Poetry Of Vietnam War

Poetry is a type that employs rhythmic and aesthetic language qualities such as metre, sound symbolism and phonaesthetic to evoke meaning. Poetry uses conventions and forms to evoke emotive responses and to suggest differential interpretation to words. Tools such as alliteration, rhythm, onomatopoeia and assonance are used to attain incantatory or musical effects. The use of poet diction stylistic elements such as irony, symbolism and ambiguity often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations.

The poetry of Vietnam War is pieces of poet works that were written by the soldiers during and after the period of Vietnam War in East Asia. The themes of the poems are both particularly modern and universal. Many show the death of innocent civilians, the horrors of war, the tragic and general sundering of ethical and moral values. However, a large several poems reflects the feelings of all participants: the sense of individuality loss, the sense of guilt of having taken part, the realization of having been betrayed by higher authorities and the bitterness and anger of feeling like a slab of meat on the table. Also, other poems of Vietnam War contain ethnic and racial themes.

Overview of poetry of Vietnam War

In early 1972, a small volume of poems appeared known as winning hearts and minds, its title adapted from one of the many official slogans employed at different times to describe the American relocation program and participation in South Vietnam. It was first written by three Vietnam veterans serving out of a basement kitchen in Brooklyn and initially published through private funding. It consisted of one hundred and nine poems by the editors and other thirty by fellow veterans. These poems lacked polish and skills but collectively they described the force of a wrecking ball.

Although winning heart and mind was not the first appearance of Vietnam War poems to be written by soldiers who fought or helped combat the war, it quickly became a classic: the seminal anthropology against which all future poems related to Vietnam War would be judged.

Importance of poetry of Vietnam War

Any piece of writing serves as a store of knowledge, cultural norms and values, thoughts, feelings and emotions. The poetry of Vietnam War serves as a reminder of the unfolding events during the Vietnam War. The poems represent the feelings and emotions of the soldiers who directly or indirectly participated in the fight. Also, they serve to explain and depict the repercussions of the Vietnam War that lasted for many years.