Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HITLER'S FIRST PHOTOGRAPH, by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA Recitation Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: And who's this little fellow in his itty-bitty robe? Subject(s): Hitler, Adolf (1889-1945) | ||||||||
And who's this little fellow in his itty-bitty robe? That's tiny baby Adolf, the Hitlers' little boy! Will he grow up to be an LL.D? Or a tenor in Vienna's Opera House? Whose teensy hand is this, whose little ear and eye and nose? Whose tummy full of milk, we just don't know: printer's, doctor's, merchant's, priest's? Where will those tootsy-wootsies finally wander? To a garden, to a school, to an office, to a bride? Maybe to the Burgermeister's daughter? Precious little angel, mommy's sunshine, honey bun. While he was being born, a year ago, there was no dearth of signs on the earth and in the sky: spring sun, geraniums in windows, the organ-grinder's music in the yard, a lucky fortune wrapped in rosy paper. Then just before the labor his mother's fateful dream. A dove seen in a dream means joyful news-- if it is caught, a long-awaited guest will come. Knock knock, who's there, it's Adolf's heartchen knocking. A little pacifier, diaper, rattle, bib, our bouncing boy, thank God and knock on wood, is well, looks just like his folks, like a kitten in a basket, like the tots in every other family album. Sh-h-h, let's not start crying, sugar. The camera will click from under that black hood. The Klinger Atelier, Grabenstrasse, Braunau. And Braunau is a small, but worthy town-- honest businesses, obliging neighbors, smell of yeast dough, of gray soap. No one hears howling dogs, or fate's footsteps. A history teacher loosens his collar and yawns over homework. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT by LISEL MUELLER THE WIDOW OF THE BEAST OF INGOLSTADT by NORMAN DUBIE GHOSTS WALK UPON THEIR GRAVES by NEAL GALLATIN FOOTNOTE: ADOLPH HITLER, GERMAN CHANCELLOR, 1933 by HENRY HARRISON HITLER YOUTH (PANZER DIVISION) by ADA JACKSON FROM HERR HITLER TO HIS PEOPLE by MARION TARR MOODY SATURDAY IN VIENNA, 1920 by B. Z. NIDITCH ON DEATH, WITHOUT EXAGGERATION by WISLAWA SZYMBORSKA |
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