Task 2: Critical Analysis of Poem

We slept with our boots on by Steve Carlson

Now, I shall attempt to complete the template based on John Lye’s “Critical Analysis of Poetry”, focusing mainly on the point of view, the situation and meaning, and language and diction and last but not least, my personal response.

Firstly, I shall talk about the point of view of the persona in this poem. The persona is probably one of the soldiers fighting in the war at that time. We can see this from several parts of the poem, like “my heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins”; “I run as fast as I can through the lead rain” and I kept pulling the trigger”. This clearly shows that the persona had experienced the war and is writing the poem from a soldier’s point of view. Being a soldier who has first-hand experienced with war, his views on this matter should be more reliable than those who have not. The persona is trying to voice out his helplessness desperately as a solider so as to gain sympathy. The poet describes the horrors and terrors of war through the persona’s eyes to make things sound more realistic and credible, thus enabling him to convey his intended message to his audience.

Secondly, I shall talk about the situation and meaning of the poem. This is war poetry; hence the poem is about war times, in which poets express their views, both positive and negative, towards war. In this case, the poem depicts a team of soldiers arriving at the battlefield to fight their enemies, in which the persona, one of the soldiers in the war, expresses his feelings for war; his reluctance and his helplessness. These soldiers cannot back out, as they had to “leave this bird whether they liked it or not” and their only chance of survival was to “keep pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling”. It has become similar to the wild in which only the strongest survive. This helps to create a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, in which the soldiers were being “forced to their deaths” and there was not much hope for them. By writing this poem and describing war as horrifying and hopeless, the poet is probably trying to tell his audience that war is a bad and horrible thing that should be avoided at all costs. At the same time, there is also internal conflict within the persona as he tries to justify and forget his actions but fails to keep it out of his mind.

Thirdly, I shall attempt to identify the language and diction used in the poem and their intended effect. The poet makes good use of rhythm as the last word of every two lines will rhyme. Some of the examples are “sons, guns”, “blood, mud”, “drink, think”. The poet uses this to get his idea across to his audience in a sing-song and musical manner for the audience to better understand and enjoy the poem while hinting at serious issues like the cruelty of war. Furthermore, links can also be drawn between the two words. For example, “sons and guns” suggests that every son was carrying a gun marching into the battlefield to their deaths, while “blood and mud” might suggest that the war was so bloody that so much blood was on the ground that no one could differentiate which was blood and which was mud.

Lastly, I shall write down my personal response. The poet makes good use of puns and rhyme to catch the reader’s attention and places emphasize on the words. His vivid description and informal way of writing things let us better visualize the progress of the situation; first they left the helicopter, then the shooting started, and then the soldier’s reflections. This progress of the situation helps us to understand the situation at that time and enable us to put ourselves in their shoes. The poet also makes the poem more realistic and credible by adding in informal orders used in the army and viewing things from many perspective; what “they” were doing, what “we”, the soldiers were doing, and finally, what “I”, the persona was thinking. Furthermore, unlike the media which often portrays war in a very nice and courageous thing, this poem offers an alternative view which is contrary to what people think. Now, people will think twice before coming to a conclusion that war is good and respectable. This poem is very organized and is able to convey its message clearly to its audience effectively; hence I feel this is a good war poetry that deserves to be read by everyone.