Steps Analysis

Rainbow Death

Point of View: The speaker of the poem is the poet himself
Evidence/Elaboration: The author shows what he think of the Vietnam War, and criticizes it. This can be seem from the first line" America did not foresee" which appears that the author is blaming America. The speaker also cannot be one of the soldiers because from " Toll on the innocent and unborn" we can see that the poet is showing sympathy to the soldiers and not complaining himself.

Situation and setting: The situation and setting of the poem could be in a battlefield, with the poet as one of the soldiers. He could be fighting and the poem could be a thought in his mind, blaming America and showing his own opinions of this "Agent Orange".

Language and diction: The poet purposedly capitalised the WILL in "generations untold WILL pay". This is to emphasize on the horrible results when exposed to "agent orange" and how not only the soldier himself will suffer but his future generations will suffer too. The first stanza shows how mistaken America is, they wanted others to pay a high price, however, instead it was a toll on the unborn and innocent too. The second stanza talks about the effects of "agent orange", by using phrases like "deceit continues to spread", shows the vast majority of people who are affected.

In conclusion, this simple poem vividly captures the scenes of how horrible it is to be exposed to "Agent Orange". The poet is able to use rainbow, a pleasant object to contrast with the horrible reality of it.

Rainbow death

Here is the poem:
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
____________________________________________________________________

It is a small poem that talks about how warfare has caused death and suffering to victims like the Vietnamese people and also service personnels that came into contact with "Agent Orange".

Agent orange is the codename for a herbicide and defoliant that is contaminated with TCDD used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal program during Vietnam war.

Close to 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to "Agent Orange" and this results in 400,000 deaths and disabilities. There were also 500,000 children thereafter born with birth defects.

"This poem reminds us that wars aren't over when the wars are over." I find this quote rather interesting. What I think it means is that when all the wars are over in the world, but in a particular country, the war still is not over.

The poet Hubert Wilson is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the USAF security service. He himself was exposed to this "Agent Orange" before and suffered which is what inspired him to write this poem.

Sources: Wikipedia and http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/2010warpoetry.html#Rainbow