Scho la s t i c s c o pe
Poetry: “The Shoes of the Dead”
Skill: Poetry Analysis, page 1 of 2
Name: _______________________________________ Class: ___________________ Date: _____________
“A Wagon of Shoes”
Vocabulary: Review the meaning of the following words from the poem.
Berlin [burr-LIN] noun; the capital city of Germany. (During the Holocaust, Berlin was the
headquarters of Hitler’s Nazi government. Between 1941 and 1943, all of the city’s Jews
were sent to death camps.)
enchants [en-CHANTS] verb; greatly delights; captivates
malice [MAL-iss] noun; desire or intent to hurt someone; spite
Sabbath [SAB-uhth] noun; sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, a time of rest and religious
observance for many Jews
shoddy [SHOD-ee] adjective; of poor quality
Vilna [VILL-nuh] noun; the capital of Lithuania, now called Vilnius
1._ What happened to the people whose shoes were piled up in the wagon? Explain what details in
the poem led to your conclusion. _____________________________________________________________
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2._In the second stanza, the speaker compares the wagon of shoes with a wedding, saying the shoes are
like people in a dance. What other activities does the speaker imagine the shoes participating in?
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Scholastic sCOPE online reproducible • april 18, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright © 2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
Directions: Use this worksheet to help you understand Abraham Sutzkever’s poem “A Wagon of Shoes.”
Scho la s t i c s c o pe
Poetry: “The Shoes of the Dead”
Skill: Poetry Analysis, page 2 of 2
3._Why do you think the speaker describes the shoes as “throbbing” in the first stanza? _____________
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5._ List the questions that the speaker asks in the poem. _________________________________________
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6._How do these questions affect the reader? What mood do they create? _________________________
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7._What can you infer happened to the speaker’s mother from the lines, “Mid clogs and children’s
sandals,/My Mama’s shoes I see!” __________________________________________________________
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8._ In the refrain, the speaker says, “The shoes tap with no malice.” Why do you think he described
the shoes this way? ______________________________________________________________________
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9._ Referring to his experiences during the Holocaust, Sutzkever said, “As long as I was writing,
I would have a weapon against death.” What do you think he meant by this? ____________________
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Scholastic sCOPE online reproducible • april 18, 2011
Uses: Copy machine, opaque projector, or transparency master for overhead projector. Scholastic Inc. grants subscribers of Scholastic Scope permission to reproduce this page for use in their classrooms. Copyright © 2011 by Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved.
4._Why do you think Sutzkever chose to use so many words and images of life and celebration?