When reading the poem, I felt a great deal of sympathy and pity for the Dakota men who were hanged. I noticed about the language of the poem that it is trying to make the reader feel something towards the Indeginous people. This poem is different from others because it invoked a certain emotion that other poems can’t compare to. I’ve found that poems usually have a problem where they can’t emotionally connect with the reader through the text that well. One poem that I have read that actually compares to this one is Howl by Allen Ginsberg. The sentence “everything is in the language that we use” means that the language that we use to present a story is an important factor in getting a message across. In this case, the language used in the poem is precisely made in order to appeal to my empathy. The particular words that the author decides to use shape the poem into a work of art and makes it more than just words. The Long Soldier wants us to understand the oppression and mistreatment that was swept under the rug and does a good job of this through his use of diction. This poem helped me understand how misshaped history was and what we all learned in school left out many major details. The impact that this poem had on me will stay with me for the rest of my life and I will never forget what happened to those 38 Dakota men that day.
4 thoughts on “38”
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I like how you mentioned another type of poem that you read that might be similar to this one, and how most poems that you have read were nothing like this one. I also like how you tied this poem into realizing how things aren’t as they seem and how history does sweep some things under the rug. And I also like how you mentioned this poem having such an impact on you and stating that Long Soldier’s message got through and resonated with you.
I agree with the fact that the words the poem used appeal to a persons empathy because I felt the same was. It is also very interesting how you compared it to a different piece you have read. It is the sad truth that many parts of history are removed from the story and it is very difficult to get a full story. Soldier informs us about the whole story and doesn’t leave any aspect out.
I like how you mentioned that this poem used language that causes readers to feel certain emotions. I also really liked it when you said that the words become more than words. I definitely agree with that. I also got to learn about this historical fact that isn’t talked about at school. It makes me wonder about all of the other important history that is left out in American textbooks.
Isn’t it weird the way we use words to solicit an emotional response? Whether it’s the fellas that wrote “Lincoln” or it’s Soldier herself, at this point to me it feels like everyone just talks to sell you their own permutation of whatever their reality is.
By doing this, isn’t everyone also saying that they feel the NEED to solidify their very existence / their reality by convincing other people that it’s real? Like it’s not enough for them to just vibe. Language itself is an attack on everyone.
It’s crazy interesting because I’m pretty sure Soldier’s aware of this the entire time, and this self-awareness almost gives her a contradictory ethos so she has to overcompensate by using simplistic language…? I don’t know. But doesn’t that almost make you mad? Or sad? huh huh doesn’t it doesn’t it?????!?!?!?!?!?!?! Don’t you agree with me that that’s what’s happening here?!?!?!???!?