Song Of Napalm Analysis

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Bruce Weigl considered as one of the greatest poets. As soon as 18th birthday, he was selected for Army and served Vietnam for one year. He received the Bronze Star and returned to his hometown of Lorain, Ohio. After the returning home, he continues his studied. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin College, his Master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire, and his Ph.D. from the University of Utah. Now, he is teaching at the Lorain County Community College as the Distinguished Professor. Weigl is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry. “Song of Napalm” by Weigl is one of his best poem, also he got nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for this poem. “Song of Napalm” is a free-verse poem that divided into five stanzas. …show more content…

The metaphor that is in the Weigl’s poem, “We stared through the black screen/ our vision altered by the distance” (Weigl). In this line Weigl describes black screen as a door, the door is like the people ignore the vision as they view a scene beyond their ability. The black screen also describes as the Weigl’s strongest memory of the Vietnam War. He uses personification in the poem to describe humans. One of the personifications in the Weigl’s poem, “Trees scraped their voices into the wind” (Weigl). In this line, he describes the trees as the humans, specifically the soldiers. Weigl describes the tree and voices as the pain, trouble, suffering, and terror. He tried to show the memories of the war that he cannot get rid of from his life. In his poem, Weigl uses similes to compare the napalm to the jelly. Weigl states, “Running from her village, napalm/ Stuck to her dress like jelly” (Weigl). In this line, Weigl uses jelly to compare with Napalm. Napalm is a flammable liquid that used in the war. Weigl is describing napalm as the jelly, and that got the stick on the girl’s dress. Weigl uses these literally devices to show his memories of the horrifying war. “Song of Napalm” by Weigl is one of the best poems, he wrote this poem to his wife. The audience are the people has experience of horrifying war or the people. This poem is about the Vietnam War and