What were they like Flashcards
Recall the 1st stanza of what were they like?
Did the people of Viet Nam use lanterns of stone? Did they hold ceremonies to reverence the opening of buds? Were they inclined to quiet laughter? Did they use bone and ivory, jade and silver, for ornament? Had they an epic poem? Did they distinguish between speech and singing?
Recall the 2nd stanza of what were they like?
Sir, their light hearts turned to stone. It is not remembered whether in gardens stone gardens illumined pleasant ways. Perhaps they gathered once to delight in blossom, but after their children were killed there were no more buds. Sir, laughter is bitter to the burned mouth. A dream ago, perhaps. Ornament is for joy. All the bones were charred. it is not remembered. Remember, most were peasants; their life was in rice and bamboo. When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces, maybe fathers told their sons old tales. When bombs smashed those mirrors there was time only to scream. There is an echo yet of their speech which was like a song. It was reported their singing resembled the flight of moths in moonlight. Who can say? It is silent now.
What is the structure of the poem?
- free verse
- question and answer
The narrator in stanza 1 could be…
an American journalist looking for answers (for an article about Vietnamese culture)`
The questions come in quick, one after the other
What does this convey?
The lack of respect/empathy/compassion showed towards the Vietnamese people
How do we know theres a sense of formality between the responder and the questioner?
The responder calls the questioner ‘sir’
Why may the responder be bitter in their speech?
- They may have remembered the unfair treatment of Vietnamese
- To reflect the bitter ‘laughter to the burned mouth’
The questions are numbered in the first stanza?
What does this suggest?
Again, a lack of empathy. (its just work related)
Why may the writer have included the traditions of Vietnam in the questions?
To remind the reader just what had been lost during the war
‘Viet Nam’
What does the spelling of Vietnam in the first line connote?
The ignorance of the questioner
We can infer from the first stanza that Vietnamese life was…
creative, spiritual, peaceful, infinitely civilised and precious
The first stanzas uses no techniques, whilst the second stanza does e.g. the metaphor in ‘their light hearts turned to stone’?
Why may have this been done?
To reflect the ignorance of the questioner in contrast with the responders wide knowledge
“Perhaps they gathered…there were no more buds’
What technique had been made use of here and why?
Contrast between the past and reality to reiterate the theme of death/losses
‘laughter is bitter to the burned mouth’
What is this line referring to and what technique is used here?
The line is referring to the napalm attacks that the US carried out in Vietnam
- alliteration emphasises the responders anger
What is the effect of the repetition of the word ‘remember’?
To introduce the theme of remembrance of the Vietnamese people
