War Poetry Response

In the poem Bosnia Tune by  JOSEPH BRODSKY, the two most significant literary terms I found were repetition and understatement. 

“People die as you elect/new apostles of neglect,./self-restraint, etc.--whereby/ people die”(Brodsky 13-16)

Is an example of repetition because of using the same term for a second time but also because of the word etc because it repeats that you aren’t doing anything to help the people who are going to die. 

“In the towns with funny names/hit by bullets, caught in flames,/by and large, not knowing why,/people die.''(Brodsky 5-8) This shows understatement because it is not showing me the full scale and horror of war it shows me a very simplified view of combat without emotion.

The overall message is that in war people die and when war comes for you, you'll die too.

In the poem, the last lie by BRUCE WEIGL the two most significant literary terms I found were hyperbole and P.O.V 

“Until his rage ripped/ into the faces of the children.”(Weigl 22-23) is hyperbole because I picture his rage actually ripping out of him when he attaches the kids.

“She laughed/As if she thought it were a joke /And the guy with me laughed” (Weigl 17-19) its from the P.O.V of just another guy in their ranks and he does not like what is happening because he does not laugh.

In the poem, Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. EHRHART The two most significant literary terms are P.O.V and Repetition. “What if none of it happened.”(Ehrhart, 21) In this poem, the statement “what if” comes up a lot therefore it's an example of repetition. It also shows how the character feels about the war and describes how he is having a hard time getting over it and going back to his normal life. It shows how War changed him forever. “What if I didn’t shoot the old lady?”(Ehrhart, 1). This poem is in the first person the veteran is telling the story from his P.O.V. He is questioning things he was forced to do while in war. This Quote shows he has done things in war a can’t take back but wishes he could. These are the two most powerful literary terms in this poem because they represent that war is Horrific, gruesome, and traumatizing.

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and repetition. 

“Rotting sandbags, incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.” (Ehrhart 15/16) This is an example of imagery since it gives you lots of sensory details. It really helps you imagine what it looks like. It helps you understand the author's perspective since it helps you imagine how brutal it actually is. 

“What if none of it happened the way I said?” (Ehrhart 21) There is a lot of repetition in this poem. He keeps asking about all these what if scenarios. This is because he can’t stop thinking about the war. Even at home he is asking what if I had did this or that.

The overall message I got from this poem is that war is traumatizing. He is back at home and he just keeps reliving all these memories

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were Repetition and Plot.

“Adjust your tie, people die… not knowing why people die… or say goodbye people die,” (Brodsky 4,8,12,16) is an example of repetition because at the end of every paragraph in the poem it ends with “people die”. It helped me understand how the rich people are living their luxurious lives, all the other men are fighting and dying in war. The speaker brings reality back at the end of every paragraph.

“Will pronounce the latter tribe as your type,” (Brodsky 27-28) is an example of plot because it’s the only paragraph without “people die” at the end and the speaker is saying that all the rich people care about is their status in the world, which they call the “latter tribe”. Instead of saying that people are dying, the speaker throws the rich into the category of being in charge and being a social climber adding to the plot.

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart, the two most significant literary terms I found were Imagery and Paradox

“Ski didn’t die in a medevac chopper between Con Thien and Da Nang” (Ehrhart 10-12), is an example of imagery because the speaker put a specific image and place in our head along with a scenario. It helped me understand what kind of situation the character was in and what thoughts he was having.

“What if I didn’t shoot… the boy in the marketplace? Or what if the boy--but he didn’t have a grenade,” (Ehrhart 1,4-6) is an example of a paradox because the character is contradicting himself. In his mind things are true and false at the same time. He wished he was never killed, but he did. It helped me understand that despite the moments that we don’t like, it’s better to not dwell on them and keep going. If you dwell on the past it will only lead to a paradox.

In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and perspective. 

