how disastrous the war is. In that sense, Sharon Olds’ poem, “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” vividly portrays the harsh reality of the war on the historical background of the Siege of Leningrad. Old delivers the dehumanization of the war and the desire of the dead by using gruesome imagery, symbols, and enjambment. The vivid description of the war described in the first three lines establishes the setting of the poem unemotionally. The “dead could not be buried” not only because of the harsh weather but the “gravediggers” were closer to death themselves, being “weak from hunger.” Olds then plunges readers into a more desolate situation where the dead cannot be properly laid to rest because the coffin wood should be “used for fuel.” This miserable situation continues where the dead are roughly wrapped in “sheets” and “taken on a child’s sled to the cemetery.” This provides the poem with a dramatic image of how war leaves no time for decency to bury the dead ones. The poem moves on to the corpses and utilizes figurative language and symbols to reinforce the tragedy of the war. Olds attributes lifeless quality to the bodies, describing them as “the tree’s ball of roots” waiting to be “planted” and “cocoons” that are in “pale, gauze, tapered shapes.” The corpses are compared to cocoons that will “split” and release new lives when ready. In addition, their parts of body are disassembled and perceived as lifeless objects; the “naked calves” dangling like a “corded wood spilling." Another important symbol in this poem is the “hand” swinging from under a cloak which represents the strong desire of the dead ones. Olds describes the hand as “reaching out
When we think of war graves, the image that comes into mind is the spatial area full of white tombstones interred with the remains of deceased people. Because we did not experience war, it is hard to imagine how disastrous the war is. In that sense, Sharon Olds’ poem, “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter of 1941” vividly portrays the harsh reality of the war on the historical background of the Siege of Leningrad. Old delivers the dehumanization of the war and the desire of the dead by using gruesome imagery, symbols, and enjambment. The vivid description of the war described in the first three lines establishes the setting of the poem unemotionally. The “dead could not be buried” not only because of the harsh weather but the “gravediggers” were closer to death themselves, being “weak from hunger.” Olds then plunges readers into a more desolate situation where the dead cannot be properly laid to rest because the coffin wood should be “used for fuel.” This miserable situation continues where the dead are roughly wrapped in “sheets” and “taken on a child’s sled to the cemetery.” This provides the poem with a dramatic image of how war leaves no time for decency to bury the dead ones. The poem moves on to the corpses and utilizes figurative language and symbols to reinforce the tragedy of the war. Olds attributes lifeless quality to the bodies, describing them as “the tree’s ball of roots” waiting to be “planted” and “cocoons” that are in “pale, gauze, tapered shapes.” The corpses are compared to cocoons that will “split” and release new lives when ready. In addition, their parts of body are disassembled and perceived as lifeless objects; the “naked calves” dangling like a “corded wood spilling." Another important symbol in this poem is the “hand” swinging from under a cloak which represents the strong desire of the dead ones. Olds describes the hand as “reaching out