A Song on the End of the World By Czeslaw Milosz

About Czeslaw Milosz Born on June 11, 1911 in Seteniai, Lithuania. He was inspired to write because he had an obligation to strive for truth. Milosz had a Roman-Catholic upbringing.From age 10 to 18 Milosz studied at Zygmunt August gymnasium in Vilnius. Following that Milosz was a student of the faculty of Law and Social Sciences at Vilnius University. In 1937 Milosz moved to Warsaw and organized conspiratorial life of litterateurs during war times. Milosz left Poland as an adult due to the oppressive communist regime that came to power following World War II. From 1945 to 1951 Milosz worked as a Polish Diplomat in the US and France.

Continued… Within Milosz’s poetry he dealt with the impact of history upon moral being, central issues of our time, and the search for ways to survive spiritual ruin in a ruined world. He wrote about the past in a tragic, ironic style that however showed the value of human life. In 1960 he worked as a professor at the University of California in Berkeley. He became an American citizen in 1970. Milosz’s work was banned in Poland In 1978 Milosz also won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 1980 Milosz won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Died on August 14, 2004 due to old age in his Kraków home.

A Song on the End of the World On the day the world ends A bee circles a clover, A fisherman mends a glimmering net. Happy porpoises jump in the sea, By the rainspout young sparrows are playing And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be. Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas, A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn, Vegetable peddlers shout in the street And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island, The voice of a violin lasts in the air And leads into a starry night. And those who expected lightning and thunder Are disappointed. And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps Do not believe is it happening now. As long as the sun and the moon are above, As long as the bumblebee visits a rose, As long as rosy infants are born No one believes it is happening now. Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: There will be no other end of the world, There will be no other end of the world.

Vocabulary porpoise - A small toothed whale with a low triangular dorsal fin and a blunt rounded snout. drunkard - A person who is habitually drunk. peddler - A person who goes from place to place selling small goods. archangel - an angel of high rank. prophet - A person who speaks great truths or foretells the future.

About the poem No set structure The stanzas are sestet, septet, octet, and cinquain Free verse poem No Rhyme Scheme Twenty-six lines in total Was translated by his son Anthony Milosz The poem was written in 1944 Milosz wrote the poem in Warsaw, Poland There are four stanzas in total Reference to Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” painting

Related Works The End of the World & A Song on the end of the World By Skeeter Davis By Czeslaw Milosz Both pieces relate to the world ending Davis says how can there be such living things when the world is ending. “Why do the birds go on singing?... Why do the stars glow above?” These lyrics in Davis’s song show the life around her but why are they still there. In Milosz’s poem he states how things are still living and living things are oblivious to the state of events.

Literary Devices Enjambment; between lines 1&2, 5&6, 7&8, 10&11, and 12&13 Repetition: Line one and line seven Symbolism: Lines four, eight, and nine are symbolic for a casual routine of life that will always take place even during the end of the world because no one will know when it is. Imagery: these words are examples of imagery because they are very vivid. On the day the world ends A bee circles a clover, A fisherman mends a glimmering net. Happy porpoises jump in the sea By the rainspout young sparrows are playing And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be. Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas, A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn, Vegetable peddlers shout in the street And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island, The voice of a violin lasts in the air And leads into a starry night.

Literary Devices... And those who expected lightning and thunder Enjambments: between lines 1&2, 3&4, 7&8 and 9&10. Repetition: between the three lines there is an anaphora. The last two lines are showing how the old man is losing his sanity and that he is the only one aware that the world is ending. “white-haired” is a symbol of imagery and the age of the man. The sun and the moon is an example of a conceit. The bumble bee represents how life is still going on around the world even when it is ending. And those who expected lightning and thunder Are disappointed. And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps Do not believe is it happening now. As long as the sun and the moon are above, As long as the bumblebee visits a rose, As long as rosy infants are born No one believes it is happening now. Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: There will be no other end of the world, There will be no other end of the world.

Diction Green words represent all of the positive words that Milosz used throughout the poem. Red words represent all of the negative words that Milosz used throughout the poem Blue words represent words that can go in either a positive or negative direction depending on one’s viewpoint On the day the world ends A bee circles a clover, A fisherman mends a glimmering net. Happy porpoises jump in the sea, By the rainspout young sparrows are playing And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be. Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas, A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn, Vegetable peddlers shout in the street And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island, The voice of a violin lasts in the air And leads into a starry night.

Diction And those who expected lightning and thunder Are disappointed. Green words represent all of the positive words that Milosz used throughout the poem. Red words represent all of the negative words that Milosz used throughout the poem Blue words represent words that can go in either a positive or negative direction depending on one’s viewpoint And those who expected lightning and thunder Are disappointed. And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps Do not believe is it happening now. As long as the sun and the moon are above, As long as the bumblebee visits a rose, As long as rosy infants are born No one believes it is happening now. Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: There will be no other end of the world, There will be no other end of the world.

Analysis The poem is overall very paradoxical. The diction of the poem is overwhelmingly positive which contradicts itself with the negative title of the poem “A Song On the End of the World”. All of the people in the poem are going on about their normal everyday lives because they do not know when the end of the world will come and when it does come it won’t be as bad as if they would have known. Since this poem was written during the beginning of World War II, the Polish people’s lives were coming to an end and they didn’t see it coming. This is why when the Nazi’s attacked their homeland, the Polish people were living their daily lives. The prophet in line 22 has the potential to state the future but doesn’t say that he is able to see the future, which is why he binds this tomatoes and repeats to himself “There will be no other end of the world,/There will be no other end of the world.” he knows that when the world comes to an end, he will still be binding tomatoes. He repeats this because for all he knows the world may already be ending and no one knows it.

Quiz Time!! 1.Where was Milosz born? A. Lithuania B.Poland C.Czechoslovakia 2. What inspired Milosz to write? A.His teacher B.Obligation for the truth C.His parents 3. How many enjambments are in the poem? A.3 B.9 C.5 4. How many lines are in the poem? A.17 B.26 C.23

More of the Quiz!!! 5. Is there a meter? 9. What do the last two lines mean? A.Yes B.No A. Death of the man B.The world ending C.His tomatoes growing 6. Is there a rhyme scheme? 10. Which lines have repetition in the first half of the poem? A. Yes B.No A. 1&7 B. 4&5 C.3&4 D. Chicken & Waffles 7. What is the tone of the poem? A. Negative B.There isn't one C.Positive 8. What represents life in the second to last stanza? A.The Moon B.A bumble bee C. Tomatoes