Estok,+K


 * T'was the Night Before Baghdad by a mother of a soldier

Voice Thread: http://voicethread.com/share/971606/**

[]

T’was the Night Before Baghdad Script Slide #1-2: The “mother of a soldier” wrote this poem mainly to convey her dissatisfaction of the President and moreover the war in Iraq. Ironically, the poem is whimsical as it is clearly modeled after the child’s well-known Christmas story. The first 8 lines of the poem describe anxious soldiers awaiting their fates. They are called to rally and a chain of events is sparked. Slide 3: In lines 9 through 16, the poet focuses on war preparations to convey the pending invasion. She describes invading soldiers coming from all directions, additionally creating imagery up until we reach Saddam. Slide 4: In the next 8 lines, the reader experiences Saddam’s thoughts on the war that is practically in his backyard. Although this might not be accurate, she nonetheless maintains the whimsicalness that makes this poem so satirical. Her satire especially continues for the next 16 lines. Slide 5 to 6: She describes the bombs that her son presumably saw during the invasion. Finally, she begins to paint Bush as dishonest for allegedly fabricating the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The poet also points out that Bush had interest in Iraqi oil reserves. Slide 7: The next 12 lines has a darker mood because she shines light on the innocents that are also affected by this war; Soliders and civilians. Slide 8: The next 8 lines again makes Bush look really bad like this picture. The poet believes he is lying again when he chimes as she says. Slide 9: This picture is more appropriate for the picture of soldiers raising the Mcdonald’s arc.

And no one was happy or felt safe Everyone was nervous throughout the base
 * **TPCASTT: ****“ **T’was the Night Before Baghdad” by a mother of a soldier ||
 * **Title **
 * of poem means ** || The title “T’was the Night Before Baghdad” makes a reference to the children’s Christmas story “T’was the Night Before Christmas” but alludes to the Iraq War by replacing “Christmas” with “Baghdad” ||
 * **Paraphrase **
 * parts of the Poem ** || It was the night before the invasion of Baghdad

The soldiers chant “Saddam is a monster… We must invade them!”

So we loaded our plane4s With guns and bombs To Kuwait From all directions We arrived at Saddam’s front door

His supporters asked him “What will happen?” He said, “Nothing!” “They paid for my reign!”

We bombed the city Fires reached the sky Even whilst Bush drilled for more oil

Bush is plainly a liar He created an illusion That Saddam has weapons of mass destruction

Bush lied to his people And used their support For his own personal gain

There is however a group of people who agree with this war Saying it’s for our own good That we murder these poor Iraqis

Yet they don’t experience any of this hell While we who know the truth Cannot help but notice the monstrosities

This war cannot seriously be won It only costs lives While Bush shouts that we’ve liberated them Supposedly this why they hate us

Now with the holidays here Bush steps up his game Sending more troops to Iraq

He’ll really be having fun || The line “With our guns and our tanks” has a very negative connotations, however, in the poem they are given a purposeful connotation as American believed they weapons would lead to a positive outcome. The word magician in line 29 has a positive meaning but a negative connotation in the poem as Bush used his magic skills to presumably confuse and lie to the American people. In the last 3 lines, “Wishing Merry Christmas” would usually have a positive connotation but actually has a negative connotation as Bush says it. || What is the attitude of the author, characters or yourself? || The attitude of this poem is clearly disenchanted with the current state of matters. This is in due part by the fact that the poet has personal reasons why she disliked the war and distrusts the President. She has a son who is fighting in Iraq, so her poem takes a personal point of view. This makes the poem much more effective in causing the reader to agree with her. She believes the war’s purpose and pretenses to be faulty. The reader can see her displeasure with President Bush in lines 27-40 and in lines 53-64. She makes Bush look like a money monger who in line 30 says “Keep the oil pipes flowing!” This line also shows how the attitude of this poem is also satirical by poking fun at Bush’s intelligence in lines 29 to 33. There is no such thing as too much oil revenue in the eyes of Bush. She states this which makes the poem hold an unsatisfied attitude. || At first we think or feel one way – then there is a shift: identify the shifts and explain them || There is a shift in tone between lines 4 and 5 as the first four lines have an anxious tone by portraying the soldiers await their fates. They are waiting to hear their orders until line 5 when the orders are finally given. This sparks a chain of events that leads up to the war. Lines 5 to 16 have a serious tone. The change in tone is obvious as the first four lines convey a limbo type feeling and then a spark of chain events. In lines 5 to 16, we rally, send our troops and weapons to the Middle East, and begin the invasion which contrasts the quietness of the first four lines. The tone and action then shifts again from lines 17 to 24 which describes Saddam’s response. He disregards the warning because after all, why would the Americans depose him if they put him in power? The tone in these lines is nonchalant. The attitude then shifts again by contrasting Saddam’s presumed fate and the reality of burning buildings the next two lines. In lines 27 to 20, the focus of the poem changes to President Bush rather than the war. Bush says “Keep the oil pipes flowin’!” which gives this section an indulgent tone. She begins to name call and claims he’s a liar for creating a problem. This section is characterized by a tone that is increasingly hostile yet humorous. In lines 41 to 52 the shift in tone occurs again as the American people are exposed “as they sleep in their beds. “This make the tone somber and helps the reader come to a realization. || Any new insights on meaning or significance of title? || The title of this poem “T’was the Night Before Baghdad” is an allusion to the classic Christmas story. This title not only satirically points at the atrocities off the war, but it contrasts the happiness of Christmas morning with the reality of war. The allusion makes the title satirical by conveying two inherently different themes, war and peace, good and bad, happiness and despair. ||
 * **Connotation **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">of some of the words – changing literal meaning to implied or associated values ** || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">The title of the poem has a pleasant connotation, while the reality of the poem, like the war, has a bad connotation.
 * **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">Attitude **
 * **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">Shift **
 * **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">Title revisited **
 * **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">Theme ** || <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Arial Unicode MS';">The poet has personal reasons why she dislikes the war and distrusts the President. She has a son who is fighting in Iraq, and worst part of this reality is that she believes the war’s pretenses are faulty. This influences the theme; the Iraq War is bad and has brought destruction to the people of this particular region. She contrasts reality verse illusion, politics verse the frontline, and Iraqi despair verse American content. In this way, she is able to convey the great distances between people’s that ultimately makes the war efforts useless. ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 115%;">Literary Terms: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Allusions made to Bush’s irresponsibility, his rallies, the oil scandal, Saddam’s disregard, and the war preparations. Couplet: The poem’s rhyming scheme: base and face, air and there, and tanks and banks. Exposition: She exposes Bush’s ideocracy and habits of exaggerating the facts.