Poem Analysis Of 'The Colonel' By Carolyn Forche
analytical Essay
944 words
Analysis of Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel”
Carolyn Forche’s “The Colonel” discusses the lack of value towards human life by totalitarian government and the United States’ stake in investigating these powers and challenging them. The speaker in this poem recounts his experience meeting the colonel to show the audience both the amount of presence of the United States in this foreign setting and the Colonel’s lack of regard toward human rights. Figurative language, such as similes, metaphors, and symbols, as well as the speaker’s first-person point of view descriptions reveal her experiences in El Salvador with a cruel military government. These elements in Forche’s poem successfully convey themes of oppression and cruelty, as well as heavy
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In this essay, the author
- Analyzes carolyn forche's "the colonel," which discusses the lack of value towards human life by totalitarian government and the united states' stake in investigating these powers and challenging them.
- Analyzes how the poem opens up in a prose format as the speaker claims "what you have heard is true" and continues to describe the house that they are currently in.
- Analyzes how the broken bottles show the colonel's importance of self-defense and protection over other humans' physical pain. the description of the detailed dinner, along with the golden bell for the maid, show how wealthy and powerful they are.
- Analyzes how the parrot speaking english breaks the camel's back in the colonel’s anger towards americans for their hypocritical inclusion
- Analyzes how carolyn forche's "the colonel" was not intended to be a work of poetry. the first-person account of her memory conveys the real problem occurring in el salvador.
This break into a direct call to the audience shows the infamy of this colonel or the actions of his government and how anyone reading this must have had enough knowledge on the matter to suspect that what they have all equally heard is true. The speaker continues to describe the house that they are currently in. The description comes in a listing style that creates an image of the speaker sitting and waiting with wandering focus and eyes. The description of the house is all very normal and typical until it screeches to a halt at the mention of the pistol on the pillow next to the colonel. The moon swings on “its black cord over the house” (4-5) like a lamp in a dark room. Given that this poem takes place during an interview of a colonel on his treatment of humans, the moon, as well as the mention of the cop show playing on the TV, could symbolize an interrogation room. This symbolism adds a level of tension and potential crime to this interview. Also, the inclusion of the cop show being presented in English presents a level of inclusion of the United States in this foreign country, especially a level of empowered and policing
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