Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

By Carol Ann Duffy

After I no longer speak they break our fingers
to salvage my wedding ring. Rebecca Rachel Ruth
Aaron Emmanuel David, stars on all our brows
beneath the gaze of men with guns. Mourn for the daughters,

upright as statues, brave. You would not look at me.
You waited for the bullet. Fell. I say, Remember.
Remember these appalling days which make the world
Forever bad. One saw I was alive. Loosened

his belt. My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear.
Between the gap of corpses I could see a child.
The soldiers laughed. Only a matter of days separate
this from acts of torture now. They shot her in the eye.

How would you prepare to die, on a perfect April evening
with young men gossiping and smoking by the graves?
My bare feet felt the earth and urine trickled
Down my legs until I heard the click. Not yet. A trick.

After immense suffering someone takes tea on the lawn.
After the terrible moans a boy washes his uniform.
After the history lesson children run to their toys the world
turns in its sleep the spades shovel soil Sara Ezra…

Sister, if seas part us, do you not consider me?
Tell them I sang the ancient psalms at dusk
inside the wire and strong men wept. Turn thee
unto me with mercy, for I am desolate and lost.

Summary of Shooting Stars

• Context and Publication: Carol Ann Duffy first published “Shooting Stars” in 1995 and later included it in her 1996 collection The Other Country. The poem powerfully addresses the trauma of war and the loss of humanity, making it a frequently studied piece in literary circles.
• Central Theme: “Shooting Stars” explores suffering, memory, and the dehumanizing effects of war, focusing on the experiences of women. The poem does more than depict events; it delves into the psychological and emotional aftermath for survivors and the world that quickly forgets.
• Key Messages: Duffy’s poem is a stark reminder that remembering history is a moral imperative that helps prevent future atrocities. The recurring plea “Remember” acts as a defiant assertion of humanity in the face of unimaginable horror and a challenge to the reader to bear witness.

Detailed Analysis and Interpretation

“Shooting Stars” is structured around six stanzas, each offering a fragmented yet visceral glimpse into the experience of a woman enduring the horrors of a concentration camp. The poem’s voice is complex, shifting between personal testimony, a broader collective memory, and a prophetic call for remembrance. The fragmented structure mirrors the shattered lives and fractured memories of those affected by war.

Imagery and Sensory Detail

Duffy masterfully employs vivid imagery and sensory details to immerse the reader in the poem’s brutal reality. The opening lines immediately shock with their bluntness: “After I no longer speak they break our fingers / to salvage my wedding ring.” This image is not only about the loss of speech but also about the violation of the body and the theft of identity. The wedding ring, a symbol of love and commitment, is wrenched away, representing the complete dismantling of a life. Later, the poem offers intensely physical details like “My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear,” and “bare feet felt the earth and urine trickled / Down my legs,” forcing the reader to confront the sheer terror and degradation experienced by the victims.

Repetition and Rhythm

The strategic use of repetition is a key feature of the poem’s emotional power. The word “Remember” is not merely a request but a command—a relentless insistence on confronting the past. This repetition disrupts the poem’s flow, creating a jarring effect that mirrors the trauma of the experiences being described. The abrupt, fragmented lines, such as “Fell.” and “Not yet,” mimic the suddenness and unpredictability of violence. These short bursts of language create a sense of unease and heighten the poem’s dramatic tension.

Symbolism

“Shooting Stars” is rich with symbolic meaning. The names “Rebecca Rachel Ruth / Aaron Emmanuel David” evoke the history and heritage of a people systematically targeted for destruction. The image of “stars on all our brows” is particularly striking. It elevates the women to a celestial status, acknowledging their suffering while also subtly referencing the yellow star that Jewish people were forced to wear, marking them for persecution. This powerful image suggests that even in the face of unimaginable cruelty, a spark of humanity and dignity remains. The act of breaking fingers to retrieve a wedding ring symbolizes the attempt to steal not only possessions but also identity and memory.

Tone and Mood

The overall tone of the poem is deeply mournful yet remarkably resolute. Duffy uses words like “desolate” and “lost” to convey profound sorrow and despair, but the insistent call to “Remember” infuses the poem with a sense of defiant hope and moral responsibility. The mood shifts subtly throughout the poem, from immediate terror in the earlier stanzas to a more contemplative, haunting reflection in the later ones. This shift allows the reader to grapple with both the immediate horrors and the lasting psychological scars of trauma.

Structure and Form

The poem’s free verse form reflects the chaotic and fragmented nature of the experiences it depicts. The absence of a strict rhyme scheme or meter allows Duffy to prioritize emotional impact over formal constraints. While each stanza contains four lines, the varying line lengths create an uneven rhythm that keeps the reader off balance and mirrors the instability of life within the camps. The use of enjambment—the continuation of a sentence or phrase from one line to the next—creates a sense of urgency and momentum, drawing the reader deeper into the poem’s narrative.

Key Literary Devices Highlighted in the Poem

1. Alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, such as the “m” and “p” in “Remember these appalling days which make the world / Forever bad,” emphasizes the bleakness of memory and heightens the emotional impact.
2. Assonance: The repetition of vowel sounds, as in “feet,” “trickled,” and “click,” creates a haunting echo that underscores the discomfort and adds to the poem’s unsettling atmosphere.
3. Consonance: The repeated “l” and “t” sounds in “You waited for the bullet. Fell.” reinforce the finality of death and the suddenness of violence.
4. Metaphor: The comparison of brows to stars elevates the women’s experience beyond the ordinary, transforming them into symbols of resilience and dignity.
5. Personification: The line “the world turns in its sleep” attributes human qualities to the natural world, suggesting that even the planet is affected by the horrors of war.

Quotes for Reflection

I remember again and again

This opening line encapsulates the central imperative of the poem—the need for continual remembrance. It underscores the idea that memory is not a passive recollection of the past but an active, ongoing process—a moral obligation to keep history alive and prevent future atrocities.