Five Day Requiem For Vietnam Poem Analysis

Although there is no documentation of the life of Nan Braymer, his poetry reflecting the helplessness and vulnerability of the public during the middle of the 20th century proved sufficient fuel for the fire surrounding the Vietnam War. In the poem, “Five Day Requiem for Vietnam”, by Nan Braymer, an American soldier reflects on the normalcy and habitualness of immoral actions in war while contrasting war resentment with war continuity, ultimately conveying a desperate tone by forcing readers to witness the anti-war fervor of this time-period go unanswered, emphasizing the idea that when put under the circumstances of war, humans are essentially trapped in doing immoral and unlawful things that they would not normally do. The poem begins when the speaker initially experiences “the Voice again” which is a phrase not only used to signify repetition but also the use of a proper noun to symbolize the grand authority of war officials over the soldiers as it is something constant and unmistakable that they cannot dispose of (Braymer, line 1). Soldiers were normally “trained to follow orders and disregard external factors”, but despite these orders they were often “aware of the tremendous difficulties they faced” yet were forced to execute them (“Vietnam War Soldiers”). The poem reflects the routine and often stagnant life of a soldier upon …show more content…
Using strategically placed literary devices, Nan Braymer develops a complex understanding of what events were taken place during the Vietnam war and humanity as