Home Learning Term 2 Part 2

Task 2

Complete the template provided below (Annex A), focusing on (1) Point of View; (2) Situation and Setting; (3) Language/Diction; and (4) Personal Response, and post your response to Task 2 on your blog. This template is based on John Lye’s ‘Critical Analysis of Poetry’, and you can make reference to this in Annex B when in doubt.

Steps in Analysis
	Point	Evidence	Elaboration
1.	1) POV The POV of the poem is that of an American soldier who has experienced war and survived and lived to tell the tale. He is speaking from the first person perspective of a soldier in the battle itself	The poet uses words like "I" and "we" in the poem,	The poet uses "I" and "we", which shows that he is speaking from the direct first person perspective of the person fighting in the war, which is himself. "i" and "we" are pronouns which refer to oneself and thus it can be deduced that he is speaking from his personal point of view.
2.	2) Situation and Setting The setting is that of a furious battle, in which the persona is in. There is a war going on directly where the persona is and there are many deaths and bullets flying. The atmosphere is tense with fear.	This is evident from how the persona describes his "heart is pumping adrenaline through all his veins" and "Bullets are flying". He also depicts his fear as a "strong mixed drink".	This shows how tense the atmosphere was, as the persona's heart was pumping adrenaline. A person would only feel adrenaline if he felt extreme thrill or fear. Thus, if the persons's heart was pumping adrenaline, it can only attest to the fear that the persona was feeling from the atmosphere. THe poet also creates the tense atmosphere by describing how bullets were flying, which is a personification that the bullets were free and flying in the air, thus describing the danger in the air.
3	3) Language/ Diction The Poet uses straightforward and blunt language in this poem, to give a more realistic feel to the poem and add on to the first person perspective of the poem. He describes the situation very straightforwardly, so as to depict the situation from his point of view.	The poet directly takes whatever is said during his experience at war, such as "lock n load and grab your shit"	This shows his straightforwardness, as he does not change the words that are being said in the war, even though they may contain profanities. This is done in order to give the reader a greater impression that his experience that he is describing is coming straight from his real live experiences.
4	4) Personal Response After reading this poem, I have gained a better understanding of the harsh realities of war. I have learnt that war is not as easy as it seems and is actually affected by all the factors such as terrain, and is a long, weary process. i have also gained a better insight into a soldier's feelings during a war. I feel pity for the persona in the poem, as he has suffered greatly during the war, and had his "brothers" killed. At the same time, i feel a sense of relief for him, as he managed to survive the war. However, I cannot truly emphatize with the persona, as I have never been in his situation before.