ANNIVERSARIES OF WAR ******************** Yehuda Amichai

Write an essay on the following

1.       “Anniversaries of War” uses personal memory and collective history – Comment

Yehuda Amichai is a great Jewish poet of Israel. He is Israel’s poet laureate. Although he was born in Germany, he fled to  Israel because of Nazi persecution. He fought in three wars but he is a pacifist. The poem is about  the narrator’s visit to Tel Gath, the birth place of Goliath who fought against David in the Old Testament of the Bible. The poet took his children to the mount of Tel Gath which is now a grave yard of thousands of soldiers who fought and killed in wars. Interestingly the narrator was also a soldier and fought many wars there. He brought his children there so that they should learn what he did and what he did not do. In old days he fought bravely,  but it was a foolish thing. Now he is thinking about the past and the present. He is now wiser than when he was a soldier.

Standing on the mount of Tel Gath, the poet describes the beauty of Nature. A light afternoon wind blows and some people are walking up the mount. In the power of the wind, people are bending down. Green grass, flowers and dandelions cover the ground. Together they all become a multitude of dandelions, the flower that represent love and peace.

Now the poet and his children are sitting on the mount of Tel Gath and enjoy the beauty of Nature. Then he thought of Shmuel He-Nagid, the great poet and scholar who was also a soldier like Yehuda Amichai.

The poem is a journey through time.  Yehuda Amichai fuses personal memory and collective history. The narrator is teaching his children history, war and the history of war. In war a soldier is judged by what he did and what he did not do. As the day moves forward, the poet thinks backward and falls into an optimistic mood. He thinks of the battles in the past and thinks of Shmeul Ha-Nagid who was a poet soldier just as Yehuda Amichai.                     Kjt/-20-03-2020