Commentary on 'Cambodia', by James Fenton

James Fenton, the poet of Cambodia spent several years in Asia, touring countries much(prenominal) as Cambodia, Vietnam and Indochina and became distressed and exceedingly much and much odourise by the atrocious contend crimes institution committed by those in authority. He wrote most of his poems upon his return to America, further Cambodia was scripted plot he was visiting S forbiddenhern Asia. Cambodia was a unpolished devastated by contend, and over 2 million civilians died in the versatile encounters. The conflict he is referring to here is when Ameri brook troops conducted vile assail raids under the guise of killing Viet-Cong they thought were fleeing into Cambodia. These barrage fire raids make up 750,000 innocent civilians their lives. Cambodia was then ru extend by Pol Pot, who killed up to ii million civilians in his reign. James Fenton was particularly disappoint with those who had the power to stop the war, and became a fervent anti-war supporter. He knew that it was the prevalent citizen who was dying, not soldiers or the high class. In this poem it is those offer-of-the-mill people he directi cardinals on, those who lose either perished or be facing to the highest degree current death on the battlefield. Cambodia has a deceptively frank and tiddler ilk anatomical construction. In the 1st stanza he describes a macrocosm who smiled and said goodbye, a deferred pay workforcet on the face of it to his death. If this is so, it is knotty whether this is sarcastic, given that the firearm would not be grin at the time of his death, or whether it is highlighting how war can outright change things for people, so that one day he was jocund and happy and the next dead. However on immediate inspection, it could come forth to be a human being either creation direct away from the battle, or a man being called up for duty possibly saying his f argonwells to his family. The feature that a constant theme throughout the poem is that the archetypical out tune! contains a survivor, date the present mo ment work depicts the dead or those who exit soon be dead, adds credence to this thought as does the fact that he is saying twain go forth be left-presumably left behind in battle. In the hour livestock James Fenton initiates a tr distinctiveness that continues throughout the poem of an increase number of people in the second sop up of the stanza. As stated above, this poem is to focus on the dead and those who go out die and the second line here adheres to that. He gives us false hope by saying that two shall be left, entirely then cruelly dashes that when he says that two shall be left to die. In the 3rd stanza we are told that a man shall give his trounce advice, but three men will die as a result of it. This is a reference to the habitually unmeasurable military intelligence that plagued these conflicts and often led men into traps. In the fourth stanza we see that one man shall live, but will live a life of wo and to meet that one man surviving four men will have to die. This could be the cause of the mans regret, as survivors iniquity that often plagues the survivors of war in these situations when they live, but their comrades dont. In the 5th stanza we see the after-effects of war, the nightmares and flashbacks and the shellshock mystifyed. We see this express in many poems, but the minimalism of this line c at onceives an highly vivid and therefore lurid substitution class of the after-effects of war. The second line also describes that the man thinks its a nightmare or a dream, but it is actually occurrence and is reality. fight is so bad that it must(prenominal) seem like a nightmare to those involved, and this also shows that there is no shunning from war no matter where you are. The hold out stanza escapes the form of the designer stanzas, in that it doesnt have one man on the set-back line and then six men on the second line. Instead it says one man to five. A million men to one. I think here that James Fenton is trying to ! accentuate that for the one man who pass overed the war, a million must suffer the consequences, and also that for every five people who bond at home and dont go to war, one man must die. The last line, And still they die. And still the war goes on. is a cast down monitor lizard to us, a line that is as heavy-handed as it is elemental. This line olfactions laden with anger, heraldic bearings, guilt and tribulation and could be tabled as an accusation at those who are in control of the battles as to why they wont end it. It also demonstrates how there is no end to war, and that that must be particularly astute to those involved. The structure of Cambodia is so 5 stanzas of two lines which lets the poem flow extremely fast and lets the poem define hearty to the point. This makes it concise and nearly allies us to the poem, or else than letting us feeling detached. The poem is also just or so lyrical and is presented in an almost joking way which scarcely heightens the shock and impact of his lyric poem when we get to the real message. As these poems were eer intended to be a form of anti-war propaganda (a fact touched upon by the chapiter Post Editorial Feature) and so would be used as a way of get his message across to the masses, it is ingenious that he gives us hope at the start of for each one line.

Every first line starts optimistically like atomic number 53 man shall live which grants us false hope, before cruelly taking it away from us and showing us that war doesnt have happy endings, as is shown with this line which ends with live to regret. Because we are hopeful at the start when we lose that hope we feel charge more negative, which i! s a really good simulated military operation for this form of propaganda. Although references have been make to this already, it is necessary to remark once more upon the importance of the simplistic learning ability of this poem. This is because it is this simplicity that go aways James Fenton to convey successfully to us the shock. The ingenuous structure lends the poem a fast, snappy rhythm which ensures the poem gets straight to the point. This creates not only a tense zephyr but guarantees that the reader will feel that this is an important message. The guileless lyric of no more than 6 or 7 spoken language contrive to build up devastating images because they allow our imaginations to run wild and think up horrors far worsened than linguistic communication could. This poem brings up an extremely famous citation by a man who committed some of the bruise kit and caboodle history has ever seen, mostly against his own people. Stalin once commented that while A single death is a disaster; a million deaths is a statistic. While these words are ghastly, to a certain degree they are true. Reading in the document of one mans heroic death is far more heart-rending than consultation that 1 million soldiers have died in the war so far. James Fenton uses that to his advantage here; by always tutelage the numbers low - even when he dialog roughly the million dead he reminds us that it is caused by one person. As this was intended as a piece of anti-war propaganda, it is worthy to look at how effective a piece it is. To me, this is a superb illustration of how bad war is, but how simple it appears. Although not as comprehensive as pieces such as Dulce et decorum est by Wilfred Owen, I think that it is far more shocking and persuasive than the aforementioned poem, while not scratch on any personal experiences or describing the abominable conditions of war. It was published in countless newspapers and figured on leaflets and anti-war demonstratio ns which shows its eminence and value. even up now i! t is an apt and timely reminder about the perils of war. If you demand to get a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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