Poem Analysis Of 'The Colonel' By Carolyn Forche

Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel” written in 1978 depicts a disturbing dinner party that reflects the animosity between the U.S and El Salvador during El Salvador’s civil war. It is based on a true story. The colonel is the poem violently disagrees with the human rights policies put in place by the American president. He takes his frustrations out on his guests by intimidating them with trophies from his victims. Forche’s nontraditional style and politically charge in “The Colonel” emphasize the power poetry has against fear.
Unfortunately, this poem was written in the wake of a gruesome civil war in El Salvador. Some even describe it as “one of the bloodiest political contests in Latin America’s recent history...that cost near 80,000 lives” (Sprenkels
To understand “The Colonel,” the audience has to understand Carolyn Forche and her writing style. The poem is told by the author in a first-person narrative. Often, a poem’s speaker and narrator aren’t the same person but it is true for this piece. Forche was 27 when she lived in El Salvador and worked as a human rights activist. Forche often writes her poems free verse and based on real events she witnesses on her travels. This poem is especially brutal because of the barbaric acts committed by the colonel. Forche describes that “when I wrote [“The Colonel”], I was just trying to capture details so that I would remember. I didn't even think it was a poem” (qtd. Moyer 135). It’s important to note that the poem is written in memory block because it does reflect just a block of memory. However, people still found art and poetry in her words. Forche nontraditional style includes the reader in “The Colonel”. For example, Forche begins her poem with “What you have heard is true” and later apologized for her failure to meet mainstream poetry standards when she says, “There is no other way to say this” (1,16). The effects of the break in the fourth wall are that, “The reader is made to feel that his or her reading of the poem is inseparable” (Greer 6). The purpose of this directly reflects the poem’s plea for awareness. Fear is overcome when groups of people actively use their words to affect an oppressive force. This puts responsibility on the reader. Forche’s poetry does this creatively “by its insertion of the reader...as opposed to an address to an absent or distant consumer” (Greer 6). Human rights are close the Forche’s heart and she has dedicated her life for the benefit of others. The inclusion of the reader serves as a call to action. Civil Rights movements aren’t made by a single individual, but by a community. Alone, poets feel “hints of turmoil and a sense of inadequacy of being “just