Home learning - poetry analysis

Hey this is quite a fun and refreshing exercise - modern war poems!

I will be giving brief analyses all all three poems, but I'll go in depth on the first one.

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We Slept With Our Boots On

They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes
They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew
Where we would land we had not a clue
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot
We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit
Get ready to go and make it quick
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain
The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define
The only reason I survived that day was divine
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks
From house to cave, to car to creek
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod
Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost son’s
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood
Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell
A very realistic portrayal of a typical combat situation of a soldier – with some deviation into (in fact the focus being) the emotional conflicts of the soldier, in which he ponders what he had lived his life for, and what became of human relations in war.

The first line brings us right into the combat situation, and immediately a factor of shock is brought into the picture when morbid terms like “dead” and “maimed” are used; however in the next line, the immediacy in which the soldiers return to combat tells the reader that such images of death and morbidity are more than common.

The use of army jargon and slang, as in “LZ”, “this bird”, “Lock N Load” and “grab your shit” brings us straight into shoes of a soldier. Throughout the poem, there are little concrete evidences of humanity, of emotion. The use of sentences like “I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more” even gives us a hint that the persona may well be a mercenary killing machine. But, subsequently, humanity is slowly introduced with religious (God, hell), societal (Mothers lost son’s) and practical (kiss), as well as other humanely recognizable references slowly tell us that the persona is still human. He gives it all away with the introduction of human emotions that would definitely arise from war: “Dirty and tired and hungry and scared”, and also speaks about how “Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns”, and this ultimately shows his prevalent emotional conflicts within himself as he brings himself onwards to continue fighting. He questions the entire purpose idea of war, when he raises ideas of losing loved ones: “Mothers lost son’s”, conflict between the brotherhood of humans: “They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood”, and finally he seems to concede his imminent death, but still at that point does not give us his criticism of war. He admits to being a demonic soldier during life, spending his life in the hell-like mess of constant war. He ends with these ironic lines for maximum impact: “And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell”. This attacks the idea of the sanctity of war. Will you still be able to go to heaven, as per Christian belief, if you kill an opponent on the battlefield? Or is war simply a brutal, mercenary act glorified and justified by the government? Ironically, even if he does, he had already spent his life in hell.

Point of view: A soldier's

This POV brings us straight into the shoes of a soldier, and immediately, right at the start, we are thrown into an atmosphere of craziness. The poet uses this POV well - he uses army jargon and slang, and portrayals of the battle scene to present to us a realistic picture of the battlefield.

Right at the start - he brings to us the imagery of the dead and maimed, and the way he dealt with it - "They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies" - tells us that this is all too common for him. Immediately we can tell he is definitely not a rookie; rather the point of view fits in better should he be a veteran. A war-hardened, emotionless veteran then? Evidence tells us otherwise - he shows signs of human fear - "Where we would land we had not a clue", "The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define", "Dirty and tired and hungry and scared".

Setting: superficially, war. but the real setting here is the war-like emotional conflict in the persona's psyche

Language: There is use of army jargon and slang, as mentioned earlier, to paint a more realistic picture. The diction, and the relation between each line seems to be minimal; an issue is only dealt with for about 2 lines, and coupled with an almost non-existent structure, this gives us a sense of messiness, of mass destruction. Some religious and societal references also give us an insight into his emotions.


Personal response: This poem invoked in me empathy - I don't really know a whole lot about war, but now I've seen into the emotions of this soldier. the image portrayed of a soldier in conventional media (which in fact corresponds to the start of this poem), of a heartless killing machine, celebrating death, etc., is juxtaposed with the humane reactions and psyche of a real soldier involved in a real war.


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

The title itself says something – a rainbow is generally not associated with death. In the second line, it brings out colors once again, and the list of colors reveal to us that the poet was making a reference to the rainbow herbicidal warfare in the Vietnam war. At the end of this line, it uses the word “potpourri” – making it even more ironic since a potpourri is supposed to be a decorative, ornamental and pleasant smelling object.

The conflict portrayed here explains how war can bring pain and long term suffering to both soldiers and civilians, dragging far beyond the first generation.


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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


This poems shows a seemingly inevitable, yet cruel aspect of war – child labor. The image we get from children – young, cheerful, bright, is juxtaposed with phrases like “darkness”, “fight”, “war”, “blood”.

The presence of children in war has almost become a banality recently – when adults are scarce, there are no other alternatives. Not only, that, children are exploited – the military exploits them without keeping any long term ramifications in mind – how these children are never given a proper education, how they might perceive violence and death as a normal part of their lives – what will happen to the future generation?

The poet is gives a pessimistic answer to that question. In the third stanza he offers simple, plausible solutions to the plight that he painted in the first 2 stanzas, yet in the last 2 stanzas, he concedes that all cannot be helped – to satiate the bloodlust of politicians and war-crazed, brainwashed war machines; children will continue to be exploited.