[…]

Everything was the one colour of frost
At February's end to greet your passing
Yet it was then Manouchian you wrote calmly:
Joy to all, joy to those who survive,
I die without hatred for the German people

Farewell the rose, farewell pain or pleasure
Farewell life and light and the breeze,
Marry, be happy, and think of me often
You who'll be there amongst life's beauties
In Armenia some day when this is over

A swollen winter sun lights the hillside
How lovely nature is, my breaking heart,
Justice will follow our victorious footsteps,
Mélinée oh my love my orphaned one,
I tell you to live and bear children

There were twenty-two when the guns fired
Twenty-three who died before their time
Twenty-two strangers yet our brothers
Twenty-three lovers of life in their passing
Twenty-three who called to France as they died.

Basic Set-Up:

This is an excerpt from Louis Aragon's poem "The Red Poster," which commemorates a group of members of the Resistance who died in France while fighting the Nazis during World War II. The poem is from his book Unfinished Novel.

Aragon's poem celebrates the heroism of the members of the Resistance during World War II. Twenty-three of them were executed by the Nazis in France. The poem refers to the "Red Poster" that the Nazi authorities had posted depicting the Resistors as a group of criminals.

By writing to commemorate the Resistance, Aragon depicts them as heroes rather than criminals. These men and women, the poem suggests, were true revolutionaries, because they risked their lives to battle evil Nazis. They fought for freedom, and died for it.

This poem is not only about revolution; it's also about memory. It's about remembering those who died fighting for freedom. The speaker mentions one of the Resistors—Missak Manouchian, a French-Armenian—by name, and even gives him a voice in the poem.

This is important because the speaker brings Manouchian back from the dead, in a way. By giving him a voice and allowing him to speak—"Farewell the rose, farewell pain or pleasure/ Farewell life and light and the breeze"—the poet makes readers of the poem remember Manouchian, as well as all the other Resistors who died.