The Hangman (poem)
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"The Hangman" is a poem for young adults by Maurice Ogden written in 1951. Its plot concerns a hangman who arrives at a town and executes the citizens one by one. As each citizen is executed, the others are afraid to object out of fear that they will be next. Finally there is nobody remaining in the town except the Hangman and the narrator of the poem. The narrator is then executed by the hangman as there is no one left who will defend him.
The poem contains four-line stanzas with the rhyming pattern AABB.
The poem is usually cited[by whom?] as an indictment of those who stand idly by while others commit grave evil or injustice, such as The Holocaust. It has often been interpreted[by whom?] as an attack on McCarthyism, a distinct possibility since the first use of the term "McCarthyism" came on March 29, 1950, in a political cartoon by Herblock of the Washington Post.
[edit] Animated film
In 1964 an animated 11-minute film was made by Les Goldman and Paul Julian. Herschel Bernardi narrated. The film was a co-winner of the Silver Sail award at the Locarno International Film Festival in 1964.
