ShmoopTube

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Diameter of the Bomb, a la Shmoop. We know that bombs are awful things…

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…capable of unleashing unimaginable devastation and destruction.

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But do we really need the math lesson? In Yehuda Amichai’s <<yuh-hoo-duh ahm-ih-kye>>

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poem Diameter of the Bomb…

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… the poet reflects on broad issues, like the loss and sadness brought about by the

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horrific event he describes

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…but he also seems pretty concerned with the minor details.

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Why did Amichai feel it necessary to tell us the exact diameter of the bomb…

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…and the diameter of its range?

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Are we being tested on this stuff later? Perhaps he felt that a bunch of details about

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the bomb would help us to really see it…

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…so we could envision everything that followed. He eventually expands the diameter to encompass

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all of heaven and earth…

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…so by making his initial measurements very specific, it makes the magnitude of the ending

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seem all the more overwhelming.

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Or could it be that Amichai was simply a “numbers guy?”

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Check these out:

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“The diameter of the bomb was thirty centimeters…”

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“…the diameter of its effective range about seven meters”

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“…with four dead and eleven wounded.” Seems like maybe this guy was just a big ol’

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integer fan.

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He could have simply said, “the dead and wounded lay scattered” or something like

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that.

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But instead, he was more specific than was probably necessary for this piece.

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Or maybe he was using that specificity as a device…

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…to demonstrate how mind-numbing these scenes of war were to those who experienced them.

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By concentrating instead on the minutiae, it allows a witness to hide behind intellectualism…

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…and by thinking, they no longer have to feel.

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At the beginning of the poem, it’s almost as if the narrator can’t face the reality

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of the bodies in front of him…

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…and instead has to occupy his mind with numbers and trivial details…

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…so he can distract himself from the carnage. What was Amichai’s reasoning?

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Was he just creating a meticulous mental image?

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Was he Mathlete of the year?

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Or was he trying to express what effect the shock of such horrors can have on the human

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mind? Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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[1]

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[1]I like panels 8-10

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