“...water still/Comes bloody from the taps, and my pet cat/In his disorder vomits worms” is an example of imagery because it is describing some very disturbing things such as the blood from the taps and the cat vomiting worms. These things are so strong that the readers are able to visualize what is happening (Nemerov 1-3). This helps me understand what war is like because it is very gruesome and disturbing like what the poem is explaining. It also shows that these disturbing things can stick with you even after you are out of war. 

“I tried to wash the dirt out of/My hair and from under my fingernails,/I dressed in clean white clothes and went to bed./ I heard the dust falling between the walls'' is an example of perspective because it is showing what the person is going through even after coming out of the war (Nemerov 17-20). The effect of the war has made the character feel like he can’t become clean after the war because of how gruesome it was. He feels like he will never be able to fully clean all of the blood off of his hands because of how paranoid he is because of the things he had to witness in war. 

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were juxtaposition and repetition. 

“As you sip your brand of scotch,/crush a roach or scratch your crotch/as your hand adjusts your tie,/people die” is an example of juxtaposition because it is explaining that while people are just doing everyday things in life people are dying in the military (Brodsky 1-4). This helps the reader understand that even though it seems like a regular day for you while you are tying your shoes or cooking breakfast other people are dying in war for you. It also helps me understand that we may not even know everything that is happening in the war, and what everyone has to go through.

“People die” is an example of repetition because it is repeated multiple times throughout the whole entire poem (Brodsky 4). This example of repetition helps the reader understand that the writer is trying to make a point that people are constantly giving their lives in war for us. Even though we may not think about it too much it can be a devastating thing for so many people and can be a very traumatic thing as well.

The poem” Bosnia Tune” by Joseph Brodsky has two important literary devices used, one is repetition, and the other is plot. The first quote is “as you sip your brand of scotch/ crush a roach or scratch your crotch/as your hand adjusts your tie/ people die” (Brodsky 1-4). This quote is showing the literary term repetition because at the end of every stanza its says people die drilling into your mind that no matter what you do in life people die. The second literary device is plot “In the towns with funny names hit by bullets, caught in flames, by and large, not knowing why, people die.” (Brodsky 5,6,8) this quote is showing the plot because he's talking about his comrades being shot in war these literary devices explain the authors past history with people dying with guns everywhere, all wars result in death

In the poem “Bosnia Tune'' by Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were Imagery and Repetition. “As you sip your brand of scotch/ people die.” (Brodsky, 1-4) this is an example of Imagery because it is showing Normal Life vs. War by showing the comfortableness of drink scotch and the abruptness of people dying. This helped me understand war because of the image of a comfortable life vs. literal war. This shows me that the author wants people to see and imagine life on both sides.
“People die/ people die” (Brodsky, 8-12) this is an example of repetition because the phrase, “People Die.” is a recurring theme in this poem. After every normal day life thing is mentioned in this poem it is followed up by “People Die.”, showing that while people are living, people are fighting and dying. This helped me understand war because that phrase was drilled into my head by the end of me reading this poem and it helped me understand the significance of war in general.
The overall message about war from this poem is that there are always people dying while people are also living.

In the poem “Redeployment” by Harold Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms I found were Imagery and Juxtaposition. “They say the war is over/ But water still comes bloody from the taps” (Nemerov, 1-2) this is an example of imagery because we the reader are able to see the blood coming from the tap. This man was not expecting to see the blood, presumably from the war, in his home. PTSD can happen anywhere, anytime.
“I dressed in clean white clothes and went to bed/ I heard the dust falling between the walls.” (Nemerov, 19-20) this is an example of Juxtaposition because it compares white clothes, aka purity, with war. White symbolizes purity and cleanliness and putting white on after war is a symbol of trying to be clean once again. Hearing the dust falling is a form of PTSD from hearing the walls rumbling or ash falling.
Overall, this poem's message is that purity won’t help PTSD.

