Rich, being continuously involved with politics, felt very
strongly about the war in the Middle East. While attempting to put the civilian’s lives into perspective for
Americans, shows her empathy for the civilians of the Middle East in her 2001
poem “The School Among the Ruins.” She stresses that American’s cannot
sympathize with the fear that other cities are experiencing. America has never been the ground in which
constant daily fighting takes place.
Rich writes, “Beirut. Baghdad. Sarajevo. Bethlehem. Kabul. Not of course
here” (1). Rich attempts to help
Americans have empathy for the citizens of these countries. She puts this sense of loss and fear into the
perspective of their own personal lives when she writes, “Today this is your
lesson: / write as clearly as you can / your name home street and number / down on this page / No you
can’t go home yet” (49-53). The teachers
have to try and find families of the students because they are lost in the
constant devastation of war.
Essentially Rich is asking America, “How would you feel if this story
was of American children?” Fighting from war not only affects soldiers and
politicians, but also children and daily lives of civilians. The uncertain setting
in Rich’s poem confronts the idea that these children are having their lives
pulled out from under them in exchange for a constant state of fear and
hunger.
Rich, Adrienne Cecile. The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004. New York: Norton, 2004.
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