Shannon Hill

High Holy Days - How Main Ideas Are Conveyed In the poem High Holy Days, the speaker remarks that she was spat like Jonah from the whale back into the Jew-hating world. Throughout the poem, we are conducted to the conclusion of the speakers religious epiphany, which is a realization of responsibility to Gods will for her and her people. Shore uses an array of well-versed literary devices throughout the poem to indicate this idea, such as a shift in tone, neutral diction, and a personal reminisce of a young girl. In this selection, the tone progressively transforms from one of pensiveness to one of bewilderment and puzzlement. In the beginning of the poem, the speaker expresses It was hot. A size too large, my wool winter suit scratched. This displays the speakers noticing of infinitesimal details while she is supposed to be listening in church. She goes further to describe her father, a black yarmulke covering his bald spot, and how her mother rearranged her skirt. She feels fidgety to the point of noticing every unimportant action of the people around her. As soon as the girl has her religious epiphany, the girl is in wonder. She asks Why would God choose me to lead this congregation of mostly strangers, which displays her questioning of the situation she is in. She feels this task is a daunting one. She then goes on to say I stumbled down the synagogue stairs, which further settles the final tone of bewilderment, for anyone who was in a state of awe could not simply walk down stairs with ease. Jane Shore wields a unique diction when selecting words for this poem to convey the injustices done to the Jewish people. For example, the speaker observes that the shuls broken window bled sunlight onto the congregation. The broken window alludes to Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. The word bled is used to imply the Jewish peoples blood that was shed during the Holocaust. Additionally, the speaker describes the two scrolls of the Torah dressed like matching dolls, each, a king and a queen. This statement exhibits the importance of the scrolls in the religious ceremony. They are compared to a king and a queen, deeming them the importance of royalty. Furthermore, this assertion anticipates the girls religious epiphany later in the poem, for it is foreshadowing that the girl will have a noble duty ahead of her, though she is not yet aware if its importance. To display the girls religious epiphanys importance, Shore writes the girls complete thought as you are a Chosen One, the child to lead your tribe. This is a rather straightforward display of the messages importance, for it is a relatively simple phrase, contrary to the poems neutral diction. The speaker goes on to say she is spat

Shannon Hill

like Jonah from the whale back into the Jew-hating world. The girl does not simply stroll out of the synagogue thinking her mission is unchallenging. She is forced out by Gods will, provoked to lead her people. High Holy Days is formulated to transfer us into the mind of a young girl. In the first half of the poem, the girl only notices minute details such as her itchy sweater and the heat. This displays her mind wandering, for she is too bored to give full attention to the religious ceremony. She then goes on to compare the adults to sacrificial lambs. She sees them in a rather cynical way, not understanding their purpose for participating in this ceremony. This is a common attribute of adolescents. After the tone shift in the poem, the girl wonders why God would choose a young girl such as herself. She knows that she is young, and almost think herself incapable of the duty before her. Then, she sees the red everlasting light, which assures of her of Gods love for her, not unlike a child nestling with its mother. To a large extent, this poem is about the Jewish religion. But it is also about the coming of age of a young girl. She begins as a fidgety child, but then matures to a young woman. She longer thinks of only herself, but her duties to God and her people as well, who have been the victims of many injustices.