In the poem The last Lie by Bruce Weigl, the two most significant literary terms I found were mobbed and grit. “Waving one hand across her swollen, bleeding Head, Wildly swinging her other hand At the children who mobbed her, Who tried to take her food.”(Weigl, 11-15)is an example of imagery because it’s showing painting a scenario to what is happening to the reader of the poem. This helped me understand how war is impacting the children by making them have to fight others for their food. It shows me that the author thinks war can change people for the worse. “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 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 to us for food. ”(Weigl, 16-26) is an example of juxtaposition because the girl is smiling about a really difficult scenario, this response shows that she feels good about a bad situation. This shows that the author really thinks that when you’re a part of war, your emotions and mind are as messed up. In order to survive, people have to set them aside and just deal with the situation in front of them as best they can. Overall the message of the poem seems to be that in war survival is more important than processing emotions. 

In the poem Camouflaging the Chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa, the two most significant literary terms I found were rock apes and VC. “In our way station of shadows rock apes tried to blow our cover, throwing stones at the sunset.”(Komunyakaa, 15-17) is an example of a plot because it’s something happening, more specifically the rising action or climax. This is since it’s reaching a point where danger is imminent. This helped me understand how war is dependent on luck and very dangerous. It shows me that the author thinks war is a risky thing where a little bit of bad luck means death. “But we waited till the moon touched metal, /till something almost broke inside us. VC struggled with the hillside, like black silk /wrestling iron through grass.” (Komunyakaa, 21-26) is an example of metaphor because it’s comparing VC struggling with the hillside to  the black silk wrestling iron through grass. VC’s are vietnamese communists and what’s happening is they’re struggling with the people hiding on the hill. This shows that the author thinks that when you’re in war, difficulty is bad, but having nothing happening is harder to stand. Overall the message of the poem seems to be that in war survival is more complex than just make sure you don’t get shot.

In the poem, Bosnia Tune by JOSEPH BROSKY the two most significant literary terms are Understatement and Repetition.``People Die”(Joseph Brodsky, 4) Throughout the poem he says “people die” over and over again. It shows its importance when it is said because it shows that what happens in war is always remembered, that people in war may never come out the way they went in. “As your hand adjusts your tie people die” The way the author writes this he is making it a huge understatement, by comparing everyday simple things to people dying. What he's trying to show here is that for someone in war seeing people die is normality just like doing everyday things for someone outside of combat.

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky , the two most significant literary terms I found were repetition and  metaphor.

“where our cherubs dread to fly/people die.” (19-20, Brodsky) is an example of a metaphor because of the description of what is happening is written in a creative way, the line could have simply been something like where good doesn’t dare to go, but instead mentions cherubs who are angelic beings who attend to god. This shows war puts a distance between good and people, fundamentally one cannot keep every moral in a war. 

“people die.” (4, Brodsky) is a repetition that repeats for several lines as the speaker tries to emphasize the death occurring during times of war, while anything is occurring anywhere someone is dying, sometimes the only way to survive is to distance yourself. There is emphasis on everyday people living their lives without a worry while death happens in a place they might never have heard of. 

 This shows war puts a distance between good and people, fundamentally one cannot keep every moral in a war. War is full of death, if you mourn every loss, you will never be able to go on. Sometimes survival is ignorance, and ignorance is bliss. 

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart , the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and paradox. 

“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?” (1-4,Ehrhart) is showing imagery to give the reader an idea of who is in the story and what happened to them. It’s easy to say a person died but to say this is what they’re like and how they died. Sometimes innocents are killed in the line of fire.

“What if none of it happened the way I said?/Would it all be a lie?/Would the wreckage be suddenly beautiful?” (21-23,Ehrhart) This a clear paradox, having a wreckage that is beautiful would contradict itself, same as if  it had not occurred as the character wonders. 

Summarizing, it’s easy to say a person died but to say this is what they’re like and how they died makes it feel real. Innocents are killed in the line of fire, and the what if will tear someone's mind apart. Wondering about what could have been makes the character think deeper about the people who have been killed and think deeper than what was the first reaction/instinct.

