War Poetry

In the poem The Last Lie by Bruce Weigil, the two most significant literary terms I found were Repetition and simile. “Who called for us for food.” (Weigil 23) is an example of repetition because it says that they asked for food multiple times. “Like it was the seam of a baseball.” (Weigil 20) is an example of a simile because they described the object they were throwing as a baseball giving a better understanding of what they were doing. Both of those literary devices helped me understand the message from this poem, every man for themselves. It showed the position they were in when trying to get through the war and what they had to use to defend themselves. 

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms I found were POV and imagery. “They say war is over. But water still/Comes bloody from the taps,” ( Nemerov 1-2) is an example of POV showing that he was uncomfortable that signs of war were still showing up. “I heard the dust falling between the walls.” (Nemerov 20) is an example of imagery. This helps you picture him sitting down and hearing dust in the walls. I think this helps me understand the message of war is life lasting. Both of those show that war is life lasting because these things are reminding him of war and giving him ptsd. 

In the poem The Last Lie by Bruce Weigl, the two most significant literary terms I found were Character and Understatement. 

“I grit my teeth to myself”(Bruce Weigl 15) is an example of Character because it shows how this soldier has more remorse and better morals than the one throwing cans.  This also shows that war can change people's perspective of human life. The soldier throwing cans was taking his anger of the war out by throwing cans at these kids who were just in need of food.  

“Smiling as she fought off her brothers and sisters./ She laughed/ As if she thought it was a joke.”(Bruce Weigl 16-18) This quote is an example of Understatement because it  shows how the people involved in the war, even if they're not fighting in it, are changed. This poem gives a glimpse of what it's like to live through war and having to get used to not having resources and having to live under the soldiers' lifestyles. 

Overall the message of the poem seems to be that innocent people get dragged into war and their lives are changed because of it. 

In the poem Camouflaging the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa, the two most significant literary terms I found were P.O.V and Imagery. 

“We tied branches to our helmets./ We painted our faces and rifles/ with mud from a river bank,” ( Yusef Komunyakaa 1-3) this quote is an example of P.O.V because it’s showing that war is secretive and the soldiers had to go through a lot to stay secret and survive .

“.Chameleons/ crawled our spines, changing from day/ to night: green to gold,/ gold to black.” ( Yusef Komunyakaa 18-20) this quote is an example of Imagery because it's painting a picture of how still the soldiers had to and how they used their resources like the chameleons and their colors.

Overall the message of the poem seems to be that war is very quiet and secret and that can be hard on the soldiers. 

In the poem Camouflaging the Chimera by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and pov.  “Blades of grass hung from the pockets of our tiger suits. We wove ourselves into the terrain, content to be a hummingbird’s target”(KOMUNYAKAA 4-7).  This is an example of imagery because it shows us how the soldiers were dressed up and had to blend in with the environment. This also helped me understand how the war is and how they have to stay blend in so they don’t get caught. “We tied branches to our helmets. We painted our faces & rifles with mud from a riverbank”(KOMUNYAKAA 1-3). Quote 2 is an example of POV because they are describing what they are doing to themselves and how they are blending in with the environment and are ready for war.  Overall the messages of the poems are towards war and how it can be secretive and how it can be pretty hard on the soldiers. 

The Poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D.Ehrhrant, has two major literary terms plot and imagery. “What if I didn't shoot the old lady”(Ehrhant 1) This quote shows plot because it's talking about some pretty major stuff. Just going out and saying that also shows the denial. He can’t accept the fact that he shot and killed the old lady. “What if the angles were Ames and Ski or the old lady” (Ehrhant 17-18)This is showing imagery because he is imagining the fallen becoming angles. Coming and stopping the war and stopping the pain he has experienced. Threw him thinking that it shows his denial. How he can see the truth nor accept it.  The overall theme of this poem is that war makes soldiers struggle with denial 

The poem Bosunia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, most two major literary terms are character and imagery. “As you sip your brand of scotch, crush a roach or scratch your crotch.”(Brodsky 1-2) Character is shown through this quote because this is talking about the government. How they start the war over greed and send the people in while they sit and do nothing. “In the towns with funny names hit by bullets.”(Brodsky 5-6) This is showing imagery by talking about the war and the events taking place in towns. Bullets going everywhere while the government sit there doing nothing. The overall theme for this poem is that greed will be seen in every war. This is shown through the fact that the government sends the poor while they sit there and do nothing. They start it but they don’t participate in it

