Babylon

The common theme in this poem, Babylon, is about the terrible effects of war. Lois Jones writes about how the ghastly effects of war can make us want to forget it. This poem describes a person looking at a city and seeing it destroy itself. The author uses sensory imagery to show that effects of war.

Lois Jones shows a result of war in one specific line near the beginning. The line says, "The remains of scarlet cities tower and bend." The author uses this line to show what consequences can happen. The scarlet color stands for blood and when the cities tower and bend, it shows them being destroyed. This proves the fact about how terrible war really is.

In one line near the middle, it shows how people are insignificant to war machines. This line states, "Beneath the traffic of beetles." The beetles represent people and how they are powerless to stop the path of war. Lois Jones uses this line to show that war is like a monster with an enormous power to make normal humans look like powerless beetles. As a result of being powerless, many innocent people get killed in war. War can kill anything that is in its path.

Perhaps the most important line is near the end. "I reach in and cover my eyes with the mud of the Euphrates, uproot memories of the dead." This line describes the person's felling about war. He/she is frightened by the effects of war and tries to forget it by covering his/her eyes with mud. It is obvious that many people do not enjoy the pain caused by war. Using imagery Lois Jones describes how people rather cover their eyes rather than watching the destruction of a city. War can scar people and make them remember what how terrible war was

Lois Jones uses powerful words to show that war is appalling. The use of symbolism with the beetles show how she feel about innocents lives being taken. Also, the mud shows how she feels that war is terrible to witness. By using symbolism and imagery, she makes sure that people will know what war can do. Everyone should take war seriously and think about what consequences can happen during a war.