It is Dangerous to Read Newspapers

1. How does this poem make you feel? What emotions do you feel when you read it?

The emotions i got from this poem were sadness, regret, and defeat. The reason the poem made me feel this way was because i looked at the poem and tried to imagine myself as the poet. I believe while she was writing this peom she was feeling sadness at how many people are dying because they are fighting in the war and i also believe she felt sad because she knew about the vast numbers of the people dying. I think she was feeling regret because of how she could go on living a normal life, "While I was building neat castles in the sandbox" while the soldiers were fighting for their lives. I believe she feels regret because there is nothing she can do. She cannot stop the war and "Each time I hit a key on my electric typewriter, speaking of peaceful trees, another village explodes."

2. What is the poem about?

I believe the poem is about how a normal woman goes about her everyday life while out there in the war soldiers are fighting for their lives and she feels guilty that she cant do anything to stop it and she feels that everything she does affects the war, she feels this after reading the news paper about the Vietnam war.

3. List some of the descriptive words the poet uses and explain why they are effective.

Margaret has used some very literate describing words "passive eyes transmute" She could have just said my blank eyes change but by using these words she has described how she felt as well. She also used the word literate to refer to the fact that she could read and write but in a aristocratic way.

4. Why do you think the poet wrote this poem? What was he/she trying to achieve?

i think she was trying to show everyone what war is really like and also why you shouldn’t read newspapers as they fill your head with glory stories about war, such as Dulce Et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori.

5. Write the down your favourite line/lines from the poem. Explain why you picked them.

"Each time I hit a key
on my electric typewriter,
speaking of peaceful trees

another village explodes"

I like this stanza, it is the one that ends the poem and i believe it makes it go out with a bang. It is written in such strong language and it helps the poem flow. It is also very blunt and in your face that you don’t know what to do but accept it.

6. Did you like this poem?

Yes i liked the poem, this was because of the way it was written and how Margaret flowed the poem even though it did not rhyme. I also liked how strong the language was, it was very strong in some parts such as the last stanza. I also liked how she used similes.

7. Does the poem create an image in you head?

Yes the poem does, it creates images of piles of bloody bodies being bulldozed into pits while a little girl is making sandcastles at the beach, bombs being dropped on soldiers while a little girl is trying to land on the crakes on the sidewalk. it creates two different worlds of war and violence and peace and happiness, and its all going on in the same planet.