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Poem of choice : 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
Henry M Bechtold
I know I know, I should try more difficult poems, but I do not think I am ready for those yet. So I will give Children in the Darkness a try first.

Task 1:

Basically, Children in the Darkness is a poem written by Henry M Bechtold. Henry M Bechtold was in his hotel room in Saigon just before Chrismas when he saw a news on the television which had a picture of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. The poem tells us about how children were raised to become soldiers in war.

Children nowadays are very lucky, being able to enjoy their childhood with their parents taking good care of them. Whenever they want something, with a plea or a tantrum, they are most likely be able to get it. You can say childhood for them is the best.

But sadly, there are still children who are unable to gain these benefits. As mentioned in the first paragraph, children in Vietnam are already exposed to firearms when children in other countries are carrying a toy. This is a significant difference and Henry M Bechtold wanted to express his concerns over these children in Vietnam.

In the first stanza, it states that there are children who are not raised as they should be and are to learn to fight at such a young age. In the second stanza, it states how these children are unable to have the benefits of having proper education like normal children do, with their lives not being able to escape from war and they will not be able to have freedom.

Moving on to the third stanza, it states how we are still able to give them a chance to have a better life and also a chance to become normal children who learn and play instead of learning to shoot and fight. And in the fourth stanza, it states how the children will end up dying in war if we are to not do anything to stop this. And lastly in the fifth stanza, it shows how this will never end if nothing is done about this.

With all these, I feel that the poem is well written, given that the fact that Henry M Bechtold was able to highlight how the war has being ruining the lives of the children in Vietnam and how this issue needs to be told to the public. Overall, I enjoyed reading the poem.


Task 2 ( I am unable to give the table form )

1. Point of view - Henry M Bechtold ( personal )

-Evidence : The poem was written in a manner whereby a person is expressing how he feels about a certain matter.

-Elaboration : When Henry M Bechtold saw the news, he immediately typed out this poem, not
wanting this idea to be lost, so the poem came to him and he just type out what he
had thought of, which is how he felt about the poem.

2. Situation and setting - Concern of how war affects children

Reference:
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html