“The Witnesses”

Introduction

Les Temoins, translated as The Witness, is a work of literature that can take of as many meanings as there are perspectives and personal outlooks towards the work. Penned by Edith Boissonnas and later translated by Beth Bentley, the words have truly lasted the test of time and continue to inspire and intrigue young minds; at least those that happen to stumble across old dusty books that contain excerpts of her work.

Boissonnas was born in 1904 and happened to live in Geneva, Paris and Neuchatel, the latter of which was where her husband served as a Chemistry professor at a University. She established herself with six publications following the late 1930s. As thought provoking as her work may be, the author failed to gain recognition in neither Switzerland nor France, where most of her work was published (www2.unine.ch). The purpose of this paper is to bring the author back to life and to analyze one of her works.

The paper will describe what the writer believes the poem means, followed by how the writer came to acquire this understanding. The paper will also discuss Boissonnas' writing style and how she made the meaning more effective through the use of metaphors, imagery and symbolism. Before concluding the paper will also describe the significance of the poem.

Personal Interpretation

The most beautiful aspect of poetry is that the written word can be taken to mean several things. The true meaning remains with the original author, yet readers are free to take away their own meaning and relate to the words as they see fit. With that being said, the writer of this paper believes that Boissonnas used the words she did to describe a ray of hope; a ray of hope that never appeared. The author begins by saying, “From the charged ...