Engish E-Learning Task 2

Point of view

The poet is trying to tell people that even young children are used as soldiers and are taught to fight at such tender age. This can be seen from "Who someone will teach to fight" and "Or will a war consume them". He is upset about the fact that children are not given the chance to do what a normal child should be doing. They were stripped of their freedom and forced to go on the battlefield. This can be seen from "And these children are not free" and "Could we give them half a chance". The phrase “from this life they cannot flee” and “and these children are not free”, shows that the poet thinks that once they were born, the children already had their path of life set for them. They were born to fight and they could never flee from their fate. “Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole” shows that the poet thinks that war is bloody and the number of live lost is countless. The poet is also trying to express that the amount of blood spilled on the battlefield is like a monster that is always thirsty for more and more blood.”

Situation and setting
The situation is that children are being forced to go onto the battlefield to die for their country although there is very little chance of them helping to kill anybody.The poet expresses war as something that is very bloody and cruel and something that should be feared by everybody. This can be seen from “Will their life and blood be poured Down some endless thirsty hole”

Language and diction
The poet uses personification like “blood”, “consume”, “darkness” to express the cruelty of war. All of the words used are related to fear, death and despair. The word “darkness” represents the despair in the hearts of the children when they were sent onto the battlefield to die while the word “consume” represents the overwhelming sense that death would soon befall their frail bodies, blotting out everything. Repetition of the word “could we” is used to emphasize on the hope that the children could be free and lead the life of a normal child.

Personal response
I feel very sorry for the children that had been forced to die on the battlefield. They did not have the chance to go to school and lead the normal life of a child. This poem makes me feel very fortunate that our country is at peace and that I was not forced to fight and die at such a young age.