Poetry
Death and Felicity
Truth of war Project
Death and Felicity
The battlefield of most great importance.
It holds the men and women who are dead
from the beginning. It’s a disturbance,
to see insignificance clearly read.
They can only guess why they are beside
the disturbing-frightful-amiss machine
with dreams of monumental genocide.
They are trapped in a future unforeseen,
Holding the path of a great victory,
Smothered in a bitter sauce of remorse
but the forces are contradictory:
Death and Felicity. It is a game
played by boys acting as men with no fears.
But in the end all boys will shed old tears.
Artist Statement
When faced with this prompt I didn’t know what to write
about. I have never really felt too strongly about war, peace, or power ever
before. But I decided to wright about something that I feel very strongly and
then incorporate war, peace, or power into it. I decided to write about how
soldiers can have a powerful feeling of insignificance. I chose this topic
because I myself have a strong sense of insignificance so I thought I could
incorporate that with the same feelings that a soldier might have in war. I
don’t have a specific source of inspiration because this poem was inspired by
my own thoughts. but my thoughts can, and have been triggered by things around
me like media. In the lines “It holds the men and women who are dead from the
beginning. It’s a disturbance, to see insignificance clearly read.” You can
easily see how I have incorporated my idea into my writing.
I have chosen to write in sonnet form because of two
reasons. For one, in the past I have wrote mainly in free verse so I think it
will be good for me to change it up a little bit. Second, sense I read “Sonnet
71” by Shakespeare I noticed that each line in such a short poem can tell a
poem all in its self. In my earlier drafts I tried a number of different types
of poetic devices and poem types to help me decide on a from that was right for
me. In the line “From this vile world with vilest worms to dwell” from the poem
“Sonnet 71” you can see that this is a well thought out sentence and itself
plays an important part to the entire poem.
For the presentation of my poem I
have decided make a kinetic text with me reading in the background. The reason
I have chosen to do this is because if I can successfully pull of a good
looking kinetic text it will make my sonnet much more powerful. This will also
give me the option to emphasize words and phrases as I please. I got my
inspiration for this project in the kinetic text made by one of the students
last year. I found this inspiring it was so moving and powerful. But the thing
that really sold kenetic text to me was the way that he could change the pace
and feel of the poem and video so easily to change the effect on the listener.
Kinetic Typography of Poem
Truth of war Project
The open fields
They frolic and fight
The freshly freed faces
They greet them with bliss
The mangled bodies
They see right through them
The horrid look on the enemy face
They do not care
Soldiers are brave and heroic
(So they say)
You can’t be brave if you’re dead
“So it goes”
They have free will
And choose their destiny
They learn the art of war
And use it nobly
They are trained like dogs
And are obedient
They are educated in murder
And gladly kill their fellow man
Soldiers are brave and heroic
(So they say)
You can’t be brave if you’re dead
“So it goes”
The confidence they have
It shows on the battle field
The fresh pressed suits
And the skills to kill
The fear on their faces
Not all can see it
Most see honor
But they see it in the mirror
Soldiers are brave and heroic
(So they say)
You can’t be brave if you’re dead
“So it goes”
Relaxing on the front line
Thinking of the best strategy
They hear the gun fire
And know that victory is inevitable
Sitting in the trenches
Wishing it was a dream
They hear the scream of the shells
Like the scream of a banshee
Soldiers are brave and heroic
(So they say)
You can’t be brave if you’re dead
“So it goes”
Truth of War Essay
Famous scientist Albert Einstein once said “you cannot prevent and prepare for war at the same time.” In World War One soldiers fought in big open areas and there base camps were trenches that were dug by the soldiers and everyone fought in long lines with each side of the line a different side of the war. The type of warfare that took place in world war one was very unorganized and there was so much death at one time that people weren’t even able to count how many soldiers died. On the other hand, World War Two warfare was mostly something called urban warfare that took place in cities and the sides were scattered. There was no real line in the cities, enemies and allies were all over the city. Many people think that soldiers are glorious heroes fighting for our country, but they’re only men that most of the time are more scared then we are. There are numerous TV shows and movies like the old show “M*A*S*H” where it shows soldiers having a good time or showing soldiers killing hundreds of enemies showing no fear of death what so ever. There are soldiers in the war that act this way but most of the time soldiers are hiding in crooks and crannies trying to save their own lives. By running and hiding from enemies they end up thinking that in real life hiding is the only thing that they can do The truth of war for a soldier is that they are dulled by the death around them, and they lose sight of their morals.
