What Were They Like?

• poet

  Denise Levertov
• structure

  free verse shows the second speaker struggling to answer the questions. Set in dystopian future where vietnamese culture was destroyed in Vietnam war. Repetition of questions in first stanza. Two speakers. Contrast to richness of culture in first stanzsa and destruction of it in second stanza
• there were no more buds


  monosyllabic
• laughter is bitter to the burned mouth.


  juxtaposition, repetition of napalm bomb reference "bones were charred"
• "It is not remembered." "Perhaps" 


  shows how the culture is being forgotten
• "A dream ago" "There is an echo yet"


  past tense shows how forgotten Vietnam is
• Who can say? It is silent now.


  Back to present tense in last line
• "speech and singing" "scream" "silent"


  changes in sensory langauge throughout the poem
• "lanterns of stone" "their light hearts turned to stone"


  antanaclasis to emphasise juxtapositon, past tense
• It is not remembered. Remember"


  repetition shows speaker trying to remember