HBL 24/5 Poem Analysis Task 2

"Children in the Darkness" by Henry M Bechtold

Difficulty Rating: *

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

ANNEX A

1. Whose Point of View

Statement:From the Persona's/Poet's point of view
Evidence:"Could we simply light a candle"
Elaboration:The poet speaks in the first person point of view, in which he talks about the children while including the own thoughts

2. Situation and Setting

Statement:It is in the war time. They are most likely in a cave.
Evidence:“Or will a war consume them”, “Who someone will teach to fight”,” Back into the darkness”
Elaboration:The poem stated that it was during a war time. The war was specifically referring to the vietnam war, in which, during the war, soldiers hid in caves of tunnels to hide themselves, explaining tha darkness.

3. Language/Diction

Statement:Personification and repetition
Evidence: “From which there is no flight”, “Into which there shines no light”, “Or will a war consume them”
Eaboration:For the first two evidences, the "ight" sound was being repeated at alternative lines. For the last evidence, the word consume was used. However, war cannot literally consume anyone, it is just the use of personification that represented the children being sacrificed in the war.

4. Personal Response

Statement:I pitied the children involved in the war.
Evidence:"Chalk and blackboards will not be""Will their life and blood be poured"
"Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light"
Elaboration:The first evidence suggested that these children's rights (studying in this case) had been taken away from them. The next evidence told me that the children had to put their lives at risk at almost every moment. Even so, the children were still ignorant, and had almost no control over their fate. Finally, the last example, showed the helplessness, of the children, in which this darkness will never be gone, and always haunting them. The children, at a tender age, will certainly be afraid of this, be it deep in their heart the darkness or their surrounding.