War poetry ( Children in the Darkness)

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

by Henry M Bechtold


1) The poet wanted to write a poem about the girls who worked in the park in Vietnam and were treated badly by the men. However he could not think of anything and at that time the news was on and he saw the background picture of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. By seeing that pictures, the poet wanted to write of how children are treated even in war. Children have to work as soldiers and adults see them as ordinary people who are born to die in a war. These children cant learn to read or write but simply learn to fight in war. These children are separated from their parents so that they will not think about them when they are learning to fight.
Sources:http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html

2)Personal response Back into the darkness This shows me how badly treated the children are in preparing for war.
Into which there shines no light

Steps in Analysis
			Point		Evidence	Elaboration
1.			Point of View		There are children in the darkness Who have not seen the light	The author feels sorry for the children who have to fight in the war as they have no opportunities to learn to read or write. The whole poem basically depicts on how the author displays his sorrow for the children.
2.			Situation and Setting		There are children in the darkness Who someone will teach to fight Or will a war consume them	The situation here is the children are forced to learn to fight so that when they grow up they can become soldiers so that they can fight in the war.
3			Language/ Diction		There are children in the darkness Back into the darkness	There is some repetition in the poem. It occurs at the beginning and end of the poem.