"Babi Yar" by Yevgeny Yevtushenko: An Analysis Yevtushenko speaks in first person throughout the poem. This creates the tone of him being in the shoes of the Jews. As he says in lines 63-64, "No Jewish blood is mixed in mine, but let me be a Jew . . . " He writes the poem to evoke compassion for the Jews and make others aware of their hardships and injustices. "Only then can I call myself Russian." (lines 66- 67). The poet writes of a future time when the Russian people realize that the Jews are people as well accept them as such. If you hate the Jews, he asks, why not hate me as