In the poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart the two most important literary terms I found were imagery and repetition. The conditions of war are not good, “Rotting sandbags, incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.” (Ehrhart). This is an example of imagery because it shows how bad the work environment is for soldiers while in war. This helped me understand what soldiers go through in war and what kind of trauma they have to live with for the rest of their lives.
Also in the poem, Beautiful Wreckage the narrator of the poem thinks back to war and asks himself “what if,” (Ehrhart). multiple times. He thinks back to killing people on the battlefield and he thinks about what would happen if he never killed those people. This is an example of repetition because he thinks back multiple times and says the same two words every time he thinks back to the war. This made me understand how fast your decision-making has to be and you can not hesitate. This also made me understand how killing people can really make you rethink your decisions and how you can not do anything about it now. Killing people in war can get to you and can make you regret everything you have done.
In the poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerov, the two literacy terms that stuck out to me were imagery and point of view. Soldiers in the war took souvenirs, “A soldier’s dead blue eyeballs that he found Somewhere--hard as chalk, and blue as skate” (Nemerov). As gross as an eyeball is, soldiers thought taking souvenirs from the war was a cool thing to do. This is an example of imagery because it tells you that the eyeball is blue and is very hard because it is from a dead person. This made me understand how crazy some soldiers were in the war and how the war got to them to take things from other dead soldiers' bodies.
Also in the poem Redeployment, the one narrating the story is not in a good place, “I heard the dust falling between the walls” (Nemerov). This person is reliving the war in their mind and they do think they are back on the battlefield. This was an example of a Point of View because it tells us that that person heard the dust falling, which means it is from one person's perspective and not anyone else. This made me understand what war can do to somebody's everyday living and how drastic it is for them to try to live a normal life.

In the poem Redeployment by Nemerov, the two most significant literary terms were Imagery and Point of view. 

“But water still/comes bloody from the taps, and my pet cat/in his disorder vomits worms which crawl/swiftly away.”( Nemerov 1,2,3,4).  This Is an example of Imagery because it makes the reader visualize the unpleasant surrounding he or she was in. This generally helped me understand how the characters felt as he looked at his pet and how he still has the thought of war in his head. It overall shows me that war is like death, it follows you everywhere you go and you can't escape from it.

 “I heard the dust falling between the walls.” (Nemerov 20). This is an example of Point of view as it describes how he is highly aware of his surroundings and in a way unsettling. This helped me understand how he was feeling in the moment, a moment where he did not hear mortars coming in, a sense of somewhat peace. It overall tells me that war is generally loud and action packed, that when you leave, you relax.

In the poem Beautiful wreckage by W.D. Ehrhart, the two most significant literary terms I found were Juxtaposition and Imagery.

“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 13,14,15,16). This quote is an example of juxtaposition, as it describes the place of angels as war. These two different topics in general are very different as angels are mostly a good thing and such, while the war aspect like sandbags rotting and heavy artillery are bad. Overall, the character in this poem seems lost in what's good or bad, Delusional like war.

“The place of rotting sandbags,/ incoming heavy artillery, rats and mud.” (Ehrhart 15,16). This is an example of imagery as it shows detail of a not so pleasant place. The adjectives like rotting show the conditions the character was thinking of at that moment, and the most unpleasant things like rats and mud is a good example of imagery. Overall, I think that war is generally disgusting and unhealthy.

In the poem, titled “Bosnia Tune”, by Joseph Brodsky, many literary terms are used throughout, however, the most significant are repetition sound devices, imagery, and juxtaposition. 

All literary terms are essential to help the reader understand the poem overall. Repetition sound devices, such as when the author wrote, “scotch” (Brodsky 1) and “crotch” (Brodsky 2), or “tie” (Brodsky 3) and “die” (Brodsky 4), all accentuate the poem and draw out the rhyme scheme that makes the poem sound like a lullaby, which is imposed by the content of war. This can also be comprehended as cognitive dissonance, the poem is like a lullaby, but the content of war contradicts the definition of a lullaby being soothing and calming. 

