You may ask what war really is. William Sherman defined war as ‘cruelty’.

He went further on
to say that ‘there is no use on trying to reform war; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over’.
The poets, Ho Thien and Tony Harrison whose poems, ‘Green Berett, and ‘Listening to Sirens’
go beyond the shooting and killing and takes a closer look of what war really is. Though the
poems have a different style in which they are presented, they were written in the same literary
period, just years apart from each other. Each poem tells its own tales of war.

Ho Thien’s poem which was written after the Vietnamese war in year was found on his body by
the place border. ‘Green Berett’ is a narrative poem that tells the story of a young Vietnamese
boy who is being threatened with his father’s death to disclose information about his ‘people.’
Ho Thien tells us about the difficult ultimatum that was given to the youngster by the soldier.
The boy’s age was made known in the first line of the poem, ‘He was just twelve years old’. At
such a young age, the boy, along with his father was taken by the mercenaries who took them to
an inhabited desert. The boy was placed to kneel and was questioned on the whereabouts of his
community the mercenaries were searching for but he desisted in exposing them. As such, the
Green Berett proposed an idea to the boy in hopes that he would talk. The Green Beret took the
boy’s father to a different location to stir up fear. Though the boy’s eyes were ‘bright and filled
with horror,’ (Line 13) said nothing. The soldier continued to threaten his father’s life but he
refused to tell on his community. The soldier became angry and gave him a minute to answer. He
jerked the boy but he was still mute. ‘Kill the old guy’ (Line 23); the soldier gave the order and a
series of gunshots erupted behind the ‘the forest green wall.’ Everything became silent as the
soldiers believed that they ‘killed the old guy for nothing.’ Through strength, the boy managed to
save his people but at the cost of his father. Like anyone would, the ‘frail’ boy broke down into
tears. At the end of the poem, the speaker makes it clear that indeed the boy knew everything;
‘the caves, the trails, the hidden places and the names.’ (Lines 37-38) Additionally, the ‘frail’
boy was protected by his tears and his self-control. The unmerciful soldiers continued their hunt
to find other ‘preys’ to torture out information from. Moreover, Tony Harrison’s poem,
‘Listening to Sirens’ tells a tale of someone who is in their room reminiscing on a war
experience. The poet commences with a memory of the ‘air-raids’ he witnessed while he was on
a plane travelling to Corfu, a Greek island. (Lines 1-3) In the plane, he was awakened by the
noise of the sirens and looked out the plane’s window as it ‘joined the clustered stars.’ The poet
continued to describe the speaker’s journey, more specifically, the sight of the ‘bombers’ drone’
dropping from the sky with full speed. As the poem progresses, the speaker makes a shift to his
room. He explained that the war trucks were dispelling ‘mustard gas’ that passed gently through
the air leading the men to the battlefield. The speaker recounted that on similar nights, a
veterinarian (‘thin man’) who was in the war experienced by the speaker would crouch in fear,
‘scream and crap his pants.’ (Line 15) In the last stanza of the poem, the poet explains that his
senses and the vacation spot have been infected by the war. He complained about the unfairness
of the political correctiveness of calling the native people on the flight ‘Geordies’. The speaker
made it known that he is not concerned with their departure into the police’s vehicle.
Moreover, the poets made use of a series of poetic devices. Ho Thien uses repetition, ‘I do not
know’ to which stresses his unawareness of the location of his people. Another device used in
Ho Thien’s poem is metaphor, ‘eyes of a hurt animal’ which shows the true nature of the
soldiers. Symbolism is also used in the poem; ‘tigers’ emphasizes the actions of the mercenaries.
However, in ‘Listening to Sirens,’ poetic devices such as assonance ‘alarmed, alert alone,’
‘symbolism ‘lilac purples,’ alliteration, ‘by the blue and bright’ all contributed to the outcome of
the poem. The poet also made use of visual imagery in the first stanza to paint a vivid image of
the speaker’s experience.

Furthermore, Ho Thien’s poem consists of 45 lines which are divided into three parts mirrored to
a story. The first stanza is written like an introduction. This tells us how everything began. The
second stanza is written like a development which shows how everything unraveled and the last
stanza is written like a conclusion which shows how everything ended. Ho Thien does not make
use of any rhyme scheme or rhythm. Moreover, Tony makes use of the ‘ABABCDCD DEDE
FGFG HIHI’ rhyme scheme and an iambic pentameter rhythm which underscored the message
of the poem.

The tone and mood of both poems are tense and depressing. The speaker in ‘Green Beret’ was
given a tough choice between his people and his father which resulted in his father’s death
whiles the speaker in ‘Listening to Sirens’ experienced war which resulted in infected senses.
Both speakers were affected by the calling of war, much like the people in today’s society.

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