Vietnam Poetry

My essay is a comparison of a song and a poem about the Vietnam war. The song is "Goodnight Saigon" written by Billy Joel and the poem is "No Word Spoken" by Edward J. Domaleski. These two are very different but revolve around one main point; the American soldiers experience in the Vietnam war. Joel writes about the whole war experience while Domaleski writes just about one solitary battle. Domaleski is also more detailed than Joel in his writing.

Domaleski’s lines of poetry discreetly describe the scenes of a battle, while Joel’s generally describe the hardships of the American soldiers during the war. "No Word Spoken" stars off by describes some soldiers marching through a forest. They hear something, not knowing what it is they "spread out" to investigate. Monkeys begin moving around and it is now raining, the soldiers are told silently to be "quiet" they "don’t breathe".

They see four of the enemy, silently ordered to begin the fight, "grenades fly" and "clips empty". Once the battle is over and there are "no more screams" silent orders are given to get up and search the bodies for anything valuable that can be used on their awaiting journey. Before the soldier leaves he looks

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This is why the Americans survived as long as they did.

Billy Joel’s lyrics speak of Parris Island, a place where the soldiers fought a battle. Which is proven in the outcome of the war in which the Vietnamese won. The Americans ruled "the day" because they could see what was happening around them, but the Vietnamese had control over "the night" because it was their environment that the war was going on in. He talks about the Americans preparation by saying that they where "sharp as knives". This goes hand in hand with the "gung-ho" attitude of the new troops, they felt they were ready to defend their country. around and notices the "smell of death", but he is silently told to go "forward". But the government gave them "Playboy" magazine and appearances by Bob Hope to keep the their morale up during the war. These two things would separate the causalities from the survivors.

The Americans spent "six weeks on Parris Island" fighting the Vietnamese.

Billy Joel closes with "we will all go down together". They went into to battle in a state of craziness, but were dead at the end of it. For those who experienced it, it helps them remember that time in their lives. The soldiers had believe in themselves and had to have faith in "Jesus Christ".

Approximate Word count = 821
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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