The imagery was able to make the poem more relatable, when the author states, “In the towns with funny names / hit by bullets, caught in flames, / by and large, not knowing why, / people die” (Brodsky 5-8), the reader is able to picture the wreckage of war, putting them in a reflective mood, sympathizing towards the message that the poem is trying to draw out. 

In the poem,  juxtaposition is found in every stanza. There are several comparisons between rich and poor, people who kill and people who die, and people in war compared to civilians. An example is: “People die as you elect / new apostles of neglect, / self-restraint, etc. -- whereby / people die” (Brodsky 13-16). Juxtaposition, in the example, is comparing civilians who continue to elect unworthy candidates whilst their decisions are causing death and harm. Civilian life versus war life, the ones who kill without pulling the trigger. 

In the poem, “The Last Lie”, author Bruce Weigl uses several literary terms throughout, the most fundamental to the overall understanding of the poem are juxtaposition and point of view. 

Juxtaposition is found throughout the poem, every stanza hints toward the comparison between misery and happiness. In the first stanza, the author begins the poem with the keyword, “miserable” (Weigl 1), which connects to the sentence: “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 / Who called in the rumble for food. / He didn’t toss the can, he wound up and hung it/ On the child’s forehead and she was / Backwards into the dust of our trucks.” (Weigl 1-7). This compares to the sentences in the next stanza, which is the difference between the misery, “Waving one hand across her swollen, bleeding head, / Wildly swinging her other hand” (Weigl 10-11), and in the last stanza, “Smiling as she fought off her brothers and sisters. / She laughed” (Weigl 15-16). The anger and rage of the guy in the first stanzas, contrasted with the happiness the girl had, despite being hit with the anger of the man. 

Another intrinsic literary element in the poem is the point of view. The point of view is in the third person, and the poem is told from the perspective of another character witnessing the situation. The point of view also is informing the reader that the witness was simply just a witness, there is no other information given that tells the reader the verity of the character’s point of view. However, the character’s point of view seems sympathetic toward the girl, reminiscing as they say: “I grit my teeth to myself to remember that girl / Smiling as she fought off her brothers and sisters. / She laughed” (Weigl 14-16). At the moment, the character whose point of view is used for the poem, was a bystander, although, in thought, they remember the seriousness of the situation.

The poem Beautiful Wreckage by W.D Ehrhart makes its point known by its use of  P.O.V and Repetition.

“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) The words ‘what if’ are in nearly every paragraph, what if our narrator hadn't done those things? what if those people hadn't suffered and died? What if those people hadn't been in the wrong place at the wrong time? The repetition of those what ifs flood the brain of our narrator causing them to second guess “What if none of it happened the way I said?/ Would it all be a lie?/ Would the wreckage be suddenly beautiful?/Would the dead rise up and walk?” (Ehrhart 21-24) The narrator isn't sure anymore, was it like they said? Or was it completely different? The literary terms that they used to make the point exemplify the fact that war is full of regret

The Poem Redeployment by Harold Nemerove uses mainly Imagery and Repetition to make his point.

“They say 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.” (Nemerove 1-4) The writer uses descriptor words such as bloody to describe the disgust and by using the cat as an example of the disgust they exist in that supposedly was supposed to be gone because the war is over yet it's not, like the war and its effects are haunting our narrator. War is haunting. “They say the war is over But water still/ Comes bloody from the taps/ . . .  /The war may be over I know a man /Who keeps a pleasant souvenir, he keeps/ A soldier’s dead blue eyeballs that he found./ . . . /The end of the war I took it quietly Enough./ I tried to wash the dirt out of My hair.” (Nemerove 1/2 6-8 16/17) Repetition of the ending of the war starts in nearly every paragraph, there's always some sort of but, war is horrifying so when it's over there's supposed to be a sense of calm but the horrors remain. War is haunting.