When a soldier is put into war he is taught how to kill and it becomes expected of him to kill. In Erich Maria Remarque’s book, All Quiet on the Western Front Paul states, “we were to be trained for heroism as though we were circus-ponies.” (44) In this quote Paul is talking about how they are being trained for war like “circus ponies” which tells us that the training system is pretty much just a factory for soldier. When soldiers are sent into training they are taught how to kill and are bombarded with the idea that killing your fellow man is OK although most soldiers don’t accept it at first. During the training process soldiers are in a mindless environment and are there for nothing but to learn how to kill and kill well. Now that the soldier has gone through training he is starting to become dulled by the idea of death because soldiers are made to believe that killing is good. Also the soldiers put onto the front lines.
When a soldier is put on the front lines he is exposed to the death of war for the first time. In Erich Maria Remarque’s book, “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Paul states, “one of the recruits has a fit, I have been watching him for a long time, grinding his teeth and opening and shutting his fists.” (109) In this passage the main character Paul is talking about how one of the new recruits is going crazy because they are being shelled by the enemy. “Shelled” is a term that refers to a time when mortars are landing around you, this was very stressful soldier no longer knew when they were going to be attacked because people could shell you from a far way away. When the soldier is put into war for the first time he is not used to people dying and it being just a part of the day for the other soldiers. Even the beginning stages of war like your first day on the front line can be very traumatizing. This is a very important step of the way to being dulled to the idea of death because if the soldier is not constantly exposed to death then there is no way he will become dulled. Now that the soldier has been in war for a while he is now dulled to the idea of death.
Now that the soldier has been in war for quite some time he becomes unaffected by the death that is around him. During some research I did for this paper I came across a video that was covered up by the government and released by Wikileaks of two U.S. military soldiers flying in an Apache helicopter. They saw a group of eight civilians carrying cameras; they had mistaken the cameras for weapons and killed every one of them. Even though it was a mistake they continued to laugh and have a good time as they looked over the dead bodies on the ground: "Look at those dead bastards," one pilot says. "Nice" the other replied. (Horgan) This obviously shows how unconnected some men get from there morals by showing that the soldiers have no remorse for killing other human beings during their time in war. After seeing this I realized how killing becomes second nature for most soldiers and how bad war corrupts people’s minds. Although killing any person is wrong, I think that it is necessary so the soldier can do his job and not have trouble doing it. Now that the soldier is used to killing and it being praised by his partners in war for it he has to come back to civilization and regain his morals.
After being in war for many mouths the soldier has to return to normal life and try to control himself in society. Kurt Vonnegut shows how crazy Billy Pilgrim is in chapter 2 of his book “Slaughterhouse Five”: “The flying saucer was from the planet Tralfamadore, he said. He was taken to Tralfamadore where he was displayed naked in a zoo.” (25) This passage is about Billy Pilgrim talking about how he was “abducted by aliens”. Billy is World War Two veteran and has been traumatized by the event. After returning to civilization he went crazy and talked about how he was abducted by aliens and how he could time travel. So this really shows how soldiers lose sight of their morals during their time in war by showing how the war made Bill Pilgrim go crazy.