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms I found were p.o.v and imagery. 
“They saw the war is over. But water still\ comes bloody from the taps, and my pet cat\ in his disorder vomits worms which crawl\ swiftly away.” (Nemerov 1-4) This is an example of p.o.v because the writer really wants you to understand how terrible the aftermath of the war is. No matter what you did in the war if you saw and went through all these traumatic events it would scar most people for life, usually it changes the person too.
“I heard the dust falling between the walls.”(Nemerov 20) This is an example of imagery because no one can really hear dust falling in between the walls, and he wants you to imagine how paranoid you have to be to hear dust falling in between the walls. What he meant when he wrote this is that after the war you don't know what to expect because you can't really sleep during the war without worrying that something is going to happen. So even though he's home he's very paranoid that something could still happen because of how much he was scared by this event. 
Overall the message of the poem is that war is endless and even if you're not fighting you are still scared. 

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage, the two most significant literary terms I found were understatement and imagery. 
“What if I didn't shoot the old lady\ running away from our patrol,\ or the old man in the back of the head,\ or the boy in the marketplace?” (Ehrhart 1-4) This is an example of understatement because he did all those terrible things but he makes it seem like it's not a big deal or as if he's saying what would've happened if I didn't shoot them. War you have to do a lot of things that nobody wants to do but you have to, when you are in war and in other countries you don't know who is going to do something to you so you have to do what you have to, to survive. After the war is really when everyone gets hit by all the trauma.
“Lie in the rain in a mortar pit\ with seven marines just for food.”(Ehrhart 7-8) This is an example of imagery because you have to do what you have to do to get what you need and the way the quote is worded really makes you think about how terrible it is.  During wars everyone struggles either being in the war or listening or seeing it, but when you are a part of the war you have to do what you have to do to get what you need. When you're fighting and protecting the country even if it's something you don't want to do but people also get thrown into the war even if they don't want to.
Overall the message of the poem is that war is regret and no one wants to kill and hurt innocent people.

In the poem camouflaging the Chimera by Komunyakaa, the two most significant literary terms I found were understatement and imagery. “ We tied branches to our helmets. / We painted our faces & rifles with mud from a / river bank.”(Komunyakaa 1/3) is an example of imagery because it shows what was happening to the speaker in the poem. The point of the author writing this line was to get you to see the charter and to understand the conditions they were in and how they looked. Although they were in war and in the middle of battle they still had to try and get disguised with mud and cover their rifles while hiding in the riverbank for better cover. “ We aimed at dark-hearted songbirds.”(Komunyakaa 14)  is an example of understatement because even though the speaker just continues on and doesn't make it seem as though this means much, it does. There is a lot more to it, it is a way of saying they were aiming at people. War can be very difficult and these people don't even bring attention to what others would think is crazy because it has become so normalized for them. Living in fear during war and having to do tasks that not many can. Overall the message of the poem seems to be that war is traumatizing and you may not ever be able to get over what you see.

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms I found were juxtaposition and understatement. “ He keeps a soldier's dead blue eyeballs that he found somewhere hard as chalk, and /blue as skate.” (Nemerov 8/9) is an example of juxtaposition because it’s showing what someone else did that was in the same situation as him. Although they both were friends together they made different decisions. Juxtaposition helps you see how people go through things and it gives you a better understanding of the surroundings and your characters. “And now there are cockroaches in the house.”(Nemerov 11)  is an example of understatement, the author said this without being enough attention to. This is a big thing and it deserves a little more attention than it got. It truly is an understatement, and it goes to show how harsh war really can be. Overall the message of the poem seems to be that war is endless and although it may be over the fear won't be gone.

War

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov the two most important terms I found are character and plot. “I heard dust falling between the walls.” (Nemerov 20). This quote is an example of character because it shows what he is going through. Nobody can actually hear dust through walls, this shows that he's going to paranoia caused by the terribleness of war. “The end of the war. I took it quietly/Enough.” (Nemerov 16-17). This quote shows the plot because it's telling us what is happening in the story. It's important to us because it shows that even after the war he is still struggling with things like paranoia and ptsd. The message I get from this poem is War is a depressing, destructive , terrible, endless experience for a human to endure and have to deal with.

