America at War

Bibliography

Hopkins, Lee Bennett. America at War. Illus. by Stephen Alcorn. New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2008. 978-1416918325

Review

This collection of poems by a variety of poets is a reflection on American Wars from the American Revolution to the Iraq War. Not only are the poems about soldiers and war scenes, but about families anxiously awaiting their arrival, those who have lost loved ones, and soldiers writing to their newborns at home.

The anthology is divided up between wars, with a brief overview of how the war started, its unique qualities based on the time period such as new technology or major events such as the Holocaust, and the resulting number of deaths. When a country is in a war it affects everyone. Binding poetry and reflections on wars from hundreds of years ago with today’s war, creates a powerful message to the reader.

Because this is an anthology of various poets’ work, a range of poetic elements are seen throughout the poems. The reader will view poems with a concrete meaning such as “WW II: American Occupation, Weinheim, Germany” by Heidi Bee Roemer where the mother needs to feed her children and from the back of a truck falls a can of Spam and two cans of bean, but other poems convey more abstract meaning seen in “Alphabet” by Jane Yolen which describes the evil alphabet of names for concentration camps during the Holocaust.

One poem in particular, “War is the Fiercest Art” by Sara Holbrook, displays many poetic sounds such as rhyme with spill and kill or rhyme, time, and sublime. I believe though that the poet’s use of consonance has an even bigger affect on the sound of the poem when she uses “evading” and “invading” against each other or “hate”, “state”, and “frustrate” on three consecutive lines.

Personification is revealed in Sara Teasdale’s “There Will Come Soft Rains” in which Spring is made to be a person waking up who wouldn’t realize there was a war and that everyone had died. The tone of most of these poems is very serious which lends these to have a serious impact on students regarding their view of war today and in previous times. Perhaps it may make the Civil War or the Vietnam War seem like more of a reality as it is combined with poems about Iraq. In doing this, history may be more relatable and therefore reading about the emotions of these wars may result in students’ interest towards seeking information about these wars.

Poem & Connection

Care Package

By Janet Settimo

“this care package

is addressed to my sister….

And if we can’t locate this soldier?

Would you like the package returned to you,

given to another soldier, or abandoned?

But my heart is screaming find her.

FIND HER!”

(Hopkins, 70-71)

I would share this poem with students and discuss soldiers who are overseas today. I would guide discussion on what a care package means to a soldier and the emotions brought from both parties in giving and receiving one. As a follow up activity we would assemble care packages for troops who are overseas and write notes of encouragement (or poetry!).