E-Learning Assignment : War Poetry

Task 1: Based on your understanding of the selected poem, perform extensive web research and write a report detailing the conflict represented in the poem(s) of your choice. Bear in mind that this piece of background information will allow your blog audience to further understand the poem as well as your analysis of the poem in Task 2. Be sure to include your references and credit your sources.

2. WHAT IS THE SITUATION?

What is the historical / social / psychological / emotional setting? What is happening at this setting? Is there an external or/and internal conflict? What is the nature of the conflict (ethnic, social, cultural, psychological, emotional, spiritual etc.)?

ANALYSIS: THE SITUATION & THE SETTING

How is tension created and how is the climax produced (through the use of contrasts, through incremental repetition of diction, through the variation or development of imagery, through question and answer etc.)? Is there a resolution to the conflict? What is significant about the way the conflict is created and resolved? What is the significance if there is no resolution of conflict? What are the fundamental causes of the conflict? What is the function of the setting: background for action/ antagonist/means of creating atmosphere/means of revealing character/means of reinforcing theme? How are the functions of the setting fulfilled in this poem?

Rainbow Death

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 was led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson, USA

Background of poet

- Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF Security Service.

- Had health problems while working as a soldier :

• Unexplained headaches and limb pains.

• Central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors.

• Severe headaches,

• Progressive limb pains, etc.

- His brain still functions moderately well though he has mobility issues, and has turned to writing just like his Father and the late singer/writer Johnny Cash.

Introduction

Before we start analyzing the conflict poem, it is important that we know some background on what this poem is talking about. This poem speaks of a modern day war ingredient known as “agent orange” for the pain and suffering it has caused which involved death. (“Execrable effects of agent orange spray!”). From 1962 to 1971 (period of the Vietnam War), Agent Orange was by far the most widely used

(mostly by USA)of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed, being seen by the people as the “colours death potpourri!”. This is indeed closely related to the poet as his health problems may have been caused by being exposed to these harmful agents when he fought in Da Nang during his military days as well as Shemya Island of Alaska.

Conflict

In the poem, there is a social conflict between the lives of the people and war. During the Vietnam war, the U.S military’s used agent orange to deny it’s enemy’s cover/concealment by defoliating the surrounding trees of shrubbery in dense tropical terrains. However, “America did not foresee” that this harmful herbicide would cause the people of Vietnam so much health problems, taking its “Toll on the innocent and unborn”, “Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.” This act of USA was seen by the Vietnamese as selfish and “Nefarious”. It is indeed true that “Generations untold WILL pay” as there are still evidences of the harmful effects agent orange has caused to the people up till this day. The social well-being of the Vietnamese were largely affected by agent orange used by the U.S military, thus there is indeed a very evident social-internal conflict between these two parties, the Vietnamese dealing with the “Execrable effects of agent orange spray” while USA blindly using that harmful herbicide which has caused the people so much trouble.

Causes

The cause of this conflict is indeed clear – Agent Orange as well as other harmful colour-coded herbicides (“Green, pink, purple and other colours death potpourri!”). These harmful herbicides has indeed caused the suffering of many innocent people “Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.” Illness, child birth, child deaths, these are all the implications of the use of these herbicides. The cause of the conflict is clearly shown in the sentence “Execrable effects of agent orange spray!” Apart from the herbicides which are a direct cause, the ROOT cause of all the suffering is war itself! Why would America have to use these herbicides in the first place if there was no aggression between them and Vietnam?

Resolution

There is no actual resolution to this conflict as the as long as the suffering of the Japanese people is still evident, there will always be hatred of the people towards America for what they have done; as long there is aggression, there will be war(in one way or another), and when there is war, only more people will have to suffer! It is never ending cycle, which is why “Generations untold WILL pay-“