Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Jewish Cemetery Near Leningrad" by Joseph Brodsky, written in 1958, is a poignant exploration of legacy, memory, and the resilience of human spirit amid societal decay and historical turmoil. The poem confronts the grim reality of death but also engages in a larger discourse on community, ideology, and the passage of time.

The setting, a Jewish cemetery near Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), instantly locates the poem within a specific cultural and historical framework. Leningrad, with its layered history of art, revolution, and siege, stands in contrast to the neglected Jewish cemetery, which is described as being enclosed by a "curve fence of rotten plywood." The contrast is further emphasized by the list of professions laid to rest behind the "curved wall"- "law, trade, musicians, revolutionaries." This diversity of people, now reduced to graves, calls attention to the loss of human potential and the frailty of life.

The poem elucidates various facets of the Jewish community's lived experience. They sang "for themselves," hoarded "for themselves," but "died for others." This layered portrayal shows a community that clung to its customs and guarded its beliefs while being irrevocably involved in the larger human story. Their life was characterized by everyday normalities like "paying taxes" and "respecting police officers," but also engaged in the intellectual exercise of Talmudic interpretation. These details encapsulate a collective ethos rooted in pragmatism, yet not devoid of idealism.

The phrase "Maybe, We saw more. A, perhaps, They believed blindly" brings ambiguity into the narrative. It questions the wisdom and convictions of those who are now departed. However, it is the next lines that turn the poem toward hope and resistance. The departed taught their children to "be tolerant and become resistant," suggesting a legacy of moral fortitude and resilience passed down through generations.

The powerful metaphor of sowing oneself "in the cold ground, as a grain," encapsulates the idea of sacrifice and rebirth. While death is an end, it also serves as the beginning of collective memory and legacy. This theme reaches its peak in the lines that depict how "their land was filled, lit candles, and Memorial Day old hungry high voices, panting with hunger, screaming about appeasement." These lines vividly portray the act of remembrance and the insistence on justice, even if it arrives in the form of an elegy.

The concluding lines bring the poem full circle, from memory to forgetfulness. The speaker doesn't "remember anything" and yet will "never forget," capturing the dual essence of memory as both transient and enduring. The cemetery, positioned "four kilometers from the tram ring," becomes a metaphor for the proximity of history and memory to the bustling world of the living.

The poem is stark in its language, foregoing the need for ornate symbolism or intricate rhyming schemes. This sparse approach complements the bleak setting and the gravity of the themes under discussion. The year it was written, 1958, adds an additional layer of poignancy, coming as it does after the devastation of World War II and within the shadow of Stalin's purges.

In "Jewish Cemetery Near Leningrad," Joseph Brodsky masterfully weaves themes of life, death, community, and memory into a fabric that is at once heart-wrenching and redemptive. Through its exploration of a forgotten cemetery, the poem becomes a testimony to the enduring human spirit, which refuses to be confined within rotten plywood fences.

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