The poem “Camouflaging the Chimera” by Yusef Komunyakaa presents a few literary devices. The first one that was presented was Imagery “throwing stones at the sunset” (Komunyakaa 16). You obviously can’t throw stones at a sunset which shows that it is an exaggeration. This poem also presents great imagery “We hugged bamboo & leaned/against a breeze off the river/slow-dragging with ghosts” (Komunyakaa 8-10). This use of imagery gave me a great idea of exactly what was happening in the stanza.

The poem “The Last Lie” by Bruce Weigl shows multiple literary devices. One example of imagery that stood out to me was “Backwards into the dust of our trucks” (Weigl 7). I got a good vision of the trucks ahead and a dust cloud which shows that it is an effective use of imagery. There also was an example of a juxtaposition “Waving one hand across her swollen bleeding head/Wildly swinging her other hand” (Weigl 10-11). The juxtaposition is shown because the first line shows her actively with a swollen bleeding head whereas the second line shows her wildly swinging her other hand. The two lines show differences because she’s very injured but can still swing her hand like crazy.

The poem “The Last Lie” has multiple literary terms in it, and one of them is a simile. A simile brings out the detail in the story and helps you have a better understanding of what's happening. In this case, the simile is used when there were some soldiers throwing cans at kids and a bystander is watching this other soldier, “ And fingered the edge of another can / Like it was the seam of a baseball” (Weigl, 18-19). A simile helps you think of something similar that is more well known to help you understand if you don’t know what's going on. The next literary device is imagery. Imagery is really important because it really describes what situation is going on in the story, and helps you see what's happening. For example, this woman was, “Wildly swinging her other hand/ At children who mobbed her” (Weigl, 11-12). Having imagery helped me imagine what was happening to her and what she was doing to the kids.

My second poem is “Bosnia Tune” and it also has many other literary devices. The first one is repetition. Throughout the poem, it keeps repeating, “People die” (Brodsky, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24). At the end of each stanza no matter what happened it always said people die. So what it's saying is no matter what happens in war people will die eventually. The next is juxtaposition. Towards the end of the poem, it shows how civilians die vs how soldiers die. “As you watch the athletes score” and then the next stanza says, “Time, whose sharp, blood-thirsty quill” (Brosky, 21-25). That shows how the soldiers go to war for our country and show the difference in how they die peacefully vs. painfully.  

In the poem Bosnia Tune by Joseph Brodsky, the two most significant literary terms I found were repetition and imagery. “As your hands adjust your tie,/ people die.” This is an example of repetition because as the poem continues it constantly says “people die.” This helped me understand that in this poem there are people living their lives watching people all around them die. It shows that war is killing people after people non-stop. 

“As you sip your brand of scotch,/crush a roach or scratch your crotch,/ as your hands adjust your tie,/ people die.” This quote exemplifies imagery because it creates a picture of people doing everyday things, then dying. I think the author did this to really create an image in the reader's head to show people are dying everywhere during this war.

Overall the author's message in this poem is that people can’t live their lives without dying from this war.

In the poem camouflaging the chimera by Yusef Komunyakaa, the two most significant literary terms I found were imagery and metaphors. “We tied branches to our helmets./ We painted our faces and rifles,/ with mud from a riverbank.`` This quote shows imagery, because it helps the reader visualize what the characters are doing in this poem. This helps show the reader that people are trying to survive through this war. “Chameleons crawled our spines, changing from day/ to night: green to gold.” This quote shows an example of a metaphor because it’s comparing how the character is feeling to the feeling of a chameleon crawling on them. This helps the reader understand the book better by comparing it to chameleons crawling on them, it helps the reader picture how the characters are feeling.

Overall the message of this poem ios not to die, and the circle of life.