Step foward: we hear
That you are a good man.
You cannot be bought, but the lightning
Which strikes the house, also
Cannot be bought.
You hold to what you said.
But what did you say?
You are honest, you say your opinion.
Which opinion?
You are brave.
Against whom?
You are wise.
For whom?
You do not consider personal advantages.
Whose advantages do you consider then?
You are a good friend
Are you also a good friend of the good people?
Hear us then: we know
You are our enemy. This is why we shall
Now put you in front of a wall.
But in consideration of
your merits and good qualities
We shall put you in front of a good wall and shoot you
With a good bullet from from a good gun and bury you
With a good shovel in the good earth.
I like this poem, thankyou Cain. It confuses me though. Is the poet saying that no matter wheather you are "good" or not, other people will ultimately treat you the same? That was my first impression. It would be interesting to hear what you think about it?
It helps if you know Brecht was a committed Marxist with some interesting history. Depending on who you ask, he was a committed Stalinist or a subversive revolutionary. Now, if you think of this poem in the context of the Stalinist show trials...I think it makes more sense. A man can be good, honest, wise and brave...and yet still an enemy of the Communist Revolution and/or the Stalin regime, depending on whether you think this is implicit criticism or praise of such trials and purges.
Wow you must have breezed English at school :) So depending on which side the person is on they are likely to be viewed as good by one side but not by the other? I guess it helps to look at the history surrounding the context of the poem because that does help make more sense of it.
I did OK :)
No, I think he's saying these virtues, while all seen as "good" in and of themselves mean very little if you are on the wrong side. You can be brave and honest and full of integrity...but if you're an SS trooper then what does it matter? Your good traits are only useful if you put them to good ends. Otherwise, you're just a more honest and likeable enemy.
Oh ok. I get it :) Yay for deep poetry
Like the poem & the insight. :)
QuoteYou never know to whom you're talking.
-Bertolt Brecht, The Threepenny Opera
That was damn good! And I'm usually a bitch when it comes to poetry.