Blog Post #3

vietnam68-69.com
OHR: Coping with War-Related Stress: Information for Military

Surviving In and Through War

After reading the collection of poems, I found them to vary widely in my comprehension and my emotional response. The two poems that evoked the most response emotionally were, “Letters Composed During a Lull in the Fighting,” by Kevin C. Powers, and “Song of Napalm,” By Bruce Weigl. They both happen to

relate to war in different ways. I have always been inquisitive about the details of war, not in a grotesque or morbid way, but in a human interest sort of way. I liken it watching a scary movie and covering your eyes because you don’t want to see, but you crack your fingers and peer through because you have to see.

“In Letters Composed During a Lull in the Fighting,” the tone is one of dull monotony. The structure is very simple and the poem is short. The speaker’s comrade writes, “…that war is just us/making little pieces of metal/pass through each other.” (Powers lines 9-12) The speaker is trivializing the affects of war. It is unemotionally stated. The speaker conveys that everything in his life is viewed through the eyes of war.

In “Song of Napalm,” by Bruce Weigl, the tone is an ordinary calm observation of a storm, but moves into uninvited haunting flashbacks of war. I think the speaker rewrites the horrific script of the girl covered in napalm to one of pleasant fantasy as a way to cope. In doing so, the girl soars free of pain, allowing him, for a time, to release his own painful memory. He says, “So I can keep on living…” (Weigl line 28) To contrast the two, one man simplifies war and its effects, and the other man’s mind magnifies the effects of war, both in their attempts to cope.

Works Cited

Powers, Kevin C. “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting.” Poetryfoundations.org. Poetry Foundation, 2011. Web. 16 June

2011Weigl, Bruce. "Song of Napalm." Poetry foundation, Poetry. Archaeology of the Circle: New and Selected Poems. Copyright 1999.

Blog Post #2

Summary and analysis are both important aspects of writing. The key is to know when and how to use each one. When you summarize, you are retelling in a shortened version what the main idea of a story, poem, etc, is. Summarizing is more fact based on the text you read; in other words, summary is the “what” of the story. Analysis, on the other hand, is the “why.” Analysis is digging a little deeper, looking closer at the details, and reading between the lines. This includes claiming an idea and supporting your opinion with reasons and evidence, making an argument that can be substantiated, and exploring differences and likenesses.

An example of summarizing that comes to mind would be telling someone of a dream that you had. To personalize this, I have a reoccurring dream about being in the ocean riding waves. I can describe the blue sky, the salty water and the strength and intensity of the waves, as well as my level of enjoyment or apprehension. Sometimes I cannot decide if I should go over the wave or under it. With my description and your imagination, you would be able to have a visual idea of my dream. In analysis, you might ask what is happening or happened in my life that would correlate to this dream? Am I currently faced with difficult decisions I am pressed to make? Perhaps I have regrets about decisions I have already made that leave me with a longing desire to choose differently. Did I nearly drown in the ocean at some time in my life and my fear comes at night to revisit me? As a reader you could make an argument why you think I have this dream or what it may mean.

I hope I was able to convey the difference of summary and analysis and how each is used by my examples.

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Good Readers

What qualities make a good reader? In Vladimir Nabokov's "Good Readers and Good Writers," some qualities may surprise you. Nabokov states "...the good reader is one who has imagination, memory, a dictionary, and some artistic sense..."(615) He also states that a good reader is a rereader. I agree with Nabokov.

Imagination is vital to being a good reader as well as open mindedness. Without imagination, how could the author transport you to his created time and place? Without open mindedness you rob yourself of new experiences. I was pleased to see that a dictionary makes a good reader. I usually have a dictionary close by when I read as my curiosity inhibits me from moving forward until I have my best comprehension of the sentence. It never occurred to me that this is a quality of a good reader. A rereader is a wonderful quality for a reader to have. Rereading gives kudos to the author and renewed pleasure to the reader when he desires to revisit what the author created.

I enjoy reading but I consider myself to be a marginal reader. I often have trouble engaging in the beginning of books and remembering bits of the foundational framework of the story. Usually after about page fifty I am hooked. A bad habit I have when reading a good book is to accelerate my reading. In my excitement I miss details by skimming over them too fast.

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