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky the two most important terms I found are repetition and plot. “People die.” (Brodsky 4). This quote is repeated at the end or the start of every stanza to really push his point. He repeated this line because he wanted you to know that as you go through your normal life people die in war. “People die as you elect/ new apostles of neglect,” (Brodsky 13-14). This quote helps us to understand the plot. He says that he believes it's the government's fault that war happens. He things that without the government causing this, this would not be such an issue. The message that I found in the poem was, Innocent people dying in war is caused by and is the fault of the government's decisions.

In the poem Bosnia Tune  by  Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were Repetition and imagery. “Not knowing why people die”(brodsky 7-8) This quote shows repetition because at the end of every line he would say this. The war starts over greed. “In the towns with funny names hit by bullets.” (Brodsky 5-6). This quote shows imagery because when you read it you think about the bullets flying by you. Also you think about bullets going everywhere and no one doing anything about it. 

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D.Ehrhrant, the two most significant literary terms I found were plot and character. “What if I did shoot the old lady” (Ehrhrant 1) This plot because the tone is being set with some pretty crazy things. Staring off like that will grab the reader's attention and if he keeps going like that we will stay engaged. As you are reading he is making up ways of how things could have gone. “What if none of it happened the way I said it/would it all be a lie” (Ehrhrant 21-22). This shows character because he was thinking of other ways that could happen and it shows what was going on in his mind 

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky the 2 most significant literary terms I found were repetition and imagery.

“People die” (Brodsky 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24). This shows repetition because the sentence shows up 6 times throughout the poem. This helped me better understand the poem because it keeps reminding me that people die while we live out lives. I think that the author view on war is that war has some sort of ignorance around it. While people go out and die and risk their lives everyday people have to normalize that and move on with their everyday lives.

“As you sip your brand of scotch, / crush a roach or scratch your crotch” (brodsky 1-2). This shows imagery because its making you imagine what you would be doing. This helped me better understand the poem because it put you in your place about how peaceful your life is. It shows you that you have little to no worries while people go out and die in battle. This shows me that the author wants us to understand how easy we have it while war is going on in the world.

Overall the poem send the message that war is filled with hatred and ignorance and should be acknowledged 

In the poem Camouflage the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa the most significant literary terms I found were imagery and personification.

“We wove ourselves into the terrain content to be a hummingbird’s target” (Komunyakaa 5-7). This shows imagery because gives us the idea that they have become one with the terrain and are hiding. It shows me that the author thinks that it was very easy to hide yourself in vietnam with the grass and jungle.

“Wrestling iron through grass” (Komunyakaa 25). This shows personification because it talks about iron wrestling grass and iron is obviously an inanimate object. This helped me better understand the war because it shows that it was harder to hide for some because of their equipment. This tells me that the author thinks that it was hard to hide and stay still for very long when you have so much equipment on you.

Overall the message the poem sends is that war scary and filled with the unexpected.

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were Reputation and Metaphors. “Chance to scream or say goodbye, people die…. Kissing your child a lullaby, people die”(Brodsky 12&23). Is an example of reputation because “people die” was used twice in a consecutive order. “People die” helped me understand that war is death, and that it isn't flowers and rainbows.

“Where our cherubs dread to fly,people die”(Brodsky 19) is a great quote to show the metaphor in the poem, and show that even though war is persevered as tough and rouged the metaphor shows that there is a lot of danger and somewhat a lack of protection. This poem was very speaking and wanted the readers to really get the message and understand it which it shows how war was defiently a heavy topic and there is death involved.

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov the two biggest literary devices are Pov and Imagery. “But water still comes bloody from the taps” (NEMEROV1&2). This quote shows how he sees himself and what is happening and when it happens and how he is feeling. Imagery was throughout the poem but one of the more in dept and visual quotes was “and my pet cat in his disorder vomits worms which crawl swiftly away”(NEMEROV 2&3).  This poem is filled with lots of terms but Pov and Imagery stood out the most and it really helps you understand what you are reading and try and put yourself in their situation. 

