HBL 24/5 Poem Analysis Task 2

"Children in the Darkness" by Henry M Bechtold

Difficulty Rating: *

There are children in the darkness

Who have not seen the light

There are children in the darkness

Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be

To this door there is no key

From this life they cannot flee

And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle

Could we give them half a chance

Could we teach them how to read

Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them

Their body and their soul

Will their life and blood be poured

Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness

From which there is no flight

Back into the darkness

Into which there shines no light

Task 2:

ANNEX A

1. Whose Point of View

Statement: From an adult’s point of view/ Poet’s point of view

Evidence: “Could we simply light a candle”

Elaboration: From the above evidence, it proved that it’s from an adult’s point of view, where he ask himself is he could offer the children some chance and hope.

2. Situation and Setting

Statement: The poem is in a period of war. The setting is one whole patch of darkness, where there’s no light available.

Evidence: “Or will a war consume them”, “Who someone will teach to fight”,” Back into the darkness”

Elaboration: The poem itself had already stated the situation, where it’s in a period of war. It further supported when the poem stated that the children were taught how to fight, and it suggests that they were to fight for war. The setting is very dark and gloomy, as it suggests how bleak the children’s future is.

3. Language/Diction

Statement: The poet used symbolisation, and personification.

Evidence: “There are children in the darkness”, “Who have not seen the light”, “Or will a war consume them”

Elaboration: The poem used Symbolisation when he used words like ”darkness” and “light”. The word ”darkness” is a contrast to the word “light”, like two totally opposite sides. The word “light” symbolises hope, eternity, dreams and aims. It depicts all the positive things. However, the word “darkness” symbolises death, injuries, unlucky and no freedom. It depicts all the negative things instead. The poet also used personification when he brings war to life, stating that the “war consume them”.

4. Personal Response

Statement: After reading the poet, I inevitably pitied the children that were to fight for the war.

Evidence: “Their body and their soul”, ”Will their life and blood be poured”, “Chalk and blackboards will not be”, “To this door there is no key”

Elaboration: From the evidence above, it depicts how pitiful the children were, having to fight for the war at such a young age. My heart went out for them when I read upon the lines that they have a risk of losing their lives, body and soul. Those are definitely not the kind of treatment they should be getting. At the same time, I felt that it was unfair when I read upon the lines describing the treatment the children should be getting. Instead of education, they had been block the access and were force to fight for the war without even their knowledge as they were still young. At the thought of it, I would feel pitiful for the children.

HBL 24/5 Poem Analysis Task 1

"Children in the Darkness" by Henry M Bechtold

Difficulty Rating: *

There are children in the darkness

Who have not seen the light

There are children in the darkness

Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be

To this door there is no key

From this life they can not flee

And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle

Could we give them half a chance

Could we teach them how to read

Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them

Their body and their soul

Will their life and blood be poured

Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness

From which there is no flight

Back into the darkness

Into which there shines no light

Task 1:

After doing some research and understanding of the poem, below are some of the conflicts present in the poem:

The poem’s title, “Children in the darkness” suggest a theme that is gloomy and devastating. The word darkness is also symbolises that there’s no more hope for the children, whom live in the darkness, with no rays of light and life.

In the first stanza, it describe children living in the darkness, which like I said, meant that they had no life and hope. They have not seen the light that will give them enlightment. The reason is then explained, stating that they had been taught how to fight, and it gave us the hint that it was during a war.

In the second stanza, the poem actually compared those children in the first stanza, where they were in a period of war and learnt how to fight, to those children that received proper education. The poet did this to show a contrast, from the second stanza, we know that was the kind of treatment they should get instead of the first stanza, where they were taught to fight. The children would not be able to received proper education, which is symbolised by the “Chalk and blackboards”. They had no key to the door, which suggests they do not have the privileged access to education. They could not escape the war, as they are not free. This stanza further explained the pathetic state the children were in, they could not receive education and were stuck in a war, where they learnt how to fight for the war at such a young age.

In the third stanza, it described the poet feelings. The poet felt that children at that age should learnt to read and dance like all other normal children. He question himself, that showed hesitation and uncertainty, to suggest how impossible it is to give the children a chance to be educated.

In the fourth stanza, instead of stating what kind of treatment should the children received, it explained the treatment that the children were receiving. There’s a use of personification when the war “consume them”, which symbolises that the children would suffered and even die because of the war. Their life, blood, body and soul will all be taken away.

To end the poem, the last stanza linked back to the first, stating the darkness the children were facing. There is “no flight”, as the children had no more dreams to fight for and soar for their aims. They had to fight for the war at such a young age, an age where they should receive proper education and not risking their life at such a young life. They could die in the war, and the darkness had shine “no light”, no hopes, no dreams.

