Elie Wiesel’s poem “Never Shall I Forget” is a piece read by millions in his work Night, a memoir of his time in the Holocaust (Manley). Wiesel’s personal hardship and the atrocities that he witnessed shaped the works he created throughout most of his life. In the poem “Never Shall I Forget,” Wiesel describes the feelings and images he felt and saw during his time in an extermination camp. If the reader had not known that the poem had been written about the author’s experience during the Holocaust, the poem would not show him or her the true depth of the lines and stanzas. Elie Wiesel’s poem “Never Shall I Forget” is a piece of writing heavily influenced by diction, tone, and imagery, an understanding of the Holocaust allows for a better perception of the deeper meaning of the poem. 

The diction of Wiesel’s poem is rather simple, but the repetition of the phrase “Never shall I forget…” and the use of vocabulary adds to the powerful meaning of the piece and how the Holocaust shaped his life and future (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). In the first stanza Wiesel begins the poem with the phrase “Never shall I forget…” (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). This implies that Wiesel has witnessed something very painful, from which he will never recover. The line continues on to say “…that night, the first night at the camp which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed” (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). Without having a knowledge of what Wiesel endured and suffered through, it would be extremely difficult to fully grasp the meaning behind these words. The lines which follow could seem to a reader, who does not understand the horrors of the Holocaust, to possibly be metaphors or not true. However, if the reader understands what the Holocaust was and how it affected millions of Jewish people it will be abundantly clear. Elie Wiesel lived through one of the largest genocides in the history of the world. Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany during World War II, and the Nazi party came to rule of much of Europe seeking to exterminate any one different from the Aryan race. (“Holocaust”). Wiesel was forced to live in an extermination camp for a year, a camp where his entire immediate family was murdered (Manley). This atrocity left Elie Wiesel with haunting images one never forgets, hence the repeated phrase “Never shall I forget…” (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). Throughout the rest of the poem Wiesel uses the power of written word to express the terrifying things he witnessed all the while using simple vocabulary. This use of simple vocabulary forces the reader to understand his hardship and sends chills down his or her spine. The word choice and diction also greatly affect the imagery used within the poem.

“Never Shall I Forget” is riddled with imagery all of which develops the power behind the poem, and with a greater knowledge of the Holocaust, shines a brighter light on the meaning and actual history behind the words. Wiesel survived some of the greatest brutalities the world has ever known, and he put that fear, frustration, and horror into his writing. One stanza of the poem reads, “Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the little faces of the children

whose bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky” the reader can truly picture and imagine the scene before him or her (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). This imagery is shocking and one that no one ever wants to witness first hand, but the reality is that millions of people did. In the Holocaust the Nazis subjected Jewish people to unthinkable types of brutality. They were first carted out of their homes in train cars used for cattle, where they could not sit and had barely room to breathe. Once they reached an extermination camp they either became slaves – who faced starvation and other unbelievable types of brutality - or gassed to death. Once the bodies became too many to handle, the Nazi soldiers burned them (“Holocaust”). This was all what Elie Wiesel witnessed and survived. The damage inflicted upon him not only tortured him physically, but mentally. In a line of the poem Wiesel seems to describe the horrors that tormented his mind, “Never shall I forget that nocturnal silence which deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live” (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). The effect of what he witnessed weighed so heavily on his mind, that he lost his passion for life and eventually his will to live. The knowledge of what the Holocaust was and what tragedies it entailed gives further insight as to why Elie Wiesel felt the way he did in this poem. Aside from the physical and mental atrocities he faced, Wiesel also was affected on a much deeper, spiritual level. In the following stanza Elie describes his trust in God almost becoming severed, “Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust” (“Never Shall I Forget (Poem by Elie Wiesel)”). This powerful image of Wiesel’s faith seeming to explode demonstrates the horror that the Jewish people felt for being persecuted for their religious beliefs (“Holocaust”). This then is further exacerbated by the idea that their God could not save them from their horror. The Nazi party and the Holocaust entirely stripped people of their faith, something which is most scared to a person. Without knowing exactly what the Holocaust was readers of this poem would never truly understand how deeply Wiesel’s words were felt and believed within himself and in millions of other Jewish people persecuted. This dark and disturbing imagery mixed with the diction adds to the dark and sullen tone that the poem takes on. 

The tone of the poem “Never Shall I Forget” is one that is depressed, dark, and lost, the reason for which would be lost on the reader if he or she had no knowledge of the Holocaust. There was little reason for the millions of people devastated by the Holocaust for any type of joy or humor. The lonely and lost tone of the poem by Elie Wiesel is one which directly reflects the feeling of the people affected. The brutal treatment of human lives for being “different” than the powerful political party at the time was a direct result of the hate filled Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party. This man murdered and slaughter millions and millions of people because he believed that the Aryan race was superior. Hitler’s manifesto drove fear, loss, and hopelessness into the hearts of many, and Elie Wiesel was not spared (“Holocaust”). Wiesel’s poem was the voice for the millions who were silenced by hate and fear. He provided the world with an insight to the horrors which lay within the Holocaust and those extermination camps. His commentary was heard by millions of people who were touched and outraged by his story. The poem “Never Shall I Forget” holds a tone of depression and despondence, and this is what accurately reflects the time and event in history he lived through. Without knowing of what occurred during the Holocaust the people reading would never understand the full and true feelings within this piece, but by understanding the history, the reader can comprehend  just how heartbreaking this poem really is. 

Elie Wiesel’s poem used the literary devices diction, imagery, and tone to convey a deeper meaning within the poem and of his experience in the Holocaust. The Holocaust is one of the world’s great tragedies and with the knowledge of its effect and all it encompassed the poem “Never Shall I Forget” holds immeasurable amounts of meaning and depth. Elie Wiesel was an incredibly strong person. Not only did he survive the Holocaust, but he used his experience (one which many would recover from) to further himself and the world. By publishing his memoir Night, he conveyed to the world just what his life was like during his time in the extermination camp. He later published twelve more works and was awarded the Noble Peace Prize. His impact on the world is still felt by many people today as Night is read in schools, and the U.S. Holocaust museum, which Wiesel had a hand in helping cultivate, is visited by many (Manley). Elie Wiesel and his legacy should and will be forever noted in history as one of the strongest and most inspirational people to live. 
