“The problem with survival was that you were left with the ghosts of everyone you had left behind on your shoulders . » - Paolo BacigalupiSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayCzeslaw Milosz and Osip Mandelstam are two poets who survived many tragedies in their lives. They both lived extremely difficult lives due to the situation in their home countries. Osip Mandelstam was a Russian poet who lived in Russia throughout the revolution. Czeslaw Milosz was a Polish poet who lived through a time when fascism (World War II and Stalinism) was predominant at home in Europe. In both works “The Language of My Faithful Mother” by Czeslaw Milosz and “Leningrad” by Osip Mandelstam, the feeling of survivor's guilt is expressed through the diction and tone of each poem. Survivor guilt is a serious problem that affects many people's lives. after the various atrocities that have occurred in history and will occur in the future. For example, many veterans suffer from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). This happens after experiencing traumatic events, such as experiencing war first-hand, seeing lives taken, and suicide. Furthermore, this guilt is found among refugees who are forced to leave their country of origin. There are many reasons why people seek refuge, whether it is because of political issues or catastrophic events, it has become an unfortunately popular practice. Successful refugees may seem saved from the tragedies of their home countries, but sometimes there is a powerful hidden consequence. Many refugees carry invisible burdens on their shoulders: their destroyed homes, families and neighbors. These authors are a privileged representation of the tragedies that follow countries in conflict and force their citizens into exile. Milosz demonstrates how survivor's guilt is a very destructive force. It expresses a sense of loss that can only be seen in many aspects of a broken culture. At the beginning of “My Faithful Mother Tongue,” the speaker says, “Each night I put little bowls of colors before you so that you could keep your birch, your cricket, your finch in my memory. » The speaker expresses his attachment to his dying language and his efforts to nourish it in his memory. Additionally, in the middle of the poem, the speaker states something very profound, a metaphor that resonates with the reader: “Fortune rolls out a red carpet before the sinner in a morality play.” This is a great example of how disaster survivors are faced with the possibility of living the rest of their lives in shame and guilt, while the idea of ​​having done something wrong haunted. Milosz then concludes the poem with the line: “For what is needed in misfortune is a little order and beauty.” This develops Milosz's idea that the unfortunate (in Milosv's case, the victims of fascism and Stalinism) deserve to be honored and glorified because they demonstrate the chaos and harsh reality of life to others. Milosz also says, “Maybe after all, it’s me who has to try to save you.” This further reinforces the idea of ​​sharing responsibility and remembering the unfortunate. Moreover, Milosz feels obliged to atone for his country's loss of language and order. Throughout the poem, one can catch the tone of grief and shame that accompanies his words and the emphasis on the responsibility to remember.