Paul celan poems/speak you also

As Jacques Derrida noted several times in his celebrated essay on Paul Celan entitled “Shibboleth,” Paul Celan wrote several poems dedicated to anniversaries.

For Derrida, these repetitions of important dates operate to have us think about the tension between a date’s unique character and how, through its repetition, a date can also be effaced. This tension speaks directly to the dates that Celan was most familiar; namely, the dates of the Holocaust in which he experienced unique loss.

Speak, you too, speak last, have your say.

Speak, you too, speak last, have your say.

Paul Celan's poem Speak, you also ends.

As Celan says in his poem “Speak, You Also,” one who speaks truly “speaks the shade.” Speak, you also.

Speak, you too, speak as the last one, have your say.

Speak, you also, speak as the last, have your say.

This loss found its way to language. And this, in a way, breaks the tragic silence that Celan, as a poet, was often at odds with. And although his poetry clings to silence, it is not destroyed by it.

As Celan says in his poem “Speak, You Also,” one who speaks truly “speaks the shade.”

Speak, you also

Speak at the last,

Have your say.

Speak –

But keep yes and no unsplit.

And give you say this meaning:

Give it the