POETRY | What were they like?

Question 1

Form

Answer 1

• Two speakers discuss lost Vietnamese culture.
• Second speaker reflects on war impact.
• No rhyme scheme, enhancing poem’s unique structure.

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

Denise Levertov: A Life and Work

• Born in England, moved to the US as a young adult.
• Poems became politically active in the 1960s due to activism against the Vietnam War.
• Despite never receiving a formal education, Levertov read and wrote poetry from a young age.
• Her work was characterized by clarity and accessibility due to her lack of formal education.
• Levertov trained as a nurse during WWII, focusing on war in her first poetry collection, The Double Image.
• Her move to the US in 1948 was motivated by her marriage to American author Mitchell Goodman, influencing her American writing voice.
• Levertov founded the ‘Writers and Artists Protest against the War in Vietnam’, a New York collective criticizing US military involvement in Vietnam.

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Possible interpretations: anthropologist, reporter, local guide, or museum staff.
• Responder’s address as “Sir” suggests power imbalance.
• Questioner’s authority suggests Western/American speaker, second speaker is local.
• Reader’s interpretation influences poem’s tone and interpretation.
• Questions: are the tones curious, annoyed, political, sarcastic.

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

• Natural imagery used to describe pre-war Vietnam.
• Pre-war life depicted as rural and peaceful, with “paddies” reflecting peaceful clouds, bamboo, rice, and water buffalo.
• Pre-war Vietnam was inhabited by fine craftsmen, possibly influenced by Oriental ideas of the ‘East’.
• Both images are lyrical and idyllic, evoking a sense of timeless peace and tranquility.
• Wartorn Vietnam depicted through graphic and violent imagery, including “bones were charred”, “burned mouth”, and “smashed mirrors”.
• Images of charred bones and burnt skin are particularly disturbing, highlighting the horrors of war.
• The unnaturalness of war is conveyed through withered nature and the unnatural nature of war.