Poem Analysis: Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson

Poem Analysis: Rainbow Death by Hubert Wilson

America did not foresee
Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!
Expecting others to pay a high price.
Now thinking twice?
Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.
Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.
All the deceit continues to spread.
Nefariously America led astray -
Generations untold WILL pay -
Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Hubert Wilson
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Point of view:
The poem was written from an American soldier's perspective. During the Vietnam War, Hubert Wilson suffered health problems as he was exposed to the contaminant "Agent Orange". He experienced headaches and limb pains. Furthermore, his central nervous system radically deteriorated with type tremors like the Parkinson disease, severe headaches and progressive limb pains. This showed that even slight exposure to "Agent Orange" could cause had adverse effects on humans. The poem showed that Hubert Wilson strongly disapproved the usage of "Agent Orange" as he had seen many innocent civilians being killed by this contaminant and he himself suffered serious health problems, therefore he strongly disapproved the usage of "Agent Orange".

Situation and Setting:
The poem was referring to the cruel Vietnam war. The Americans had to use "Agent Orange" to destroy the communists hidden in the jungle. As a result, "Agent Orange killed many people and plants. The writer had seen the damage and deaths "Agent Orange" had caused in the Vietnam war, thus he was very angry towards the use of "Agent Orange" and even his own country.

Language and Diction
The poet used many strong words to show his disapproval of the use of "Agent Orange" in the herbicidal warfare. In stanza one, he wrote "America did not foresee green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!". The word "potpourri" refers to the mixture of ingredients. The poet may be writing that "Agent Orange" was made up of many poisonous ingredients of different colours that could cause many "death". The poet was probably questioning America whether using poisonous weapons to kill people was right or not, and here there's irony, as he did not trusted his own country. In stanza one, the writer used "Toll on the innocent and unborn". This again showed his anger towards "Agent Orange". He meant that many innocent civilians and unborn babies were killed even though they were not part of the war. He again showed his anger towards the cruelty the Americans. In stanza two, the poet used "Nefariously America led astray". This again showed that he was shocked and angered by the American usage of "Agent Orange". He also wrote "Generations untold WILL pay". This was to strengthen his belief that many innocent unborn babies would be killed, and thus he again portrayed America as a cold killer. He wrote "WILL" in capital letters so as to stress the cruelty of Americans towards innocent babies. From all of the above, I can infer that "Agent Orange" was not only hated by the North Vietnamese, but also the Americans themselves.

Personal Response
I think that the poem can ultamately show the cruelty of wars. People tend to develop better weapons to be used in the battlefields. However, when these weapons are used in wars, many soldiers and innocent people are to be killed, thus showing that more advanced war weapons can cause much more deaths. I think that joining the Vietnam War was not a very good option for the Americans. Based on this poem, I can infer that even the Americans themselves are guilty of their cruelty in the Vietnam war. Many Americans disapproved their country for being part of the effort of fighting Communism in Vietnam. With disapproval even in their country, the Americans would not be successful in the Vietnam War even with powerful weapons such as "Agent Orange". It only caused more deaths and allowed others to portray themselves as cruel and cold-blooded. This poem was probably written to tell us that war is a nightmare and the poet probably wanted to stress that it is very important for people to live together in harmony.