Rainbow Death analysis task 2

Unknown words:

· Potpourri: A combination of incongruous things/ a mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air.

· Omnipotent: Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.

· Deceit: A deception

· Nefariously: Infamous by way of being extremely wicked.

· Nefariously: hateful

Analysis:

Point of view:

I feel that this poem is written in the point of view of someone who sits out of the war and observes it. A person who is capable of seeing the effects of the war and what the world has become, more like “the wise one”. “Toll on the innocent and unborn”. This shows us that the person knows the deaths and sufferings of the war, Hence someone somewhat like an observer. “Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.” He sees the evil of those who are in power. Those which do not see the truth and horrors of the war.

Setting and situation:

I feel that this poem is written in the time after the war in America. The poem was about the outcome of the war and the regrets some may have. At the beginning, America thought that war was a glorious action, showing honor and bravery in fighting for your country. However, after seeing the aftermath of the war, their thought of the war changed and saw that there is no glory in war, instead sufferings and pain were all over the place.

Language and Diction:

In relation to the theme, the author added “colours” to his poem. I feel this is well used as we know that different colours evoke different kinds of emotion. Personification is used in this poem as “All the deceit continues to spread”. Deceit spreads like a human spreading his arms. Rhetorical questions were also used in the poem, “Now thinking twice?” The rest of the poem, the poet used vivid and descriptive language to bring out the feelings of the poem and make an impact on us.

Personal response:

I feel that the war may be over, however the hatred and pain will be brought to the future. Enemies will always be replaced by even more powerful ones when defeated and this vicious cycle will continue, one taking revenge and the other party too. War will always be a lose-lose situation. During a war, humanity will be lost, where everyone is selfish and only the survival of themselves matter. Death tolls are in 5 digit numbers, hence 1 or 2 will be forgotten. Everyone fighting in a war is suffering and the pain of your loved ones dying times the 5 digit number, it is unimaginable the pain of the people. Ultimately, problems should never solved via a war or conflict, instead have a peaceful talk over a cup of tea.

Task 2 Language Arts Home Learning: Children in the darkness

I feel that the poem is written in the point of view of someone who knows the common knowledge whereby children are innocent and pure and is able to differentiate them, most probably being an adult as an adult is wise enough to know these differences. Through the poem, the poet distinguished and has drawn a clear line between a ‘normal’ child to the one in the picture.

The situation is during war or during the mobilization. As the country does not want to lose the war, however they have not enough able man, hence they mobilized innocent children to fight in the war. In the poem, it mentioned that,” From this life they cannot flee”. And the whole of stanza 3. This shows the feelings and thoughts of the children and those not. The children felt that it was their fate to fight in the war. Also, there was a sense of pity inside as innocent children’s’ fate was to serve and most likely die in a war. Stanza 3 showed the emotion whereby asking rhetorical questions, showing that the children were hopeless and their ‘normal’ lives will be gone forever. Sort of like saying that they were ‘goners”. The whole poem is evoking a sense of hopelessness as throughout the poem, the poet emphasized the hopelessness of the children and us as we could no prevent this from happening.

The poet used repetition, “the darkness”. The poet repeated this phrase to make an impact that there was no justice to the world as if there is, the children would not have gone to war. In contrast with darkness, there is also light. Light in this poem I feel that it represents justice. Hence when the children have not seen the light, this implies that there is no justice here as it is very cruel to bring the children to take up arms. The word ‘consume’ is used here, meaning that the children is totally conquered by darkness, hence giving the impact that there is totally no hope or justice here. At the last stanza, ‘back in the darkness’ is used to show that there is no way out of the darkness but back in there. Overall, the words and diction used in this poem is very accurate as it brings out the feeling of hopelessness and creates a deep impact on us as readers.

After reading this poem, I feel that it relates me to the reality that life is unfair. Someone may be having the best of life, with wealth, and leading a carefree life. However on the other side of the world, there is someone who is poor and living a life of troubles and maybe danger. A question also appears in my head, “Why can’t other people be the same as us?” The world is unfair as everyone has a different fate. Regarding war, I feel that it is cruel and horrific as it absorbs life and makes people war-mad, until the point that children have to enter this war. It kills with no one winning in the end and young, innocent children’s life is sacrificed through this evil process.

Thank you.

Task 1 Language Arts Home Learning

Poem 1: Children in the darkness

The poet, Henry M Betchtold was in Vietnam in 1967 - 68 and again in 1969. The poet want back often as his soul lives in Vietnam and he wants to go back to visit it from time to time.

He wrote this poem during the Christmas season in 2009, in his hotel room in Saigon. His initial intention was to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and was treated badly by the men there. At the sight of this Henry was furious. However he was unable to write anything that did not sound weak. His inspiration was when he watched the news from the TV. From this, he saw that in the background, there was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. Upon seeing this, words kept flowing out of his mind and thus, this poem was born.

This totally contradicts what the poet, together with what we think. To us or the common knowledge is that children are supposed to be pure and innocent, free of sin. However, through the photo and the poem about children going to war. War is a sin and by the children going to war, means that they are committing a sin, which is totally against the common knowledge.