Strange Fruit

== Strange Fruit - Abel Meeropol == Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, "Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.""" Pastoral scene of the gallant south, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh, "Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.""" Here is the fruit for the crows to pluck, For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop, Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Translation:

Seltsame Früchte

Südstaaten-Bäume tragen seltsame Früchte,

Blut auf den Blättern und Blut auf dem Stamm,

Schwarze Leichen/Körper schwingen in der südländischen Brise,

Seltsame Früchte hängen von der Pappel herab.

Idyllische Szene aus dem edlen Süden,

Die hervorquillenden Augen und der verdrehte Mund,

Der Duft von Magnolien, süß und frisch,

Dann der plötzliche Geruch von brennendem Fleisch.

Dies ist eine Frucht, die von den Krähen zerrissen,

Vom Regen benetzt, vom Winde verweht,

Von der Sonne verrottet, vom Baume fallen wird,

Dies ist eine seltsame und bittere Ernte.

Formal layout
 * three stanzas
 * each one with four verses
 * rhyme scheme: couplet

Interpretation and stylistic devices - line 1:

lynching of African Americans in the South in the 1930s;

fruit as a metaphor for black bodies; unusual dehumanising imagery; usually something sweet and delicious to eat

- line 2:

blood as a metaphor for guilt

- line 3:

alliteration: black bodies; only reference to race; also no individuality apart from their race;

already swinging in a breeze (usually something nice -> contrast) because the bodies are so powerless -> representation of the situation of black people

- line 4:

poplar trees as the Tennessee state trees

- line 5:

irony/sarcasm: "gallant", "pastoral" -> people in the south actually thought they were gallant

- line 6:

"bulging" and "twisted" with a very violent connotation;

sounds like the "bulging eyes and the twisted mouth" belong there and are part of the "pastoral scene" (l. 5)

- line 7 and 8:

magnolias as the state flower of Mississippi;

contrast between something beautiful and something terrible -> shocking;

alliteration: "sudden smell" -> shocking truth

- line 9:

crows as a symbol for death, also: Jim Crow laws (laws enforcing racial segregation);

bodies were left hanging to breed fear

- line 10 and 11:

"rain", "wind", "sun", "drop" -> winter, spring, summer, autumn + listing ("For") -> lynching would happen all year long;

also: bodies were left hanging until they'd fall apart

- line 12:

"here is": anaphora with line 9

Author:

Abel Meeropol/ pseudonym: Lewis Allen (* 1903 - † 1986)
 * born in New York City


 * graduated from Dewitt Clinton Highschool (1921) → later taught there


 * member of the American Communist Party


 * wrote strange fruit (1936) → later set it to music (together with Billie Holliday)


 * other famous writings: "The House I Live In" and "Apples, Peaches and Cherries"


 * wrote "Strange Fruit" because he saw photos of people getting lynched

Background (lynching):
 * practice of murder by extrajudicial action
 * very common after the civil war in the late 1800s, in the south of the US
 * mostly African Americans got lynched → often by members of the Ku-Klux-Klan
 * lynching: often to intimidate other African Americans

Strange Fruit as song (Billie Holiday): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs