Denise Levertov's poem, " News Report, September 1991," is a collection of quotes from different news reports having to do with the U.S. burying Iraqi soldiers alive in the Gulf War. The very first line says in bold, capitalized letters, "U.S. BURIED IRAQI SOLDIERS ALIVE IN GULF WAR." After this line there is a space and more quotes follow but in lowercase words. I think that because this line was capitalized and spaced away from the other quotes it was done intentionally to give us the main idea, raw and uncut. This is the very first image in our minds, that iraqi soldiers were buried alive by U.S. soldiers in the Gulf War. This really stands out. As we continue to read the rest of the poem, other lines tend to stand out. For example in the next few lines:
"What you saw was a
bunch of trenches with
arms sticking out."
Here we see such a stark image portrayed to us. It is a very impersonal, cold tone that comes with the description of " a bunch of trenches with arms sticking out." The speaker leaves her voice out of the poem and uses newspaper quotes from a collection of different articles, but we see how she points out how impersonal some of these quotes were about these people who died. I mean these are people and they just called them " a buncha trenches."
In the next few lines we see that certain words are all alone on lines by themselves, such as :defiant" and "buried." These words serve a purpose in the poem. They are making a point. These lines are followed by " carefully planned and rehearsed," showing that the Americans carefully planned out this assasination of Irai soldiers. It shows that American soldiers contemplated this attack and really thought out how they were going to kill these soldiers.
"Defiant."
"Buried."
"Carefully planned and
rehearsed."
"When we
went through there wasn't
anybody left."
The poem follows to say that when they went through there ( the Americans) there wasn't anyone left there. Reporters were even banned from this place and made a point to put that no American soldiers were killed. Americans suceded without one casualty. This means that they wiped out these Iraqi soldiers and not one American Soldier died not even while the Iraqi soldiers were probably defending themselves.
"Awarded
Silver Star."
"Reporters
banned."
"Not a single
American killed."
The poem then goes on to say that the body count was "impossible," giving us the feeling that it was impossible to get a count of exactly how many people died because there were so many people who died. They couldn't keep track. I also got the feeling that the Americans made it out to seem like this was something small compared to another time that they killed a lot more people. I get that feeling from these lines:
"I know
burying people
like that sounds
pretty nasty, said
Colonel Maggart,
But . . . ."
"His force buried
about six hundred
and fifty
in a thinner line
of trenches."
"People's arms
sticking out."
These lines give the impression that the killing of the Iraqi soldiers was no big deal.Again, pointed out to the reader, is that these people killed were " trenches with arms sticking out."
I'm not
going to sacrifice
the lives
of my soldiers,
Moreno said, it's not
cost-effective."
After reading these lines, I got the sense not only were the killings of the Iraqi soldiers made to be no big deal and gave this impersonal feel but even when speaking about American soldiers,a sargeant says he wouldn't sacrifice the lives of his soldiers but follows up the statement with it's not cost effective. It kinda gives the feel that the lives of American soldiers were just as invaluable or impersonal as well because of the comparison to what isn't or what is cost efficient.
"The tactic was designed
to terrorize,
Lieutenant Colonel Hawkins
said, who helped
devise it."
This tactic of killing the soldiers was made to terrorize them.
A lot of the guys
were scared, he said,
but I
enjoyed it."
"A bunch of
trenches. People's
arms and things
sticking out."
"Cost-effective."
Someone speaks about the grusome ways the Iraqi soldiers had died and says alot of guys were scared but he enjoyed it... He enjoyed seeing the trenches ( the bodies) with their arms sticking out. He enjoyed killing these Iraqi soldiers, burying them alive. That says a lot about a person's morality and character. To say you enjoyed killing someone else while they were terrorized by your actions is inhumane.It's cold. and again we see the quote that repeats itself " a buncha trenches with arms sticking out." This poem leaves you with a good sense of imagery and even though the poet doesnt use her own voice we see the points she is trying to make using all of these significant quotes. This poem makes you think about war and how cold someone has to get to be able to kill someone or a bunch of people and not even have any feeling of remorse but yet their feelings are those of enjoyment. I guess when you're away at war you see so much and witness so many deaths that after a while you may become desensitized to what death really is. Is it possible that the American soldiers were desensitized by this point? i think so..
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