Analysis of Poem - Children in Darkness( Task 1 for Home Learning )

Henry M Bechtold, the persona, was in Vietnam during 1967 - 1968. During that period of time, there was a war raging and he witnessed what was happening. The persona rarely talked about it, but he never forgot about it. Thus, he always visits Vietnam every now and then. He wrote this poem during one of his visits in 2009. He was in his hotel room in Saigon watching the news channel on the television. At the same time, he was finding inspiration to write another poem on sexism when a picture of a young boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle in hand flashed on the news channel. This reminded him of the Vietnam war that happened during the late 1960s and immediately, began to pen down his feelings of the war and it resulted in this poem.

The poem talks about children who die during war at a young age and also children who does not even have a primary education, going to war.