Task 1
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!
What the poem means
America wanted Vietnam to pay for trying to invade them and hence produced herbicide of different colours to destroy Vietnam's ecosystem, hence the title "Rainbow Death", due to the code names of the different dangerous chemicals used by America.
This then caused the death of many innocent Vietnamese. The poet was a victim himself as he was diagnosed with a illness even long after the war. He expresses his anger towards America who did not think twice before acting and appears to be reflective of its actions. Due to this, many generations will have to suffer due to the lethal effect of the Agent Orange and other agents. However, the poet mentioned agent orange specifically as he himself experienced the ‘Execrable effects’ of agent orange.
Further Back ground info ( Adapted from http://www.warpoetry.co.uk)
Agent Orange is the code name for a highly toxic weed killer, a chemical sprayed or dusted on plants to cause its leaves to fall off. Agent Orange is contaminated with TCDD which can potentially cause indirect DNA damage through induction or activation of other DNA damaging compounds in the body. Agent Orange was used by the U.S. military in its herbicidal warfare program during the Vietnam War.
According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects.
From 1961 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used 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. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins. All this information I found on Wikipedia.
More about the Poet
“I am a Vietnam War veteran (as are my four brothers) who served in the USAF Security Service. I, along with a dozen or so intelligence school grads, prepped for about 14 months at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas, before anticipating being sent to Vietnam or elsewhere in southeat Asia in 1970. About half ended up in Da Nang (an Agent Orange hotspot) in the 6924th Security Squadron. The rest of us were assigned to Shemya Island, Alaska, with the 6984th Security Squadron, and what eventually was a MORE contaminated environment than Da Nang!
My health problems started approximately 15 years ago with unexplained headaches and limb pains. Four years ago my central nervous system radically deteriorated with Parkinsonian type tremors, severe headaches, progressive limb pains, etc. No physician has ever diagnosed the specific illness. NO VA physician has ever rendered ANY medical assistance! My number one educated guess is the heavily contaminated drinking water at Shemya during my year there as an intelligence analyst. Organo-phosphate toxins may not run their toxic course until 20 to 30 years after initial exposure.
Since my brain still functions moderately well (and I have mobility issues), I have turned to writing just like my late Father and the late singer (and writer) Johnny Cash. “
- Herbert Wilson
Hence, we can see that the Poet wrote this poem with a illness due to drinking water toxified with agent Orange. He wrote this poem full of anger of America for causing so many innocent lives. The poem is widely praised due to its practical description and criticism for America as Hubert Wilson himself experienced it himself.
Task 2
POV/Speaker
The Speaker of this poem is presumably the poet himself. This can be seen from his criticism of America and speak out from his own experience and wrote the poems according to his own feelings about how war effects are not finished even after it had ended.
Situation & Setting
This aspect of Poem analysing is quite tricky. After reading for a few times, I believe that the situation is long after war where the Poet experience the harsh effects of the herbicide, also known as the ‘agent orange spray’ before he choose to write this poem depicting his displeasure for wars. Another interpretation could be that it is shortly after war and everywhere is filled with Graveyards.
This can be seen from “Toll on the innocent and unborn... Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.” Which describes the many casualties after the war.
Diction
· Potpourri - is a mixture of dried materials. In this poem, the word is used in the 2nd Stanza, 2nd line before ending with a exclamation mark. It depicts the anger of the poet as he criticizes America for not foreseeing and having so many different agents( poisonous substances) cause the death and suffering of people. By reading that particular line out, the poet mentioned all different colours representing the different harmful agents that are used in war, in a way, he was fed up with these agents and ended with “potpourri!” to vent his anger.
· “Not thinking twice?” – Personally, I feel that this sentence portrays how disappointed and angry the poet is with America. He ended with alliteration and a question mark to question what America has said after criticizing their actions
· Toll- Damage and death caused due to conflict or disasters. (Death Toll) by using this word as a verb, it means that America had caused the death of innocent people and unborn babies as seen in the last line of the first stanza.
· Omnipotent- Having unlimited power. Attempts to put the culprit as someone who is very proud lack of empathy as it is coupled with ‘ Disregarding’.
· Reflective- Someone is only reflective after he has done something wrong. In this instance, the poet is trying to mock the culprit for acting guilty as they see the people who caught up with illness and death.
· Deceit- As said, the poet mock the culprit for acting guilty, deceit is used again trying emphasize that the culprit had never been guilty for their actions. Them being guilty had been a lie to everyone.
· Nefariously- Led astray, America is wicked as it leads its citizens astray from its wicked actions.
· WILL – will is caps for 2 uses. To show how ridiculous and unfair it is for the future generations to suffer and it shows another tone such as America’s. After committing such actions, it provide the sense that they are still not regretful and stating that the future generations will pay.
· Excreable effects- Alliteration to create impact of the effects of the Agent Orange. Excreable on the other hand means deserving a curse. It put on very clearly where the poet is standing, against the America.
· The last word of the 2 consecutive lines rhythms to create the feeling that the poem is linked and will not seem out of place when being read. It also builds up its argument using a systematic manner.
Personal Response
I feel that this poem is very well written and shows the cruelty of War on one side, the cruel aggressor. It tells us that one wrong move without thinking twice will lead to suffering and many deaths and that by reflecting is no use. I feel that it also bring across the fact that war effects shall last even after a war. From this poem, I realise the harsh effects of war and how much pain it can cause a victim, in this case, the poet. Thinking twice before action is certainly important, and we shall not toll on the innocent.
Lastly, through the uses of sound devices and word choice, it creates a sense of anger in the reader and goes a long way in discouraging war. ( and criticizing America)
THE END
If you would like to know more about the vietnam war, you may want to watch this video on youtube for better understanding on the effects of the different agents. You may want to skip through some parts for it is quite long. Do look through the comments to find out more about people's view on this incident.
Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJxb7CY13uc
