The Book of Yolek by Anthony Hecht
"The Book of Yolek" by Anthony Hecht is a profound poetic work that grapples with the themes of memory, human suffering, and the moral imperatives of remembrance, particularly in relation to the Holocaust. Hecht employs the sestina form to explore the cyclical nature of trauma and the weight of historical indignities that humanity must confront. Rather than merely serving as a recollection of past atrocities, the poem challenges readers to actively engage with their memories and responsibilities toward those experiences. It emphasizes that the act of remembering is not just a personal endeavor but a collective one, urging all individuals to bear witness to the past. This work calls for a recognition of the everyday elements that sustain life and humanity, suggesting that joy, nourishment, and connection are vital even amidst darkness. "The Book of Yolek" is a testament to the enduring impact of history on the present and an appeal for a conscious engagement with our shared human narrative.
The Book of Yolek by Anthony Hecht
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1990 (collected in Collected Later Poems, 2003)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
As with most of Hecht’s sestinas, “The Book of Yolek” carries the biographical burden of eternal recurrence—of human indignities, of the void of human indemnity, and of the onus of seeing and remembering. However, unlike other works recovering the memories of the Holocaust, this work admonishes, expecting and insisting—with precision of end word usage and textured, terrifying allusion—that every sentient being also carry the burden and also remember. It is not, then, pure memory that drives the work but a call to remember and in that relentless recall, to suspend that which saves humanity—be it food, water, walking, or joy.
Bibliography
German, Norman. Anthony Hecht. New York: Peter Lang, 1989.
Lea, Sydney, ed. The Burdens of Formality: Essays on the Poetry of Anthony Hecht. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1989.
Hoffman, Daniel. The Harvard Guide to Contemporary AmericanWriting. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
McClatchy, J. D. White Paper: On Contemporary Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1989.
Perkins, David. A History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987.
Spiegelman, William. The Didactic Muse: Scenes of Instruction in Contemporary American Poetry. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1989.