Analysis of the poem" Children in the Darkness"

1. Point of View
In this poem the poet felt sorry and terrible for the children which are captured in the war as he stated that the these children will not see the light and he asked will the children be given a candle, a chance, a chance to learn reading and dancing

2.Situation and Setting
In this poem, the situation is in a war where children are captured to learn how to fight so that they could become soldiers and fight in war. These are evident as the poem stated that "There are children in the darkness Who someone will teach to fight" and "Or will a war consume them"

3.Language/Diction
In this poem, the words the poet use were effective in showing the terible state the children are in. In this poem 4 stanzas are used and in each stanza, there are 4 lines. There are some repetition in the poem like "There are children in the darkness" which is used to emphasis on the living conditions of the children and words like "Could we" are being repeated. Most of the words at the end of each line rhymes with the previous word at the end of the previous line.

4.Personal Response
This poem let me understand the state of the children that are being captured in war and also cause me not to take things for granted as the children that are captured do not have anything.

Background information about the poem: Children in the Darkness

The poem Childeren in the Darkness by Henry M Bechtold is talking about the children which are captured during the war and are forced to learn how to fight instead of learnikng things that are thought in school, so they could become soldiers i n the future. Theses children were held captive in places that are very dark and these children could not escape at all. These children are not given a chance, they could not read and they could not dance. Their lives will be destroyed in the war suffering very terribly.

Background about how the poet got the idea of writing this poem

The poem Children in the darkness by Henry M Bechtold is written in the year 2010. This poem was written when Henry M Bechtold was sitting in his hotel room in Saigon just before Christmas 2009 and was trying to write a poem about the girls who work in the park and how badly men treat them. He was angry but unable to write anything that did not sound trite or weak. He looked at the TV and the news was on. He did not know what the news reader was saying but in the background was a photo of a small boy with a helmet and an automatic rifle. This poem flowed out. The words just came to him and he typed as fast as he could to get it all down.

War Poetry: Children in the Darkness

Children in the Darkness

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
Henry M Bechtold

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Coming in 7 . 5 . 2010

Memories of Brisbane

This are some photographs that are taken in Brisbane...

Brisbane exchange programme

This might be a bit too late ……

During the sabbatical week, I went for the Exchange Programme with Citipointe Christian College. I have observed between the school and life in Brisbane and that in Singapore to be very different. The students in Brisbane get to choose more than half of the subjects they want to take unlike Singapore as Singapore have a fixed amount of subjects which you need to take. This will ensure the students to have a more enjoyable learning journey as the subjects they choose are the subjects they like. They also had a wider range of subjects and some of the subjects that were taught there for example business and accounting are subjects that could not be found in any secondary schools in Singapore. They are also required to move to different classes for different lessons so they do not have a classroom of their own. They also had a more relax time table in comparison with Singapore’s as they had a longer recess and lunch in comparison to Singapore. They also have a lesser amount of subjects thought per day so most of time their bags will be quite light. They also do not have a canteen so they are always allowed to eat anywhere they want. I felt that I am blessed as I have a very big canteen in my school with a great variety of food comparing to the stall that provide the students there with food as the stall only sells titbits and drinks. The students there are also friendlier as they are easier to be friends unlike the students in Singapore as the students in Singapore will normally bully and insult the weaker ones but these actions could not be seen in the schools in Australia. The school in Australia also starts later had Singapore. This is something good as the people there will have more sleeping hours causing them not to be so tired the next day causing them to sleep during school lessons. During the trip to Gold Coast, I had realised something new. The seats of the toilet bowl are made of metal unlike the ones seen in Singapore. The host for my home stay as an old lady. She is also very friendly and kind. The food that she prepared is also very delicious. After dinner, she would definitely play a card game called “Skip-Bo’ with us. She also let us watched a video about Jesus. When we went home after school and we felt hungry, she would prepare more food for us. This shows that Australians cherish family time. The night before we leave for the airport, our family host prepared two books about life for us and also gave us a set of Skip-Bo cards as she saw the two of us enjoying the game. She also prepared a gift for our mothers. Some of the things that I think the Singaporeans could learn from the Australians are to be hygienic as the toilets in Australia are very clean unlike Singapore. Singaporeans could also be friendlier as the students and even passer-bys made us feel welcome as they will always wave their hands and say hello to us or even give as a high five when we walk past. I hope to go to Brisbane again as it is a very wonderful place.

The tournament...

This tournament is one of the best that i have participated in. From this tournament, i got to meet new people and made new friends. Even though i did not clinch the champoin, but i really enjoyed it.

A Battle Spirits Tournament that was organised recently...

Date: 24/4/2010
Registation: 10.30am
Venue: Pomo shopping mall (Beside parklane)
Entry Fees: $9 (you can choose to get either 2 Japan booster or 3 english booster) + 1 entry promo cards.

This tournament will be a bit special as you are allow to use Japanese card from BS01 - Bs07