The Book Thief

Poem to the Book thief

How does this poem have a thematic connection to one of many themes of the book theif:colors? Please provide enough evidence . Thank you !

I am the birth of the forest That wants to sky up from the earth. You are the sunny herald Announcing that my thought is heard. Whence your going and coming I know, from my lucid words, Oh, fiery-flodding joy, Oh, rain of colors and flowers. I lie in the grassy damp, Entwined in the thought of your light. I feel on my body a river Blending dream and wine. Your beauty words my palate. Your fire kindles me like silk. I beg you: enliven me, cut me With streams, with colors and flowers. You, like a starbody pure, Perceive the speech of my spirit That whispers trusting to you, All my blood you release From its embalmed muteness. I do not feel how I soar Upward to you from my rest, Oh, rain of colors and flowers. You cloak me in your cape, You purify my body with your grace. Forests glimmer gold-green, Festooned with light and mystery. I feel: You perceived my prayer, Gave it flesh of vision, in such hours: Now I forest up in the air, Rained in with colors and flowers.

(Keep in mind that each line represents a color)

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Last updated by katelyn m #529536
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Death is all about color in The Book Thief. It is one of the few ways that death is able to express himself and make some kind of sense about the human world. The poem seems to allude to a benevolent spirit that exists within nature and functions through light. The character of Death may not be benevolent but her certainly bears no malice. He has a job to do and he is everywhere. There is a sense in the poem of being whisked away, perhaps after death, that we might connect with the souls that death collects in The Book Thief.

But the theme is color