Children in the Darkness
There are children in the darkness
Who have not seen the light
There are children in the darkness
Who someone will teach to fight

Chalk and blackboards will not be
To this door there is no key
From this life they can not flee
And these children are not free

Could we simply light a candle
Could we give them half a chance
Could we teach them how to read
Could we teach them how to dance

Or will a war consume them
Their body and their soul
Will their life and blood be poured
Down some endless thirsty hole

Back into the darkness
From which there is no flight
Back into the darkness
Into which there shines no light

Steps in Analysis
Point of View:
Point - This is from the narrator point of view.
Evidence - 'Their body and their soul'
Elaboration - he refers to the soldiers as 'their' as he is narrating.

Situation & Setting:
Point - the situation of the poem is how youths are being dragged into the war.
Evidence - 'There are children in the darkness/who someone will teach to fight'
Elaboration - The children are being thought on how to fight in the war, which shows how they are dragged into the war.

Language/Diction:
Point - there is repetition of the word 'darkness'.
Evidence - 'There are children in the darkness/Who have not seen the light /There are children in the darkness/Who someone will teach to fight'
Elaboration - this repetition of 'darkness' is used to emphasise how dark the future of the youths going to war are.

Personal Response:
Point - The poem evokes a sense of sympathy for the youths.
Evidence - 'Could we teach them how to read/Could we teach them how to dance'
Elaboration - they do not even have the time to learn how to read and yet they are brought into war which allows us to sympathise with them.