Rainbow death by Hubert Wilson

Rainbow death

The link to the poem can be found here.

This small poem speaks of a modern day ingredient of warfare that has caused appalling death and suffering – not only to its intended victims, the Vietnamese people, but also the service personnel that used or even just came into contact with “Agent Orange”. According to Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in 400,000 deaths and disabilities, and 500,000 children born with birth defects. From 1962 to 1971, Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the so-called "Rainbow Herbicides" employed in the herbicidal warfare program. During the production of Agent Orange (as well as Agents Purple, Pink, and Green) dioxins were produced as a contaminant, which have caused numerous health problems for the millions of people who have been exposed. Agents Blue and White were part of the same program but did not contain dioxins.

This poem deters us from starting a war again by speaking of the cruelty of war

Point of View

The speaker is a veteran who had fought in the Vietnam War.. He was a victim of the toxic agents and poor conditions during wartime. This is a first person's account of his disapproval of the Vietnam War. Situation and Setting This war poem is talking about the Vietnam War and the use of herbicidal warfare.

The poet feels angry about America's use of herbicidal warfare and the agony it has caused. Between 1961 and 1967, the U.S. Air Force sprayed 20 million U.S. gallons of concentrated herbicides over 6 million acres of crops and trees, affecting an estimated 13% of South Vietnam's land. In 1965, 42% of all herbicide was sprayed over food crops. The poet is appalled by the fact that even the main livelihood of the innocent civilians was not spared. Language and Diction "Rainbow Death" is an extremely good title as the 'rainbow' refers to the vivid and attractive colors of the chemical agents.

Tension is created by the punctuation marks used. He used exclamation marks and question marks to emphasize his frustration about the innocent suffering from war. He also used hyphen so there would be a pause so people could think and it also make the sentence that come after it more impactful. He also emphasized the consequences of war by using certain words such as "WILL". The sentences are also short for a fast pace poem for it to be more impactful. Personal Response I was extremely angered by the use of chemical warfare in war. The civilians are in no fault of the starting of war, but the use of chemical warfare mostly hurt the civilians. I sympathize with the civilians. Apart from the solders, the innocent civilians also suffer greatly. People argued that" war is war". However, i felt that America as a civilized should not engage in such a cruel and inhuman action.