Point of View (POV): POV: The title takes the POV of the author and his fellow paratrooper (“We”), as the poem is mainly about the author’s platoon.
The first 2 lines of the poem takes the 3rd person’s POV (“they”), as the author and his platoon watches the other soldiers discarding the dead and injured inside the plane and loading them aboard.
The next few lines take the POV of the author’s platoon as they were flown to the battlefield (“We”) and dropped into the battlefield by the other soldiers. Then, it changes to the author’s POV (“My”) as he describes his nervousness and terror, sprinting through the bullets amidst the deafening battlefield, then shooting repeatedly, claiming it was what had to be done.
The POV reverts to that of the author’s platoon (“We”) as they fought on every ground, unclean, exhausted and frightened, always on the lookout. Then, it returns to the author’s POV as he thought about how the Hindu Kush Mountains had transformed their lives. The POV yet again turns back to that of the author and his paratroopers as they trudged on, aware of the terror but trying to distract and distance themselves from it with the beauty of the mountains.
The POV is now that of the author’s. He ponders on how everyone seems to lose their innocence once they hold a gun and enter the battlefield. He also remembers those who were killed in combat and feels that his fellow paratroopers are like his own brothers after all they’ve been through together. He ends off on a somewhat bitter but humorous note.
Situation and Setting: The main setting here is the battlefield. The situation there seems to be dire, as can be seen from the “lead rain”, which alludes to the non-stop firing of bullets. The “noise is tremendous, terror I can’t define” tells us the battlefield was extremely loud and induced fear in the author. The setting of the battlefield does change, from “the valleys to the mountain peaks/From house to cave, to car to creek”. This shows that there was war everywhere and that the soldiers had to be cautious and ready to fight at any time, such as how they “slept with our boots on”. Lastly, the setting of the “majestic” Hindu Kush helped the soldiers to distract themselves from the terror of war.
Language/Diction: The use of the word “unloaded” and “loaded” in the first 2 lines of the poem tells me the author feels they (he and his platoon) were treated simply as replaceable, expendable goods. The rhyme of lines 5 and 6 (“hot” and “not”) emphasize how the platoon was to be dropped into the battlefield no matter how dangerous it was, “bullets are flying, the LZ is hot”. (LZ is Landing Zone). The lead rain stands for the repeated fire of bullets, and the rhyme of the following 2 lines emphasize how dangerous the battlefield, its noise tremendous, “terror I can’t define”, was as the only reason the author survived was divine intervention.
The repetition of “and” in “I kept pulling the trigger and reloading and pulling some more” highlights how the author kept shooting continuously, thus revealing his fear and the danger of the battlefield. The platoon “fought from the valleys to the mountain peaks/From house to cave, to car to creek”. The rhyme of “peaks” and “creek” emphasizes the fact that war was everywhere, inescapable, as does the alliteration of “car to creek”. This explains why the soldiers had to “sleep with our boots on” and the rhyme of “scared” and “prepared” underlines how the soldiers were wary of an enemy attack and hence had to constantly be on the lookout.
The line “Who knew hell was so close to God” again emphasizes the terror of the battlefield and even the majestic Hindu Kush could become a raging battlefield, aptly described by the word “hell”.
The following lines tells us that the soldiers were terrified of the war, but in order to distract themselves, they tried to take in the beauty of the Hindu Kush and forget about war, as emphasized by the alliteration “drank like drunkards”. The next 2 lines state that no matter who you are, everyone would lose their innocence upon fighting. The rhyme of the “son’s” and “guns” highlights this. The soldiers face death and injury as they grow up, as can be seen from them being “Washed in the blood, and baptized by fire”. The author feels his fellow paratroopers are like his own blood brothers as can be seen from how “lead is thicker than blood”, meaning it is how important. The paratroopers have gone through much together “in the poppy fields, the tears, and the mud”, which explains that they have gone through agony, pain and loss together. The poem ends of on a somewhat sarcastic but a little humorous note.
Personal Response: This poem’s structure is untidy and is not divided into stanzas. I feel that this represents Steve’s view of war: messed-up and continuous (participated in many combat operations).
| Steps in Analysis | |||
| Point | Evidence | Elaboration | |
| 1. | Point of View Soldier who was horrified the carnage during the Iraq war | "dead and maimed right before our eyes" "terror I can’t define" "The only reason I survived that day was divine" "Dirty and tired and hungry and scared" "changed so many lives" "hell was so close to God" "Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink" "Another Paratrooper reporting for duty sir, I spent my time in hell" | As the saying goes, expect the unexpected, however the poet probably thought that fighting a war is a patriotic and honourable service to his country. The massacre and brutality of the war has changed his perspectives so much that he gave up all hope on the war that he was fighting and willingly accepted death as the solution to all of his predicament. |
| 2. | Situation and Setting Raid on enemy line | "Where we would land we had not a clue" "We’re leaving this bird whether we like it or not" | The setting of the poem most probably a raid made by the poet and his comrades. They were carrying out combat operations in Afghanistan in December 2002, flying on a plane to a place they "had not a clue". Soldiers making a raid on enemy territory will definitely face resistance from the enemy, thus creating an external conflict whereby both sides try hard to eliminate the other side. |
| 3 | Language/ Diction | "LZ is hot" LZ = Landing Zone "Those majestic mountains so steep, so high they kiss the skies" "Who knew hell was so close to God" "Beauty and terror are a strong mixed drink" | Personification - Mountains could not kiss the skies, so the poet gives it a human quality of kissing the skies which meant it was towering by the use of personification. Irony - As what people believe, God represents justice, order and peace. However the poet states that Hell (which symbolises death) was so close to God, depicting on the huge number of people who died during the war. Metaphor and irony - Shows that war creates a fear but poet mentioned about "beautiful" and majestic mountains, which totally contradicts to the "ugly" truth about war. |
| 4 | Personal Response | ||
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