In the poem The Last Lie by Bruce Weigl, the two most important literary devices are Character and pov.

¨Some guy in the miserable convoy…Until his rage ripped.¨ (Weigl 1, 22) This quote is an example of character because it is telling the reader what emotion the guy is feeling and who that character is in the moment. It tells us from the beginning that he is miserable which sets that character's tone for the rest of the text. 

¨She was Backwards into the dust of our trucks./ Across the sudden angle of the roads curving/ I could still see her when she rose.¨ (Weigl 6-9)This quote is an example of Perspective or POV because it is telling us what the military guy is seeing. Their difference in perspective is interesting as the little girl being on the ground and the man being above her in the bed of a truck gives the feeling of power over her.

The message of the poem is that when bad people have power they will abuse it.

In the poem When I am 19 I was a Medic by D.F. Brown , The two most important literary devices are POV and Imagery.

¨All day I always want to know/ the angle, the safest approach¨ (D.F. Brown 1-2) This quote is an example of point of view because the person is having a certain approach that they have all day to keep them safe. This is important because he could be seen by an enemy if he is wrong.

¨Each night I lay out my stuff:/ morphine, bandages at my shoulder,/ just below, parallel, my rifle.¨ (D.F. Brown 9-11) This quote is an example of Imagery because it is setting the scene for what is happening it is explaining the items he has to keep him alive because without them he would have less of a chance of surviving. 

I think the message of the poem is to be prepared for when something bad happens

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov the two most important literary devices are Imagery and repetition. 

“Water still comes bloody from the taps, and my pet cat in his disorder vomits worms which crawl swiftly away.” (Nemerov 1-4) this is an example of imagery where he adds emphasis and detail in the way he describes things. This helped me understand the way the world around him was at the time of the war and how bad things were getting. 

“They say the war is over…./ the war may be over…/ the end of the war.” (Nemerov 1,6, 16) this is an example of repetition in how he restates that the war has ended but throughout the poem describes how it really isn't. This helped me understand the way the man views the war and thinks about how even though it is technically over in a way it never feels over for him. I feel this author's perspective on the war is that it's wrong and lasts too long and leaves too many lasting marks. The message I took from this poem is that a war can affect anyone, especially a man in the army and that the effects of it never go away. 

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky the two most important literary devices are repetition and juxtaposition. 

“In small places you dont know of, yet big for no chance to scream or say goodbye,” (Brodsky 9-10) this shows juxtaposition because he's comparing two unlike things. This helped me understand the poem better because it describes how foreign armies are arriving in other cities and viewing them as small and nobody’s ever heard of them but the people in those cities are still important and live their lives but they don't get the chance to live anymore after the war because they silently die. 

“People die./people die./ people die./people die./people die.” (Brodsky 4,8,12,16,20,24,28) This shows repetition because he restates people who die after giving other information like how people just live their lives trying to keep hope alive and trying to survive the war. This helped me understand the poem more because it set a main theme that no matter what these people's lives include during a war they could all still die. I think this author's perspective on war is that it affects many innocents and is ignored by others not in the middle of the war. The message of this poem is that people die while you go on and live your life. 

In the poem When I am 19 I was a medic by D.F BROWN, the two most significant literary terms were Point of View and imagery. “ I sleep strapped to .45, bleached into my fear.” is an example of a first person point of view because it is telling you who is narrating and how much information we get from the character. “Each night I lay out all of my stuff : morphine, bandages at my shoulder, just below, parallel, my rifle.” Is an example of Imagery because this is describing what moments or what the character is relating to.  

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms were understatement and Point of view. “ And my pet cat in his disorder vomits worms which crawl swiftly away” ( Nemerov 2-4) this is an example of understatement because he thinks this situation is not as important as it should be. “ I heard dust falling in between the walls” (Nemerov 20) is an example of first person P.O.V because he is describing what he is hearing at the moment.   