Although the technology that we use today is much more advanced, the mental damage that the soldiers go through is very much the same. This connects to the present day because although there is not as much death going on at the same time, like in the First World War, there is still a mass amount of death that goes along with war. Even though killing anyone is wrong, the skill to kill and not be affected by it is important so that the soldier can destroy the enemy. To wrap it up I would like to say that war is the gateway to an unhappy future.
Truth of War Project Reflection:
Truth of War Project Reflection:
This project consisted of two pieces, an essay, and a project of our choice. The essay took many weeks and went through many revisions. The project that I choose was a poem; the poem took me about three days to write and took one more day to organization on Photoshop.
The Habit of Heart and mind that I used the most in this project was refinement. I think I used refinement the most because of the multiple drafts
For my essay, I had to cite all of my quotes. I also re-worded a lot of my essay. During the beginning of this project we wrote a thing that is called a “shitty draft.” The reason for this draft is so that the people that have trouble getting started on essays and projects. The “shitty draft” consists of just random thoughts put down on paper.
If I had one more week to work on this project I would spend more time editing my poem in Photoshop. I feel that if I had more time to do that it would have turned out a lot more touching
Veteran´s History Project
Over the past few weeks Hanna, CJ, and I set up and then conducted an interview to an Afghanistan soldier. After the interview had been conduced, the videotaping of the interview was mailed to the library of congress.
Reflection:
This interview was not one of the most exciting experiences for me. During the interview I didn’t really feel our veteran was really completely engaged in our questions. Although he did answer the questions, he did not go quite as deep as I wish he would have. This interview only slightly changes the way I think about war. Our veteran did share something that I did think was interesting. He said that during his time is the serves he had gone up in rank a few times. I didn’t think that the army was so “wily nilly” with their ranking system. I thought that the ranking system was stricter and that you had to do something that was truly recognizable to rank up.
This interview was not one of the most exciting experiences for me. During the interview I didn’t really feel our veteran was really completely engaged in our questions. Although he did answer the questions, he did not go quite as deep as I wish he would have. This interview only slightly changes the way I think about war. Our veteran did share something that I did think was interesting. He said that during his time is the serves he had gone up in rank a few times. I didn’t think that the army was so “wily nilly” with their ranking system. I thought that the ranking system was stricter and that you had to do something that was truly recognizable to rank up.
As a historian I could use this interview as reliable, inside look at the war in Afghanistan. If you were trying to show the inside view of the war is Afghanistan this would be a great source.
I really think that the most valuable part of this process was the whole group idea. I think that this was good because some people are more productive in groups and also for the students that rather work alone, it’s a good thing for them to go outside of their comfort zone to work with people that they maybe don’t get along with. Although I liked the group part of this project, I don’t think that the group’s workloads were split up very evenly.
Tonkin writing
Although North Vietnam attacked U.S naval units, we deserved it because we provoked them by “blowing up some bridges and things of that kind” on North Vietnam soil
On August 2nd, 1964 the USS Maddox was attacked in the gulf of Tonkin by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats which resulted in a sea battle between the boats and a U.S fighter jet. The damages done to both the U.S side and the N.V side were minimal, only a few casualties happened. On August 7th, 1964 congress passed a resolution that pretty much said that the United States had a right to protect their selves against another attack made by North Vietnam
This was thought to be a random attack upon the U.S by civilians. But from what I have read in the past few days I do not think that this was a random attack. The things that had happened before the Tonkin incident like the destruction of North Vietnamese property makes me think that this we just an act of defense. Even though the U.S did strike first I do not think that just because the USS Maddox was questionable on North Vietnam waters that they should have taken action. Also by attacking the USS Maddox the North Vietnamese was violating the charter of the United Nations.
From what I have said I do not think that the North Vietnamese has done anything wrong. I think that they were intimidated by our power and our failure to have any regret for our actions. Do I think this I a good reason to go to war with Vietnam? No, this could have been dealt with in a much more mature manner. As for “helping” them stop from becoming a communist country, I think that we had no right to come in a say that they shouldn’t be a communist country.
