Ogichidagby. Jim NorthrupI was born in war, WW Two. Listened as the old men told storiesof getting gassed in the trenches, WW One.
Saw my uncles come back fromGuadalcanal, North Africa and the battle of the Bulge. Memorized war stories my cousins told of Korea. Felt the fear in their voices. Finally it was my turn,my brothers too.
Joined the marines in the timefor the Cuban Missile Crisis Heard the crack of riflesin the rice paddies south of Da Nang. Watched my friends die there then tasted the bitterness of the only war America ever lost My son is now a warrior. Will I listen to his war stories or cry to his open grave. This is the poem that Jim Northrup wrote about war. I am going to Explicate the poem and examine the message that he is trying to express and the language that he uses to get his point across. The poem is about a person who whole life is about war.
He was born during World War I. He herd the old men tell the stories of what happened when they were in World War II. All of his family members went to some war in their life time. His Uncles Guadalcanal, North Africa and the battle of the Bulge, his Cousins stories of Korea. Then finally it was his and his brothers turn, they had joined the marines just in time for the for the Cuban Missile crisis. After that his friends going to Vietnam tasting defeat the only war that America has ever lost.
Finally it is his sons turn and he gets the other end of the deal. He doesn’t know if his son will be able to tell him his stories of his war or if he will have to cry at his grave. The author was giving a message then at the end of the poem it changes. He was giving the message that war happens to everybody and that they will have to go to war at some point in there life. The problem is that they don’t know the bourdon that it puts on the people that he has supported and been supported by until his son is sent of. He gets a totally different feeling when he doesn’t know what could happen to his son.
He gets his message across by proving that every body has something to do with war wether they like it or not. Your parents might have been to war, if not them then your uncles, cousins, friends, or your neighbors(old men). Then if it isn’t them it could be your child who is going and the feeling is different, you lose the feeling of security when you cant protect your child. He uses language that everybody can relate to. Then he used well known events that most people have heard of like; WWI, WWII, Korean Conflict, Vietnam, and then the gulf war. The poem Ogichidag by Jim Northrup.
I explicated the poem above and told the message that the writer was trying to get across with the language he used to get it across.
