Shooting Stars Quotes - Analysis Flashcards
Themes
- Human Suffering
- War & Conflict
- Persecution
- Important of Rememberance
- Sisterhood
Title
“Shooting Stars”
Word Choice, Imagery
- Word Choice: Originally has positive connotations of wishing on a magical shooting star, but becomes more sinister
- Imagery: ‘Shooting Stars’ literally means shooting Jews, the stars representing the star of David
Stanza 1
“After I no longer speak they break our fingers…”
Word Choice
Word Choice: The use if ‘I’ shows that the poem is being told from the voice of the persona - a Jewish woman being held in a Nazi concentration camp. ‘Our’ suggests the fact that there are many others with her that hold the same fate
Stanza 1
“…they break our fingers to salvage my wedding ring”
Word Choice x 2
- Word Choice: ‘Salvage’ - meaning to remove something valuable from an object about to be scrapped. Here, the object is the body of the Jewish people which suggests that the wedding ring is more valuable than the lives lost
- Word Choice: ‘Break’ and ‘Salvage’ are quite brutal, which is an interesting juxtaposition to ‘wedding ring’ which is a symbol of love
Stanza 1
“Rebecca Rachel Ruth Aaron Emmanuel David”
Structure, Word Choice, Sound
- Structure: The lack of commas emphasises the fact that the list goes on and on - so many people died
- Word Choice: The list contains traditional Jewish Names
- Sound: The repetition of the ‘R’ sounds creates a memorable rhythm
Stanza 1
“…stars on all our brows…”
Word Choice
- Word Choice: Although Jew’s wore their stars on their clothing, the idea of brows is introduced as they are likely shot in the head because of their ‘stars’ - because they are Jewish.
Stanza 1
“…beneath the gaze of men with guns. Mourn for the daughers”
Word Choice, Sound, Enjambment
- Sound: Harsh illiteration of the ‘g’ sound.
- Word Choice: Men are shown to be the enemy and having violent tendencies, but an idea of sisterhood is developed in ‘mourn for the daughters’ - the women are the victims
- Enjambment: Switches between violence against women by men to their bravery (next card)
Stanza 2
“upright as statues, brave.”
Imagery, Word Choice, Enjambment
- Imagery: Effective as the women are upright and strong despite their experiences - they are resillient.
- Word Choice: ‘Brave’ shows courage and endurance of the terror in concentration camps
- Enjambment: Switches between violence against women by men to their bravery (previous card)
Stanza 2
“You would not look at me. You waited for the bullet. Fell.”
Tone, Structure
- Tone: Uses a blunt tone which highlights the expectance of death for the prisoner
- Structure: ‘Fell’ is used on its own, which shows the suddenness of the body dropping to the ground.
Stanza 2
“I say, Remember. Remember these appalling days which make the world forever bad.”
Structure, Word Choice x2
- Structure: A capital ‘R’ is used in ‘Remember’ to emphasise its importance, as well as repitition.
- Word Choice: ‘Appalling’ meaning horrificly bad highlights the horrors of the Holocaust and links back to the importance of remembarance.
- Word Choice: ‘Forever bad’ suggests that we will never escape from the atroscities - it will forever have an impact.
Stanza 2, Stanza 3
“Loosened
his belt.”
Enjambment
- Enjambment: The separation of the line shows a dark contrast. ‘Loosened’ suggests slackening or relaxing something, but when the poem goes on to read ‘his belt’ the events that are likely to follow will be brutal. Similar to unknown fate of Jews.
Stanza 3
“My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear.”
Spoonerism
Spoonerism: If you swap the two letters it becomes ‘gagged rape’ which allows the reader to realise what the persona is being subjected to.
Stanza 3
“Between the gap of corpses I could see a child
The soldiers laughed.”
Word Choice x2
- Word Choice: ‘Corpses’ tells the reader that there are many dead bodies around, but there is an interesting juxtaposition as a child is introduced into the scene - this is no place for a child to be
- Word Choice: The juxtaposition of the child being there and the soldiers laughing is effective and sorrowful - it should be the child laughing and being carefree, not the soldiers who are responsible for murder
Stanza 3
“Only a matter of days separate this from acts of torture now.”
Word Choice
Word Choice: Despite the events of the Holocaust being many years ago, the reader is reminded clearly that these acts of atrocities still occur in the world today
Stanza 3
“They shot her in the eye.”
Word Choice, Structure
- Word Choice: The use of ‘eye’ suggests that the person being shot is nothing more than target practice for the soldiers - bullseye
- Structure: The sentence is brief, and each word is monosyllabic - only of one syllable - emphasising the bluntness and suddenness of the death.
