Leningrad Cemetery

Matt Cingari E 110 February 11, 2010 Sharon Olds’ “Leningrad Cemetery, Winter season of 1941” is a very miserable and dismal poem. The reason is , Olds publishes articles about the Battle of Leningrad, a 900-day duress of Leningrad during World War II, and the lifelessness that is taking place afterwards. Olds’ word choice throughout the poem is very important for the meaning with this poem.

The way in which that the girl writes regarding this battle paints a very very clear picture in my mind of what she is talking about. Many times thorough the composition, Olds analyzes life and death frequently with different evaluations.

Olds begins the poem by expressing: “That winter, the deceased could not end up being buried. “‘(1) This provides an impressive sad strengthen for if the rest of the composition. She then simply talks about the atmosphere with the aftermath in the battle with terms that help you create a very vibrant picture in your mind of what she is referring to. She says things like “the earth was frozen”(2), “sub-zero air”(5), “dark cloth” (6), and “their paler, gauze, pointed shapes”(9). In my experience, these descriptive words assist create a visible of precisely what is written down because these kinds of words are sad and dark descriptive words.

Olds also says: “So these people were covered with something/ and taken on the child’s sled to the cemetery/ in the arctic-like air. “(3-5) When Olds says this kind of it makes me think whether she put the term “child’s” inside the poem deliberately. I think your woman put this kind of in must be child’s sled is used in the winter to have fun, however , Olds says that they are using it so as to transfer lifeless bodies towards the cemetery. The reason is , she is contrasting life and death through a sled, which is supposed to be utilized for fun in the cold weather, as a travel device of corpses.

Once Olds says “stiff while cocoons that will be split down the center/ if the new lifestyle inside can be prepared, “(10-11) Again, Olds is comparing life and death by comparing the stiff people to cocoons. The halving in this evaluation is that the composition says the cocoon will certainly split throughout the center bringing new life when it is all set. I think states this because when she says that when the cocoon splits to start a new life, it could mean that their particular new life is not here at earth, but also in heaven.

Although, the cocoon comparison can also mean that the battle was a turning point inside the war. This is due to Russia received momentum against Germany get back victory, which will did start a “new life” in the battle. “A hand reaching out/ with no signal of tranquility, wanting to arrive back” (15-16) is another a comparison of life to death. Olds is saying that the lifeless cadaver is still producing a motion saying that the dead could return if they could at any value.

She says that those people who died in the fight, the corpses, would whatever it takes “even to the bread label of glue and sawdust, as well as even for the icy wintertime, and the duress. ” (18-19) I think that the moral on this poem is that life is treasured, and that existence should never be overlooked. I think it is because the whole composition is comparisons between your life and death, and because she says that the individuals who have passed away could do anything conceivable to come back alive, even underneath the worst circumstances, to be loved, to take pleasure in, and to be with the people that they love.

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