"Williams is an American poet, who spent much of his later life in Germany. "Arbeit Macht Frei" is quite complex. The words "Arbeit Macht Frei" mean "Work sets you free," and they were inscribed on the gates of concentration camps to mislead incoming prisoners into thinking that their only way of securing their freedom was labor. The sign was first placed by Nazi officer, Rudolf Hoess, outside the Auschwitz concentration camp in the occupied Poland. In the poem, the words seem to be bleeding letters, If you read down, R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R, you may be reminded of the sound the train males on the racks, carrying victims to their death. The T-T-T-T-T-T-T-T makes me think of a machine gun firing at the victims. The middle of the poem has a chute going down with the continuous AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Wat does this make you think of? A human scream, from pain. And more T-T-T-T-T-T If you read across, you have Recht and Reich, meaning right (direction or justice), and republic (German Reich). The RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT might make you think of a marching troop. The graphic layout of the poem is striking as it seems to be against broken glass, reminiscent of the Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, in Germany in 1938, which marks the beginning of the Holocaust. The shapes also make me think of the world imploding, collapsing, in view of the horror of the destruction of the European Jews. The poet himself has said the poem combines words and sculpture. Williams wrote about his poetry. In "The Poem as Picture - and Vice Versa," he writes "To complicate matters, and for the pleasure of experimentation, I combined some of the 54 concrete poems in Deutsche Gedichte with some of the abstract "light-sculpture" illustrations." - Course Hero, "Emmett Williams (1925-2007)"

Sitography: COURSE HERO, "Emmett Williams (1925-2007)", www.coursehero.com
www.coursehero.com/tutors-problems/English-Literature/39862089-Emmet-Williams-1925-2007-Williams-is-an-American-poet-who-spent/

WILLIAMS, Emmett, "The Poem as Picture - and Vice Versa", www.emmett-williams.com
www.emmett-williams.com/poempicture/poempicture.html