Home Learning - Rainbow Death

Rainbow Death


America did not foresee

Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!

Expecting others to pay a high price.

Now thinking twice?

Toll on the innocent and unborn.

Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn.

Reflective about all the illness, birth defects and prematurely dead.

All the deceit continues to spread!

Nefariously America was led astray -

Generations untold WILL pay -

Execrable effects of agent orange spray!

Rumors of an even more toxic spray at the end of this horrid rainbow?



Task 1



This poem “Rainbow Death” is written by Hubert Wilson, while he was serving for the US army during the Vietnam War. He was sent to Vietnam to fight for USA and stayed there for about 15 years. He was sent to Shemya Island, Alaska, an Agent Orange hotspot. As he stayed there, his heath deteriorated.



This poem tells us about the modern warfare during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange is the code name for a herbicide and defoliant used by the U.S. military in its Herbicidal Warfare program during the Vietnam War. Agent Orange was by far the most widely used of the "Rainbow Herbicides", which include Agents Purple, Pink, and Green, employed in the herbicidal warfare program. The title of this poem is therefore named “Rainbow Death”.



This poem tells us that the impacts of chemical warfare, that they cause far more damage and destruction than what artillery and tanks could do. This is shown in the line "Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!". The poet’s intention of writing this poem is to tell readers the dangers modern warfare can bring to mankind.




Task 2

Point of View: Of an American Soldier



"America did not foresee” what ‘Agent Orange’ will lead to. The poet showed great hatred towards the use of herbicidal warfare as it is a cruel tactic in war. "Toll on the innocent and unborn” and “All the deceit continues to spread” showed the catastrophe caused and his discouragement of this form of tactic.



2) Situation and Setting:

The sad mood of the poem was created from the line “Generations untold WILL pay” showed that what previous generations had done can cause the loss of innocent lives in years to come.

3) Language/Diction:

Hubert Wilson shows his strong disapproval of the use of herbicidal warfare in the poem. In the first stanza, "America did not foresee" "Green, pink, purple and other colors death potpourri!" is closely related to the title of the poem "Rainbow Death". The word "potpourri" means a mixture of materials or substances, which in this case he is implying that the use of all the different types of chemicals in warfare is deadly. The first stanza is trying to imply that it is too late for America to regret the destruction done by Agent Orange, especially on the innocent and the unborn.

Personification is use in the second stanza where "Omnipotent and disregarding who will mourn" described the chemical agents as having unlimited power and no mercy at all. The poet puts the blame on these chemical agents, and those who makes use of them, for causing "illness, birth defects and prematurely dead". The poet also describes America as infamous and extremely wicked in the line "Nefariously America led astray". In the second last line, "Generations untold WILL pay", the word "will" is written in capital letters to emphasize the result of making future generations suffer, and also telling us that the poet is strongly against this.


4) Personal Response:



War is cruel and both sides will resort to anything just to defeat the enemy. In this case, chemical agents were used. As a result, millions of lives were lost and even the younger generations were not spared.