Written in pencil in a sealed railway-car poem

Question 1

Title

Pencil:
Sealed railway-car:

Answer 1

: a pencil is not permanent, just like the Jewish life in the holocaust. There is a risk that the memory of someone who perished can be rubbed out or forgotten.

:this is the only indication that this is a holocaust poem.

Question 2

Punctuation

The lack of punctuation in the poem:

Answer 2

creates a sense of chaos, that there is no order being followed. The rules of punctuation have been broken so too the rules of mobility and humanity of been broken by the Nazis.

The lack of punctuation creates enjambment which causes the poem to be read at a quicker pace which represents:

1. how her time is running out.
2. it creates an urgent and desperate tone as she is trying to get her message out.

Question 3

Lack of punctuation in the poem:

Answer 3

I am eve: lower case’i’ conveys the helplessness as she no longer has control over what becomes of her. She is denied the human freedom of autonomy.

eve, cain, Abel: lower case letters for all the names suggests how people were dehumanised under the Nazi rule. Their identities did not matter anymore.

Question 4

Figures of speech.

Answer 4

I am eve. This is a metaphor. The woman/speaker is comparing herself to eve. eve has connotations fo being mother of all mankind and experienced the pain of one son killing the other so too, the speaker is experiencing pain as one group of people are killing the other.

Question 5

Diction. 
Carload:
'Son of man' 
repetition of the word 'son' 
eve, cain , Abel 
Allusion

Answer 5

Carload: the way the Jews were transported to concentration camps in terrible and inhumane conditions. It was a further exposer to the cruelty of the Nazi regime.

‘Son of man’ shows that every person should be teated with respect and equally and not Wirth cruelty that the speaker experienced. Also shows the idea that the holocaust was cause by man and man alone because cain, the first murder is described as ‘son of man’.

Repetition of the word ‘son’ emphasises the speaks grief and disappointment with mankind.

Eve, Cain and Abel is an allusion.
Allusion: the reference to something biblical, historical, or mythological that the author assumes that reader with recognise.
The speaker is making an allusion to the biblical figures eve, cain and Abel. Through this, the speaker suggest it is unnatural for one brother to kill another so too it is unnatural for one group of people to kill another. It is a comment that the Nazi’s action were wrong and inhumane.

Question 6

Structure

Answer 6

The poem ends suddenly without conveying the full message from the speaker. This stresses the fact that so many peoples lives were ended so suddenly without them having the chance to give their ‘message’ to the old. we know something bad has happened. the ending confirms the desperate and urgent tone as the sad and sorrow tone.

Question 7

Main message

Answer 7

The poet shows how Jewish life was cut so short. Many of them dod not get the opportunity to life to their full potential.

It highlights how many people were killed without a trace and for no one to remember them by. This teaches us how important it is to remember those who perish in the holocaust.

Question 8

Tone

Answer 8

Urgent, desperate, sad and sorrow