LA E-Learning Assignment Task 2

The poem I chose is We Slept With Our Boots On by Steve Carlsen.

So now I shall attempt to complete the table in Annex A.

The Point of View of this poem is of that of a soldier. To be more accurate, he is a soldier fighting in a very recent war, most probably the Afghanistan War seeing that the writer had gone through the war. Also, his point of view is from a terrified soldier who despises war, seeing how he describes war as "hell". During the war, he experiences "terror he can't define". He is extremely involved in the war in the poem, being a soldier taking part in the war and constantly being showered by "lead rain", or also known as bullets. I think that I can trust the depiction of war from this author since he himself had been part of a war too.

Ah. I think I accidentally explained the Situation and Setting while I was describing the Point of View. But never mind. The setting is in the middle a battlefield, through "valleys and mountains", and the situation is that they are currently involved in a war, where many people are either "dead or maimed", and it was only because of some "divine reason" that the persona survived.

Next. The Language and Diction. The poem rhymes every 2 lines, so yeah. This is the diction part. As for the language, its rather crude, making this seem more like in a war, as in a war you have no time to properly phrase your words. Also, the sentences are short and two the point, and sometimes grammatically wrong. Some sentences are also rushed, like " Dirty and tired and hungry and scared", "Grab your shit" etc.

My personal response for this is that through this poem I have realized the horrors of war and how terrifying war can be and that it is not as cool like how we imagined. The crude words and long sentences add to the tension and the excellent imagery such as "lead rain" helps me visualize the situation and I feel like I'm in the persona's shoes. So, all in all, an excellent poem. But because of its difficulty ( 3 stars) I feel tthat maybe I did not grasp the core meaning of the poem.

Thank You.

LA E-Learning Assignment Task 1

I chose the poem We Slept With Our Boots On by Steve Carlsen.

We Slept With Our Boots On

They unloaded the dead and maimed right before our eyes
They washed out the blood, we loaded our ruck’s and then took to the skies
Over the mountains, villages, and valleys we flew
Where we would land we had not a clue
Bullets are flying, the LZ is hot
We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not
30 seconds they yelled, Lock N Load and grab your shit
Get ready to go and make it quick
My heart is pumping adrenalin through all of my veins
I run as fast as I can through the lead rain
The noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define
The only reason I survived that day was divine
I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more
You do what you have to do, with that I will say no more
We fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks
From house to cave, to car to creek
Dirty and tired and hungry and scared
We slept with our boots on so we were always prepared
Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies
The Hindu Kush has changed so many lives
Up the mountains with heavy loads we trod
Who knew hell was so close to God
Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink
So we drank it like drunkards and tried not to think
Good men and bad men, Mothers lost son’s
Everyone loses their innocence when they carry guns
Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire
I will never forget those who were called higher
They say blood is thicker than water, well lead is thicker than blood
Brothers aren’t born they’re earned. In the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud
And when I get to heaven to Saint Peter I will tell
Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell

Steve Carlsen

Well, a poem that is relatively less well-known, compared to those from Siegfried Sassoon I was researching on previously. Wikipedia doesn't have a page on him! The horror! I thought Wikipedia had everything. Apparently not. So, the ever-reliable Google took me to http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html, and so here is the biography.

Steve Carlsen was born and lives in Dowagiac Michigan. He joined the United States Army in October 2000 and went to Infantry Basic Training, and Airborne School in Ft. Benning Georgia. He then reported to D Company 1st battalion 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. 82nd Airborne Division in Ft. Bragg North Carolina. He deployed to Kosovo in November 2001 as part of peace keeping operations. He Deployed to Afghanistan in of December 2002 where he participated in combat operations. He was honorably discharged from the Army in 2003. He currently attends Southwestern Michigan College where his professor, Dr Michael Collins challenged him to write about his experiences.

So, after looking through his life experiences, having been through the Afghanistan War, surely this war poem is about the war in Afghanistan, and the needless loss of lives, one of the ever present themes in most war poems, will be inside. And as expected, this poem criticizes the Afghanistan War. So, now that we have understood the main theme and conflict of the poem, which is Task 1, lets move on to the next part of the E-Learning Assignment, Task 2. Look out for my next blog post.