| The trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 brought world-wide attention to the Nazi concentration camps and led to countless discussions by historians and theologians. In addition to American and British novelists and playwrights, many poets were deeply affected by the Holocaust. Twenty years after World War II images of the camps began to appear in poems by writers who had no personal involvement.;Through a discussion of eighteen poets and the characteristics of American and British poetry since World War II, this essay attempts to demonstrate three points: First, images of the concentration camps are used metaphorically by a number of poets. Sylvia Plath and others express the interior life in these images. In addition, the Nazi leaders are treated as symbols. Denise Levertov and Michael Hamburger consider Eichmann and the meaning of evil. Second, the Holocaust constitutes a significant theme in recent poetry. Many poets devote several poems to it. Moreover, W. D. Snodgrass explores the fascist personality in a book of poems. Charles Reznikoff and William Heyen devote books to the terrible inhumanity of the camps. Finally, the Holocaust has altered our image of man, and its treatment is associated with the post-modern redefinition of the poet and his craft.;The first literary response to the Holocaust was mainly autobiographical in accounts by camp inmates. Literary critics have discussed these memoirs and novels. Little attention, however, has been given to the impact of the Holocaust on American and British poetry. |
