The Vietnam War Generation Journal's objective is to publish works that reflect issues from the Vietnam War. They publish a variety of works including nonfiction pieces, essays and poetry.You will be examining the poetry archive. There are hundreds of poems written by veterans regarding their experience in Vietnam. During today's class, you should find one poem and explain how the poem relates to The Things They Carried. You are expected to respond in one paragraph. Make sure to have a strong topic sentence and use three quotations from the poem to enhance your point. You should be able to make several connections between the book and the poem. Do not copy and paste your poem into your answer.
Then, please print out (or if it's short, write out) the poem you found. Also, make sure you know the author! We will be using the poem in class tomorrow.
Then, please print out (or if it's short, write out) the poem you found. Also, make sure you know the author! We will be using the poem in class tomorrow.
11 comments:
We read "A Hum in the Living Room". It is similar to the book because the dad in the poem suffers from Post tramatic stress disorder just like the soliders in The Things They Carried. In the poem, the father "jerked back against the chair" showing PTSD.
The poem No Lie, GI, written by David Connolly, relates strongly to the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. "We had a deal, he and I", this quote shows that two people had made a pact to stay together through the war. This also occurred in the novel, a pact was formed between Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. "It looked fine to me", one friend is telling the other that everything was going to be okay. This is something that Jensen told Strunk in the novel. "If one of us got wounded, the other wouldn't lie", this quote is showing the friendhsips that the soldiers had made during the war, such as when Jensen and Strunk were enemies and then ended as friends. This poem strongly parallels the theme of friendship and pacts throughout the novel.
Emma Ethier and Marisa Dole :)
The poem "Bullets From The Heart", can relate to The Things They Carried, in many ways. This is a poem about the lives destroyed by the hardships of the war. The "Bullets Buried in the dust", and those who have died. They are "empty of gunpowder" otherwise meaning, void of life and hope. But they "shine in the thickness" which means they will always be remembered. This relates to the book, by discussing the deprivation of life. Many lives were lost or destroyed in the story. Curt Lemon, Ted Lavender, they both had life stolen from them from the war. Kiowa,who was literall buried in the dust, also fell victim to the war. This poem represents people like them.
Seth Killingbeck
The poem "Poppies" relates to "The Things They Carry" in multiple ways. For example, "He flexes his hands, like a surgeon." This is saying that when he picks up a paint brush its like a sergon holding a suture knife, just like a medic in "The Things
They Carry." Another exaple is when the author writes, "his eyes burned black in his head." This is saying that when he kills a man or sees something gruesome. Lastly SuAnne Doak writes, "That night, he dreamed poppies sponging up blood." This can relate to Kiowa's death. Kiowa was killed at night and was left in a shit soup to drown. Norman however could have saved him, but tried and failed. He now might dream, or have a reoccuring thought of Kiowa.
This poem shows just how much the people who arn't in the war don't know as much about the war as they should. In the poem, this mother talks about how pretty everything is and why did they have all those guns. Similarly in The Things They Carried, O'Brian's 'daughter' asks if he had ever killed some one. he lies to her and tells her that he hasn't. Just like in this poem when he probably lies to his mother about how it is there.
In the poem Bullets from the Heart by Matthew Diomede, Matthew Diomede writes how when you’re in Vietnam you dwell on the past. “The dead we always have with us
like bullets of Viet Nam” says Diomede; some may think about the soldiers who have died in war. Diomede says “They shine in that sunlight bringing us memories” and in The Things They Carry both remind soldiers of their past memories. Another example of how the two stories compare is how they both have hope such as Diomede saying “a ray of sunlight
shines in the thickness of the heat”.
Shannon McManus
Brittany Kenyon
The story The Things They Carried tells many unique stories from the point of view of soldiers in the Vietnam War. Many people also write their experiences down as poems, such as Rod Farmer. Farmer’s story relates to The Things They Carried very closely. Both the book and the poem talk about coming in contact with Vietnamese people, and somehow affecting their lives. For example, in the poem, Farmer talks about hitting a “girl on a bicycle” and she “did not move out of the road” as Farmer drove by. In The Things They Carried, the soldiers come into contact with a dancing girl who was deeply affected after her village was bombed by American forces. The only difference between the book and the poem is that Farmer went “back to the unconscious girl” and brought her to the hospital. The others in the book didn’t help the dancing girl.
Juliana Ahern and Katelyn Seetaram
The poem loss relates to the things they carried in many ways. One way is in the poem loss the author david l erben he loses his friends becauase they died, one example is when he says "The pool of blood in the ear". this is what he says when his friend dies. tim o'brien relates to this because kiowa dies.
The poem Ghost Poem by Bill Shields relates to the book the The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. "I went to Vietnam", this shows that the person that is being talked about went there and the people in The Things They Carried did the same. "I saw the earth splashed in blood", this quote shows how the person in the poem witnessed blood shed during the war. While in the things they carried the soldiers also witnesed blood shed. "Think of that moment for twenty odd years", this quote shows how the memories of war were carried with them. Just like in The Things They Carried where they all had emotional memories that they carried with them. This poem relates very well to the novel in many different aspects.
bgill & kweiner :)
In the poem "Wild Horses" by Marc Swan there's many relations to the book. Marc writes "The quietly grazing water buffalo he felled with a single shot" He witnessed a water buffalo being killed just like the people in the story. Another relation is that "singled out and cut down" can be related because TIm O'Brien singled himself out for blaming himself for Ted Lavender's death. The last relation to "The Things They Carried" was that they all "flew straight ahead into the morning light" and go on even though their peers and friends are dying.
We read Casualty, by Bertha Harris. This poem is about a young man who comes home fromt the Vietnam war." Mike had been back three years from 'Nam that Sunday,". He had sceen many things in 'Nam which messed with him mentally. Some times Mike would mention thoughts of suicide. "Mike wanted to drive his car off a ten-foot Drainage ditch, he could at least have sence enough To kill himself alone." Mike is clearly dealing with PDS. This realtes to Normand Bowker when he came home from war and had problems with imself and his family.
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