The trials and tribulations of war are things that are not easily forgotten by those involved, and are also things not easily understood by those not involved. It is impossible to truly understand the emotional toll that something as devastating as a war can have on a person. In the poem “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa, it centers on an African American man who served in one of the most trying wars of all time, the Vietnam War, and is visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. In this poem, an understanding is gained of the unrelenting grief and emotional toll that resulted from this overwhelming experience through the presentation of the emotions evoked from the man by the memorial, his feelings and experiences during the war, and also the apparent connection between him and another survivor.…
Bruce Dawe has used a variety of literary devices to represent specific marginalised groups in ways that challenge their reader’s perceptions. Two of his poems; ‘Homecoming’ and ‘Weapons Training’ are key and transparent examples of literary devices being utilised to represent specific marginalised groups. Both of these poems were set during the 1950’s, with Vietnam being written to represent soldiers pre-war and homecoming to represent soldiers returning to Australia. During this time period, the Australian nation lived via a very patriarchal manner, and had the utmost respect and admiration of their soldiers that fought during the world wars. However, it has been noted in Australian history that there was very little to no compassion given towards the returning soldiers from Vietnam; Homecoming is an attack at society for their reverence and respect-or lack of. This represents the marginalised soldiers from the Vietnam War, for the War Veterans from WW1 and WW2 had always traditionally returned home to a hero’s welcome, greeted at the airway and society’s full support to the brave soldiers who had risked and possibly given their lives for the country. Weapons Training is another war poem, but this time targets young soldiers pre-war on what can be assumed as a final addressing before taking into the ranks, this poem however various from the previous, the soldiers would have gone into the War with the expectation of being given thanks and praise for their bravery, instead they were barked at, abused and insulted. Dawe has represented both of the marginalised soldiers in both of the respective poems through his use of literary devices which can all fall under the brackets of a) Imagery and b) language, integrating into some finer details.…
“The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner” was a poem written by Randall Jarrell. It talks about a short, small man revolving around a sphere with his turret. In the end he didn’t make it, he lost his life.…
The themes of these two poems relate to the effects war has on soldiers, whether they are friendly or enemy. “Whether as enemies they fought, or fought with us, or neither; the sand joins them together.” This quote from “Beach burial” shows how pointless war is, and how whether they fight with or against each other, they are equal. “Homecoming” broadcasts this idea through the entire poem, using a wide range of poetic techniques as a backbone.…
One of the most credited poets throughout the Civil War period was Walt Whitman, who wrote about the hardships of war in his work. In particular, two of his poems are not only heavily intertwined based on topic, but in structure and used literary techniques. “Beat! Beat! Drums!” and “O Captain! O Captain!” both share many similar qualities among figurative, sound and structural devices that Whitman uses to help further enhance the theme of how negatively war can impact individuals.…
As Adolf Hitler and his National-Socialist party rose to power, along with the Japanese Imperial Army in the 1930's, the fear of a second World War was quickly becoming a reality. In 1941, that reality became a living nightmare, and once again, the world was engulfed in war. World War II would soon become the most costly and intense war in human history due to its many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new and extremely devastating…
The essay opens (apart from the retelling of a debate the author had with a friend of his) with a bleak portrayal of prisoners performing backbreaking work in the sweltering heat, with their bodies barely standing the crushing weight of the work. (Sanders, 324) The men are forced onward by shotgun-wielding guards. This is a metaphor for the situation of most of the men the author knows growing up, as he describes several instances of men working tiring jobs their entire lives, only for their bodies to give out on them. The shotguns at their backs represent the bills to pay and the families to support. (325) The author gives the lone exception of the soldiers he knew as a boy, but acknowledges that they too suffered under burdens; those of boredom, and the very real threat of deployment and death in wars they had no say in nor part in the starting of. As the author puts it, the bleak nature of men is “killing themselves or preparing to kill others.”(Sanders, 327)…
Many of Bruce Dawe’s poems have a heavy message and a bleak meaning relating to society’s weaknesses and downfalls. In his free verse poem “Homecoming” Dawe promotes his ideas, attitudes and values about the Vietnam war to represent his negative perspective of war as a whole. This is evident through Dawes representation of war as a dehumanising conflict in where soldiers are given a lack of respect and honour. Dawe masterfully utilizes imagery, sound devices and irony to also convey his perspective about war.…
