Symbol, allusion and myth in Irving Layton's Rhine boat trip "...haunted/by the ghosts of Jewish mothers /looking for their ghostly children” (Layton). Although the physical evidence of the Holocaust is now slightly limited, as time tends to destroy the tangible, the call for justice and the memory of the systematic genocide perpetrated by a sadistic people espousing ignorant dogma will echo around the world indefinitely. entire. Humanity will always be guilty of the atrocities it incites. Irving Layton, in his poem Rhine Boat Trip, depicts the eternal evidence of Nazi crime, a reducible stain of guilt for all who witnessed it. Layton is able to depict responsibility for this horrific event through his use of symbolism, allusions, and myth. The eternal and inescapable pain of the Holocaust is so ingrained in our culture that our senses can become paralyzed by the enormity of its reverberations across the world. years since the last chimney fire at Aushwitz was put out. Through his use of symbolism, Layton is able to create an image in the minds of his readers, one that juxtaposes the subject with his choice of diction. From the title, Rhine Boat Trip, symbolism is established in the poem. A boat trip on the Rhine is considered a journey through the ultimate bucolic paradise. What one encounters on this scenic route; However, it's far from the ideal vacation experience. Layton creates an ironic dichotomy between a life of luxury and intense human suffering. When the boat visits castles along the Rhine, its passengers actually witness the remnants of wealth accumulated by the Nazis through slave labor in concentration camps, a cruel practice that quickly boosted Germany's struggling economy. .. middle of paper .. ....natural power. Even the voices of the Lorelei, which the sailors could not silence with their ears, are ineffective and inaudible when the beauty of nature is tainted by the barbarity to which it has given way, forever recalling supremacist desire. it went too far. Even the most serene places on the Rhine are filled with memories of immense suffering and of a people who could not face the truth of the wickedness found in the drive for Aryan domination. Irving Layton's poem, Rhine Boat Tdp, depicts the immortality of the Rhine. the legacy left by those who were murdered, a legacy of memory that they left in every breath of humanity, eternally marked by its guilt. Layton illustrates his message through skillful use of literary devices such as symbolism, allusion, and myth. He is able to paint in the reader's mind an unforgettable picture of human flaws and the karma of crime..