Reference: http://keyserzone.blogspot.com/2010/05/poetry-analysis-children-in-darkness.html

Osama bin Laden

The decision to assassinate bin Laden rather than bring him to trial was a justified decision. This is because only through assassinating bin Laden can we justify his cruel acts and mass massacre. This is proven by the fact that bin Laden had been responsible for many evil acts and happenings in the world, such as the “911” incident and the bombing of Twin Towers in New York. It had brought about chaos and also many grieve among people whom relatives were injured. Thus, we need to account to the people who were once injured or hurt. The court might have elements of prejudice or even accomplice, thus killing him on the spot was the only fast approach to stop his evil measures and to account for the citizens.

The drive to explore space and our solar system is still an important human endeavor. Do you agree?

The drive to explore space and our solar system is still an important human endeavor. For example, Mark Whittington once said, “Inherent in exploration of all types is the opportunities that it opens up to the people doing the exploring. For some it is the opportunity to gain new knowledge. For others it is the opportunity to create wealth and expand commerce. For still others the opportunity lies is transcendence, to grow spiritually and to gain a greater appreciation of the universe.” Thus, through exploring space and our solar system, we could in turn gain knowledge, and may even found discoveries in the outer space. We could also appreciate more of the universe and the stars through exploring space, and understand more of how the solar system works through witnessing it by our very own eyes. Therefore, the drive to explore space and our solar system is still an important human endeavour as it allows us to gain new knowledge and to develop a better sense of appreciation towards the space.

Making NS mandatory develops Singaporean boys into men. Do you agree?

Making NS mandatory does not develop Singaporean boys into men as many Singaporean boys after serving NS are still dependent on others. For example, there was a picture uploaded a while ago that reveals the army cadet having his maid helping him to carry the backpack. This proved that even after making NS mandatory, the cadets are still relying on others when no one is around, they only become “man” in front of their officers as they do pumping and run. Therefore, from the evidence above, we can conclude that making NS mandatory does not develop Singaporean boys into men as NS merely trained the boys in the camp, but when no one is around, the boys became dependent on others again.

Diary of a Soldier (Not wimpy kid)

Dear Diary,

Today was another tiring day for me, especially against the fully-armored Japanese soldier. Yes, today, I just get involved in World War II, and the feeling is worse than what I can imagine.

The British army just got heavily injured and got their loots heavily stolen during the battle at the forest. It was exhausting and really tiring. During normal trainings, we learnt how to cock and reload the weapon. But, there’s absolutely no time for that! My ally attempt to reload, and before he even pull the charging handle, “Boom!” , there goes my best field mate.

I was really appalled by what I saw today. It’s only the first day and I’m heavily demoralized. I managed to survive not because I was the fastest man in reloading, though I doubt even the fastest man could not dart the Japanese’s “teleporting bullets”. I admit I only care for myself, and not Singapore, but who cares? We these rookies are sent here to defend, while all the experienced generals fought for our “real country” back at Europe.

I got injured, a bullet so lucky enough to hit my leg, the only part of my body the small tree could not cover. Yet, the Japanese were all well-known in their strategies and accuracy, one hit KO. We only win in terms of army force and the strength. Our weapons were so inferior when compared to the Japanese, and I’m surprised too. Our zero fighter planes were useless when against the Japanese high-technology planes. Our anti-tanks weapons were also outdated.

All in all, I had a shock of my life. I though our army was strongest, the best until today. However, I accidentally heard my general spoke to the newspaper company to publish news that we had won in today’s battle. I smirked when I heard that, till this point, my general was still asking for face and so arrogant. I really wonder what the citizens would do when they found out what we have done. Utter disgrace. Really.

I’m tired. Super tired. I end my entry today, with a sense of unwilling, I don’t know why, perhaps this might be my last entry? I’m really uncertain about my battle tomorrow, really hope the tables will turn. Good luck, not only myself, but to the British army, including those in Europe.

Yours Sincerely,

A weak and injured Sheng Xiang

PS. I wonder what will the future history textbooks wrote about us, just curious.

Social Media SEE

Social media has made us less social. Social media like Facebook has made us less social as we tend to use the online platform instead of face-to-face talking. For example, after I used Facebook, I realised that I tend to use Facebook instead of interacting with others. I would chat with friends with Facebook chats and I’m comfortable with it. However, I would feel awkward when I talked to them in real-life and feel very weird. As such, social media will let the users have this mindset that the social media platform is an easier way to communicate with others without directly having to express one’s feelings in front of others, such as embarrassment. Therefore, more people will prefer social media to face-to-face talking and as time goes by, they would find themselves interacting lesser and become more anti-social.

Election Poster SEE

The PAP poster displays more teamwork than the NSP poster. In the PAP poster, everyone’s picture is the same size, and they are very neatly arranged, with both candidates facing one another. However, the NSP poster’s members varies in their picture size, and they faced different direction, like the two male candidates facing left while the male and the female candidates below faced each other. Therefore, it gave people the impression that they are not organized and not together as a whole. However, the PAP poster depicts their teamwork as they stand together in the same direction, with the same goal in mind.