What Were They Like By Denise Levertov Analysis

In the poem “What Were They Like”, Denise Levertov uses various language features to portray how the Vietnamese culture has been lost from the effects of the horrific war when a reporter asks questions to a Vietnamese soldier. The writer uses repetition to convey her message very clearly about how the war was the reason that the Vietnamese culture was lost along with the two narrative voices with a question and an answer structure and imagery to paint a vivid picture about this poem.
In “What Were They Like”, Levertov reveals the importance of the Vietnamese culture fading away as the country becomes destroyed by integrating the language feature repetition. The statement “It is not remembered. Remember,” makes you think about the past using the term “it”. The first sentence “It is not remembered.” is the soldier saying to the narrator that the Vietnamese war is not always remembered which conveys the audience to sink into the past. Throughout the poem, we learn about how the Vietnamese people’s lifestyle and how they lived innocent lives until the war influenced them to become cold hearted. This statement emphasises the word “remember” through the use of repetition to make the audience memorise the loss of culture by putting the reader into the author’s shoes and allowing the reader to experience the reality of the Vietnamese …show more content…
Through the use of repetition, two narrative voices and vivid imagery, Levertov make us feel the emotions of sadness, loss, regret and a tinge of anger to deliver the reality of soldiers sacrificing their lives to fight for their country but in return loose a beautiful culture. We learn the true facts about what will happen if your country is ever a part of a war and the tragic outcome you may face like the loss of