LETTER OF COMPLAINT
...ion. These lines serve as the transition from the Biblical and ancient examples he gives to the allusions of more recent acts of hatred. The lines also allude to the fact that these Russian Jews who were murdered at Babi Yar were martyrs as well. The next ezza reminds us of another event in Jewish history where a Jew was persecuted solely because of his religious beliefs. The poet refers to the "pettiness" (line 11) of anti-Semitism as the cause of Dreyfus' imprisonment. Anti-Semitism is his "betrayer" (line 12) when he is framed, and anti-Semitism is his "judge" (line 12) when he is wrongly found guilty. Lines 13-14 claim that even the fine and supposedly civilized women of society shun Dreyfus because he is a Jew and fear him like they would fear an animal. In ezza III, Yevtushenko brings himself to the midst of the pogroms of Bielostok. He gives the readers the image of a young boy on the floor being beaten and bleeding while he witnesses others beat his mother. In line 24, he gives the reader the rationale of the Russians who are inflicting such atrocities on the Jews. "'Murder the Jews! Save Russia!'" They view the Jews as the curse of Russia; a Jewish plague that must end in order to save their country from evil. In a way they think that they are acting in patriotism. The poet transports us to Anne Frank's attic in the fourth ezza. He describes to the reader the innocent love that has blossomed between Anne and Paul. Her love of the world and life and spring has been denied her (line 30). Yet, she manages to find comfort for her loss in the embrace of her beloved. In line 33, Yevtushenko shows the reader Anne's denial of what is going on around her. She tries to drown out the noise of the Nazis coming to get her. When her precious spring comes, so do the war and the Nazis to take her to her death. Stanza V brings us back to the ravine of Babi Yar. In line 40, the poet chooses to personify the trees. They "stare down" on him in judgement as G-d would. Line 41 is oxymoronic. There is a silent mourning for the martyred Jews by the air; a force in nature. The air around Babi Yar howls for the massacre it has witnessed. The poet himself claims to be "an endless soundless howl/ over the buried" (lines 43-44). He is a mourner for the thirty thousand, but there is nothing that can be said. He writes that e is every one of thirty thousand and feels their pain and injustice. "In no limb of my body can I forget." (line 57). His physical body feels their pain. "Limbs" depicts an image of mangled bodies in the mass grave of Babi Yar. Stanza VI begins with Yevtushenko reminding the Russian people of their ability to be good hearted and moral. He speaks of "men with dirty hands" (lines 52-53). Fa...