Homecoming by Bruce Dawe illustrates and recounts the tragedies of the Vietnam War in an even-tempered, but negative tone. Dawe establishes the universal theme of senseless life loss in war throughout the poem. The last and finals line of the poem produces an idea of a paradox. “They’re bringing them home now, too late,” because the ultimate chance to save their lives has past and gone. Anyhow, it is also “too early” in the sense as all the soldiers at war are too young, leaving an unfulfilled life behind them. Sadly, these soldiers will never receive the true recognition and acknowledgement for their efforts that would have been given at the end of the war purely because of the fact of the staggering number of soldiers dying in war senselessly. With the aid of the poetic technique of paradox, Bruce Dawe make a final and lasting attempt at clarifying…
The poem "Weapons training" composed by Bruce Dawe, explores the realities of war. The poem is situated in the period of the Viet-Nam war…
In another one of Barnstone's poems, a Japanese soldier explains the death of one of his comrades, Private K. The Private was shot in the thigh and although the rest of the soldiers were barely dragging on, Private K had a strong look in relation his comrades. When Private K could no longer walk, he was left behind, but the captain fearing that he would leak information sent the Japanese soldier back, ""You must go." I couldn’t bear/ It, but went, hoping that I'd find him dead./ He wept and smiled at me, "You kept your word!"/ Then I wept, too. And killed him with my sword."(61, Tongue of War) This poem, as well as others, show that although both the American and Japanese are at war, Barnstone shows how both sides are struggling with their own as well as the fight with their enemies. Earlier in the book, a poem from an American Marine stationed at Guadalcanal, shows how although he fights for America, he has to hold back due to his religion, "I ate the cheese, I ate horse cock/ (that's what we called cold cuts), same chow/ as all the men, avoiding talk/ of Jesus Christ. It's not like now. / In those days I could not admit/ to other folk I was a Jew."(43 T.O.W) The Marine goes on to explain how he huddled in the trenches like the rest of the soldiers, how he killed and just tried to live another day, yet he was still not accepted by his fellows and had to keep his identity a secret. In another poem, an African-American U.S Marine Corps Mess man, explains how he was not allowed to fight due to his race, "They made black soldiers into stevedores/ and cooks and servants since they were afraid/ of giving guns to men they wouldn’t let/ piss next to them,"(68 Tongue of War) and he goes on to say although he would cook for…
War evokes many different emotions for some soldiers. Some are drafted and demanded to serve, others volunteer their lives for the sake of not being titled as cowards. Some get to fight another day, some don't, others get captured and become prisoners or hostages. But one thing is certain, for those who have experienced war know first hand that it has the power to change you as a person. In the short stories “Guests of the Nation“ and “The Things They Carried,” authors Frank O’Connor and Tim O’Brien share the same central idea of the horrible effects of war. Both stories are about a young male soldier who faces the true reality of war as well as the emotional and impacts these experiences leave with them. Though the…
The poem makes me feel glad that young boys are getting taught back then about how to be real men. I think that some of the boys we have in our society need a harder class other than ROTC to teach them how to become real men and grow up. This poem talks about how they were teaching boys in high school how to prepare for the war and becoming better men in…
“Faced with society’s indifference, uneasiness, and outright rejection and gripped by their own troubled memories of the war, thousands of veterans lapsed into the sort of silence…(307). Like any veteran, there is pain associated with the war they served in. For just as they lost friends, fellow soldiers, and brothers, they often times lost parts of themselves on the battlefield. “Veterans, too wanted to bury the war, to put it behind them…Like most Americans they, too, were trying to forget the war” (308). These men who left America as boys came back changed and estranged. Understanding or not, for or against the war, there was a constant separation from the Veterans and the rest of America. While they were trained for combat, they were not prepared to deal with the aftermath that the war would cause, because no one knows how to train for…
In this poem, I was trying to convey themes of life being too precious for war to ruin and how easy it is to overlook all the victims of war. Not only does my poem have two lives that are taken by the war, it also speaks of how war affects other types of like such as trees, forests, and life in water. This connects back to the book in the sense that when O’Brien killed someone, he regretted it and started to wonder how the soldier’s life was before the war and stated observations about him such as the boy’s “body was small and frail” and he probably “wanted someday to be a teacher of mathematics” and could tell that the boy was “not a fighter” (O’Brien 119). My poem instead looks at the future…