Poem Analysis: Death Warrant

As a young child, we all have perceptions of what violence may be, whether our first association was through a movie, a book we read, or we witness it first hand. But even as a child we may not completely grasp the idea of what it is, or what is means. As a child it may begin with something we see that scares us, perhaps we caught a glimpse of the movie “Chucky” our parents were watching one night and that was our first experience with it. Or perhaps we saw others hurting someone and the unknown emotion behind it scared us. I do not doubt that my own interpretation of violence was likely learned through the violence I saw around me in forms of entertainment or media. At the time it was a simple concept to me; it was someone that caused harm …show more content…
A personal strangles another or hits someone else over the head with a bat is clearly violent acts. But we must take into consideration that force can be much more that that. In the poem “Death Warrant”, though no physical force is taking place, there is a strong threat of force being used. The author is wishing much harm to be done to a man who we can only assume has committed a crime. It is these detailed threats that make the poem violent. It paints a picture in the reader’s mind of not only anger, but also hatred. The idea of structural violence comes up and takes the idea of force being more than just physical, emotional or even verbal abuse. Structural violence may not be a visible force of violence, but can certainly still cause …show more content…
An example may be manslaughter or the accidental killing of another. This may have been in a violent act, but it was not intentional. If a person is in a physical struggle with another and accidentally pushes the other person off the side of a building, though it was not intentional, it was still violent. But what makes it violent? The physical acts of violence towards each other? Or is it the result of one a person tumbling to their death? There is a lot to be answered in the terms of intention when it comes to the personal state of the executor. Of course, there are cases of clear intended violence. In the poem “Child beater” there is well-defined intentional acts of violence. The woman is beating her child on purpose and with very little remorse. Her intent to do harm is obvious to the