Hitler's First Photograph by Wisława Szymborska
Hitler's First Photograph by Wisława Szymborska

Hitler’s First Photograph

Wisława Szymborska * Track #13 On View with a Grain of Sand

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Hitler's First Photograph by Wisława Szymborska

Produced by
Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak
Writed by
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In this poem, Szymborska writes about how no one would have predicted what would become of Hitler when he was a baby. I think this plays into the whole ‘universality’ theme in the way that when we are babies, we have not formed an individual identity to be known by. Everyone is left guessing what wi...

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Hitler’s First Photograph Annotated

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 garden, to 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 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.
Shush, let's not start crying, sugar,
the camera will click from under that black hood.

The Klinger Atelier, Grabenstrasse, Braunen,
and Braunen 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.

Hitler’s First Photograph Q&A

Who produced Hitler’s First Photograph's ?

Hitler’s First Photograph was produced by Clare Cavanagh & Stanisław Barańczak.

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