English E-learning task 1

The author of this poem is Henry M Bechtold. This poem was written in 2010 when the author was sitting in his hotel room in Saigon. He was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them. He was angry but was unable to write anything that did not sound trite or weak. He looked at the TV and the news was on. He saw a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle and thus came the inspiration to write this poem.

This poem is trying to express the unfairness of life as even young children had to be forced to go to war and die for their country. This poem also describes the lack of freedom the children had as they were not given the chance to lead the life of a normal child do things that a normal child would do, like schooling, dancing, reading. Henry M Bechtold also uses this poem to express the cruelty of war and the amount of bloodshed in war. The children had to go through all the suffering and pain before they can finally die peacefully

Resources
http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Children_