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Paul Celan's Aspen Tree

Decent Essays

Paul Celan’s poem, Aspen Tree, is simple and direct in terms of focusing on the topic of death. It was especially interesting to read because of how Celan compares the actions of the Aspen Tree and his mother. This is evidently clear when he states that “Rain cloud, above the well do you hover?/My quiet mother weeps for everyone.”(Celan 5-6) Furthermore, this powerful imagery shows the rain cloud hovering above the well, which may represent the well’s water be dried up with sorrow. Additionally, the “rain cloud” symbolizes pain and tears which connects to the next line of the poem. His mother’s death increases the amount of tears from the well to the sky and thus expanding the rain cloud. I found that particularly odd since generally speaking,

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