E-Learning: Unseen Poetry Analysis

4 Steps



(1) Point of View
The point of view is universalized, in a third person speaker, to show that all the children who have suffered in war would not be able to learn like normal children, and that all of them had lost hope


(2) Situation and Setting
The climax is built up by the rhetorical questions asked in Stanza 3: whether the children can be taught what 'normal' students are taught.

The next stanza, which is the climax, shows their true fate and why they cannot be taught what normal students are taught, in other words, it answers all the rhetorical questions. They could never be taught all that, because they will be consumed in war, 'their body and soul' will be given up to war and their blood and life will be 'poured down some endless thirsty hole.' Satire is used here to a small extent, with words like blood,poured and endless, making it seem like blood is being constantly poured and bloodshed is rampant.

The resolution is that these children could not possibly be like normal children, they have no hope , which is symbolized by light, to live a normal life as it has been destroyed by the circumstances of war.

(3) Language/Diction
Repetition: Light, Darkness
Strong choices of words: consume, endless thirsty hole
Rhyme Scheme: undefined: AABAB, AABB


(4) Personal Response
After reading this poem, I feel sad for those children, who are not given the chance to learn due to war. I believe that by understanding the implications of war, I would be able to understand in a deeper depth. These children might be so traumatized that they would forever be trapped within their own confinement, unable to learn anything. I have learnt that war affects people more than I could have possibly imagined before. The Sufferers of war are not just the soldiers who dies in the battlefield, nor just the grievance of the loss of family members, but also affects the future of children, and alters their life forever,

E-Learning: Unseen Poetry Analysis

Background:

The poet was in Vietnam when he wrote this poem. This could imply that he himself was one of the soldiers fighting in the war then and as with many war veterans, they find it difficult to adapt back to their own homeland after the suffering they had seen. This poem was written after Henry watched the television and saw the picture of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle.

This poem shows conflicting images of the author's mindset of what should actually be the life of a child in contrast with how the children suffering in war really are. The first stanza shows the ignorance of a child, in the sentence, "have not seen the light." This probably means that they are young and still in a state of darkness and ignorance, and thus, this stanza evokes sympathy in the reader as in their unknowing state, they will have to be "teach to fight." Soldiers usually fight out of a sense of patriotism or loyalty, but this children, completely unaware of anything are being taught to fight, the only thing they are learning.



Resources: http://keyserzone.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-analysis-children-in-darkness.html

E-Learning: Unseen Poetry Analysis

The poem
Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

by Henry M Bechtold

The random story!

Once, there was an ugly barnacle.
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He was so ugly that everyone died.
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The end. :D

Hi Again

Hi people!
Its been a long time since I wrote....shows how busy I am O.o. I had this barrage of tests coming in, but i will be free again.....until for another 2 weeks. Well I totally flunked my chinese...but at least the teacher was kind enough to retest the whole class :D. I suppose i better get back mugging soon.
Cya next time!