Children in the Darkness ( Task 2 )

1) This poem's point of view is from the poet. His point of view should be reliable as he had first hand experience as to what happened in the war. From this poem, we can tell that the poet is not supportive of war at all, expecially when young children are being forced to go to war. The poet's purpose in this poem is probably to represent all the people who share the same view as him to try and condemn the government's actions to force children to fight in the war.

2) The setting is in Vietnam, around the year 1967 - 1968. This was when Vietnam was at war and they made young boys go to war, which is the main conflict of the poem.

3) The choice of words of this poem are relatively simple, to reinforce the main conflict on children fighting in the war. There is no common rhyme scheme and this reflects the unpredictability of the childrens' future. The repetition of "Could We" also reflects the uncertainty of the lives of the children in the future. The repetition of "darkness" could mean that the children would have a bleak or dark future. Finally, the poem goes a full circle, ending almost where it started off. This could symbolise the vicious cycle that Vietnam is experiencing. With the children fighting in the war, they would have less education. With less education, means that their children will also be taken advantage of and also be forced to fight in the war.

4) After reading this poem, I felt very sad for the children in Vietnam. They had such a bright future, only for the government to make use of them. I also realised how fortunate I am to be living in Singapore. With a good government that makes sure everyone enrolls in at least primary and secondary school enables us and our parents to have a good education and make good choices for us and not let us be easily take advantage of.