Term 2 Week 10 Home-learning Task 2: Steps in analysis

Rainbow Death

1. Point of view

The speaker is the poet. The voice is dramatized, emphasizing the speaker's anger towards the effects of the "agents" as well as the suffering experienced by the victims. This anger must have been generated throught a first-hand experience of seeing these suffering and the poet fits this criteria as he had participated in the war. He also described the effects of agent orange well and also said that there were actually other agents that were not used as much as agent orange and hence not many people would know about it. The only way he could have known about these other agents would be that if experienced it himself. The speaker, who is the poet is also extremely angry towards America over the suffering the innocent people of Vietnam. For him to be able to have such anger towards his own country, it would require something really big to happen that could make him think or feel this way and hence, a first-hand experience is the only way he could have such anger.

2. Situation and setting
The setting is after the use of agent orange. This is evident from how the speaker describes the effects of agent orange on the victims. The only way for the speaker to see the effects would be if the agent had already been used on the Vietnamese people, or if the US military used it on their own soldiers, which is highly unlikely.

3. The title itself is an oxymoron. A rainbow is not used with death, or used to describe death. In the story of Noah's ark, the rainbow was a sign that the earth would not be flooded again and hence not cause death. "Death potpourri" is also an oxymoron. Potpourri is a collection of dried flowers and fruits that emit a fragrance smell. The poet also uses "nefariously" when describing America. Nefarious means something evil and immoral and the poet uses it to emphasize the cruelty and how evil America was to use agent orange, hence saying that the suffering of the victims was really horrible.

4. This poem reminds me of the horrible effects of agent orange, as well as the cruelty of the US military to use this horror on innocent people. This led me to go and learn more about agent orange. I found out that the US military had actually bought these agents to destroy the crops the Vietnamese were growing as well as to make the land infertile. When they found out about the horrible effects of agent orange, they did not stop using it, but continueud without thinking about the innocent people whose lives they were ruining.

Term 2 Week 10 Home-learning Task 1: War poetry analysis

1st poem - Children in the darkness by Henry M Bechtold
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

The poet wrote this poem after seeing a program on television that showed a small boy in military gear. The poem talks about children being sent to fight a war, children being taught how to fight. I have identified one area of conflict and that would be that these children are at the "beginning of their lives", just introduced into the world and have a bright future ahead. However, by giving them weapons and military gear, as well as some training and then sending them to the battlefield to fight against grown men who have spent a considerable time training in the army, it is like sending these children to their deaths. In a war, you also need to have intelligence and wisdom to think of plans to outwit the enemy as well as to predict the moves of the enemy. As children, their minds have not yet fully matured and they do not have enough experience and intelligence. Ultimately, they will definitely fall to the enemy. Hence, this is a conflict as these children, at the beginning of their lives, are instead at the end of their lives.

2nd poem - Rainbow death by Hubert Wilson
America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

The poet wrote this poem based on the Vietnamese war and talks of how the victims of "Agent Orange" went through untold suffering. Rainbow death talks about the various "agents" that the US military created to use during the Vietnam war, of which Agent Orange was used the most. Agent Orange caused deaths and disabilities and the children born to these victims were affected with birth defects too. The poet served in the USAF and participated in the Vietnam war, hence getting a first-hand experience of the horrors of these "agents".
One area of conflict would be that rainbow and death were used together. In the story of Noah's ark, the rainbow was a symbol of life, a promise that the earth would not be flooded again, or in simple terms, not cause mass deaths and destruction. Hence it is a conflict as the rainbow is used to describe death.
Another area of conflict would be that America, the country responsible for these "agents" believes in human rights, freedom and more. However, by using these "agents" on the citizens of Vietnam, they also affect the innocent children of these victims, forcing them to have a hard life ahead due to birth defects caused by Agent Orange and co. They have no freedom to choose their path of life and hence this is an area of conflict.