Celan "Death Fugue" Study Questions

  1. Postponing for a moment the question of color, why milk?

  2. Why, then, is this milk black (Schwarze)?

  3. Who are the “we” of the poem?

  4. Where are they first digging a grave? What kind of grave? What does that imply?

  5. Who is the “man” and what are some of the things he does?

  6. Who is Margarete? Why does Celan choose this allusion?

  7. What is suggested by the glistening stars (blitzen die Sterne)?

  8. Why does Celan use Shulamite to pair with Margarete? How are these allusions similar? How do they differ in the poem?

  9. What two activities are brought together at the end of the third stanza?

  10. What has happened with the third refrain of the two lines that begin with “a man lives…”?

  11. Why is death referred to as a “master from Germany”?
    Also, what do you notice about the language of that stanza?

  12. Why might there be a reference to the man dreaming toward the end of the poem?

  13. What is the effect of the concluding lines?

  14. What is the effect of the poem’s fugue-like structure? Why might Celan have chosen this form?

  15. Discuss the many ways in which the poem juxtaposes or interweaves victims and perpetrator.

  16. Many agree that Celan’s poem is indeed a finely crafted, even beautiful, work of art.
    Why might some have a profound problem precisely with its artistry?