In the poem The Last Lie by Bruce Weigl, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and simile. “I grit my teeth to myself to remember that girl./ Smiling as she fought off her brothers and sisters./ She laughed/ As if she thought it were a joke” (Weigl 15-18) This is an example of imagery because it describes how the girl fought off her brothers and sisters that were trying to take the food she was given by the soldiers.
“And fingered the edge of another can / like it was the seam of a baseball” (Weigl 20-21) This is an example of simile because it describes someone fingering the edge of a can as if it were a baseball.
The overall message about war is how war causes hunger and how that will cause people to fight just so they can survive.
In the poem The Last Lie by W.D. Ehrhart, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and juxtaposition.
“In Vietnamese, Con Thien means/ place of angels. What if it really was/ instead of the place of rotting sandbags,/ incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.” (Ehrhart 13-16) This is an example of juxtaposition because it compares the name of the place to what it actually is.
“What if I didn’t shoot the old lady/ running away from our patrol,/ or the old man in the back of the head,/ or the boy in the marketplace?” (Ehrhart 1-4) This is an example of imagery because it describes the things that the author is wondering about if he had not done.
The overall message about war is that in war people do things that they regret later on after they go back home.

In the poem Camouflaging the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa, the two most literary terms I found were Imagery and Plot.

¨We hugged bamboo & leaned/ against a breeze off the river, slow-dragging with ghosts.¨(Komunyakaa 7-9)This is an example of imagery because it helps picture the setting and seriousness of the war we are in by naming little but important details that hint towards the mood and background of the setting.

¨We tied branches to our helmets/we painted our faces & rifles/with mud from the riverbank.̈ (Komunyakaa 1-3) This is an example of a plot because it helps us understand they are preparing for war by giving details that clearly show they are preparing for war which is a major piece of plot in this poem. Overall the message of the poem is that war is harsh.

In the poem The Last Lie by Bruce Weigl. the two most significant literary terms I found were character and plot. ¨Some guy in the miserable convoy/ Raised up in the back of our open truck/ and threw a can of c-rations at a child.Weigl 1-3¨  This is an example of the plot because when the guy throws the C-rations can at the child this is the start of the sequence of events that help end the poem. ¨I grit my teeth to myself to remember that girl/ smiling as she fought her brothers and sisters/ she laughed/ as if she thought it were a joke/ and the guy with me laughed , and fingered the edge of another can/ like it was the seam of a baseball/ until his rage ripped/ Again into the faces of children/ who called us for food. (Weigl 15-24) This is an example of character and plot. Throughout the whole poem, it shows that whoever this guy is with, is a major jerk who impacted the story. The overall message of this story is war is miserable.

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov the two most significant literary terms I found were simile and imagery. “A soldier's dead blue eyeballs that he found/somewhere–hard as chalk, and blue as skate.”(Nemerov 8-9)  is an example of simile because it is used to compare the eyeballs to how they feel and what color they are. This shows that if you were in war you are always somehow connected to it and will always have a relation with being a part of war.

“Water still/comes bloody from the taps, and my pet cat/in his disorder vomits worms which crawl/swiftly away.”(Nemerov 1-4) is an example of imagery because it shows what the character is seeing, what he is watching happen and what he is thinking. This shows that after war there is a feeling of being stuck and not being able to move, after war people become anxious and restless with everything they do. The narrator shows how he sees war in everything and how something as little as turning on the faucet can trigger thoughts of war, and even though the war itself is over it will never be over in his head. 

In the poem The last lie by Bruce Weigl the two most significant literary terms I found were character and metaphor. “Some guy in the miserable convoy/raised up in the back of our open truck/and threw a can of c rations at a child.” (Weigel 1-3) is an example of character because it shows that this miserable soldier has nothing better to do than to throw food at children and watch as it hurts them.”And the guy with me laughed/and fingered the edge of another can/like it was the seam of a baseball.”(Weigel 19-21) is an example of metaphor because he is gripping the can like it is a baseball, by comparing the can to the baseball you can tell that he is getting ready to throw it, with no concern for how it may hurt the children he is throwing it at. The overall message of war is that innocent people who aren't a part of war get dragged into it and their whole lives change because it is so terrible. 

Bosnia Tune, written by Joseph Brodsky is a poem that drives the idea that people die all around us while we are safe and oblivious to conflicts around us. If you have already read the poem an obvious literary term/device that we can see is repetition. ¨people die… people die…people die… people die… people die… people die¨ (Brodsky 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). That phrase was used six times in the poem and is significant to each section of the poem because it applies to every situation the author presented. The next piece of evidence pushes the plot of the poem. ¨In the towns with funny names hit by bullets, caught in flames, by and large, not knowing why, people die.¨ (Brodsky 2). The quote expresses how foreign places get attacked and civilians are caught in the crossfire, and the ultimate plot about how war destroys lives. 

