ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
World Literature Videos 44 videos
It's so nice when a poem is straight with you right from the get-go, isn't it? If more poems were this considerate, "The Road Not Taken" might have...
Odysseus should have checked out How to Return Home from War for Dummies. Step One: Do not mess with the son of a god. Actually, no need to read on...
Diameter of the Bomb (Amichai) 698 Views
Share It!
Description:
Why would Yehuda Amichai write an entire book on the diameter of a bomb and the diameter of its range? Is he trying to convey a message? Is his book, Diameter of the Bomb , a metaphor for something else? One last question: do you think this video is da bomb?
Transcript
- 00:04
Diameter of the Bomb, a la Shmoop. We know that bombs are awful things…
- 00:09
…capable of unleashing unimaginable devastation and destruction.
- 00:15
But do we really need the math lesson? In Yehuda Amichai’s <<yuh-hoo-duh ahm-ih-kye>>
- 00:19
poem Diameter of the Bomb…
- 00:21
… the poet reflects on broad issues, like the loss and sadness brought about by the
Full Transcript
- 00:26
horrific event he describes
- 00:27
…but he also seems pretty concerned with the minor details.
- 00:31
Why did Amichai feel it necessary to tell us the exact diameter of the bomb…
- 00:37
…and the diameter of its range?
- 00:40
Are we being tested on this stuff later? Perhaps he felt that a bunch of details about
- 00:48
the bomb would help us to really see it…
- 00:51
…so we could envision everything that followed. He eventually expands the diameter to encompass
- 00:56
all of heaven and earth…
- 00:58
…so by making his initial measurements very specific, it makes the magnitude of the ending
- 01:03
seem all the more overwhelming.
- 01:05
Or could it be that Amichai was simply a “numbers guy?”
- 01:08
Check these out:
- 01:09
“The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters…”
- 01:12
“…the diameter of its effective range about seven meters”
- 01:15
“…with four dead and eleven wounded.” Seems like maybe this guy was just a big ol’
- 01:20
integer fan.
- 01:21
He could have simply said, “the dead and wounded lay scattered” or something like
- 01:27
that.
- 01:28
But instead, he was more specific than was probably necessary for this piece.
- 01:33
Or maybe he was using that specificity as a device…
- 01:36
…to demonstrate how mind-numbing these scenes of war were to those who experienced them.
- 01:41
By concentrating instead on the minutiae, it allows a witness to hide behind intellectualism…
- 01:47
…and by thinking, they no longer have to feel.
- 01:52
At the beginning of the poem, it’s almost as if the narrator can’t face the reality
- 01:56
of the bodies in front of him…
- 01:57
…and instead has to occupy his mind with numbers and trivial details…
- 02:01
…so he can distract himself from the carnage. What was Amichai’s reasoning?
- 02:06
Was he just creating a meticulous mental image?
- 02:09
Was he Mathlete of the year?
- 02:11
Or was he trying to express what effect the shock of such horrors can have on the human
- 02:16
mind? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
- 02:19
[1]
- 02:19
[1]I like panels 8-10
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