The poem Beautiful Wreckage, by W.D. Ehrhart is set in the Vietnam War. The poem talks about a few heavy topics but just brushes past them without really addressing them. ¨What if I didn't shoot the old lady running away from our patrol, or the old man in the back of the head, or the boy in the marketplace?¨ (Ehrhart 1). The best literary term I can take away from this is understatement, because of how the poem just seems to skim over the deaths of these people. It's like the soldier telling the story has been doing it so long, it just doesn't phase him anymore. An example of imagery is used when describing the warzone and how the name of the land is misleading. ¨In Vietnamese, Con Thien means place of angels. What if it was really place of rotting sandbags, incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.¨ (Ehrhart 4). The soldier telling the story uses imagery to help us better understand the situation he is in and mentions that the supposed place of angels is really a place of destruction and anguish. 

In the poem Camouflaging the chimera by YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, the 2 most significant literary terms I found were Imagery and Hyperbole. 

“Ready to spring the L shaped ambush, as a world revolved under each mans eyelid.”(KOMUNYAKAA 29-31) this is actually a example of both and i think that this is a good because this quote is describing to us what position they are in. This quote also shows us each of the men are ready to fend for themselves and they are all in their own worlds and they each have their own unique vision of what will happen next. 

“Blades of grass hung from the pockets of our tiger suits. We wove ourselves into the terrain content to be a hummingbirds target.” (KOMUNYAKAA 4-7) This is a important quote because it is showing how the soldiers during war are so skillful with camouflage that after they get ready and set not even the hummingbirds are bothered by them.  

Tho overall message about war is that even in the most still moments their can be so much going on that you cant see.

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, I think the 2 most important literary terms in this poem are Imagery and repetition .

“In the towns with funny names, hit by bullets, caught in flames, by and large, not knowing why, people die.” (Brodsky 5-8) this is a good quote because it describes what happens during war how towns in foreign countries are on fire and are getting shot up and people are dying. All while this is happening people live their lives. 

“People die”(4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24) This may not be a long quote but it has more meaning to it because the reason they say it is because its telling us that while life moves on and while people go to their everyday jobs, or they go out to eat, or they stay home watching a movie “people die” and its the sad thing about war that people can live their everyday lives that people all over the world are fighting wars and dying. 

The overall message about war is that while everyone lives their everyday lives while they watch a movie or sleep peacefully in their homes that people all over the world die from war.

In the poem When I am 19 I Was a Medic, by D.F. Brown, the two most important literary devices I found were imagery and juxtaposition. 

“I can tell true stories / from the jungle. I never mention / the fun, our sense of humor / embarasses me. Something / warped it out of place” (Brown 18/22). This shows juxtaposition because it shows the author's conflicting opinions on himself side by side. He can tell true stories from the war, but he leaves out the truth out of embarrassment. This helped me understand the author’s perspective on war because it shows how the war twisted him and his friends into worse people and he’s embarrassed about it. 

“I do this under the biggest tree, / some nights I dig / in saying my wife’s name / over and over” (Brown 14/18). This shows imagery because the author is describing his terror during the war and what he would do to fall asleep at night. This helped me understand the author’s perspective on war because it shows how terrified he was during the war, and how he still remembers the fear.

In the poem Camouflaging the Chimera, by Yusef Komunyakaa, the two most important literary devices are imagery and metaphor.

“Blades of grass hung from the pockets / of our tiger suits. We wove / ourselves into the terrain, / content to be a hummingbird’s target” (Komunyakaa 4/8). This shows imagery because the author is describing what they did to hide themselves from the enemy and illustrates that for the reader. This helps me understand the author’s perspective on war because it shows what he had to go through during the war.

“We weren’t there. The river ran / through our bones” (Komunyakaa 25/26). This shows metaphor because the author is comparing the river running through their bones to them hiding in the terrain. It is as if the river is running through them, they are so hidden. This helps me understand the author’s perspective because it shows, again, what they did to hide from the enemy, and how he still remembers the feeling of being so still it.