A FIGHTER'S LINES : ELEMENTS OF THE POEM

SETTING
In this poem, there are two settings arranged. First is in an independent country. This is
obviously shown by the line, and the history of the fight for independence have forced sacrifices
that know no name or life. The word history connotes that the persona is reflecting the past he
had. The second setting is an old man sitting on a wheelchair inside his abode. This can be
proven from the Stanza 2 (Line 1), from the wheelchair of the rest of my days.

THEME
Theme of this poem. The important theme in this poem is patriotism. The personas experience
of being a soldier and fought with the enemies and gone through hardships turned him to deeply
love his country. But now he is old and disable and cannot do much to free his country from
nowadays challenges. Even so because of his patriotism and he cannot bear to see the country
sinks in the sea of lies, he urges the young to fight for it. He urges the younger generation to
unite in spite of their differences and speak out the inequalities and dishonesties in the
community so much so that the freedom retains.

TONE/MOOD
The persona voices out his hopes through various tones. In the Stanzas 1 and 2, the persona
enhances the tone of frustration as he shares his disabilities and weariness of not being able to
fight for the country anymore. They are proven by the line, I am old and worn. Not only that,
the line from the wheelchair of the rest of my days , also symbolizes his disability which leads
him to feel frustrated. He is worry of the deceits that spread everywhere nowadays as what he
says in the line, the net of deceit spread everywhere disturbs me. His tone changes dramatically
as in Stanzas 3 and 4, he goes from frustration to a fighting spirit where he eagerly urges the new
generation to stand up and eradicate their fear of voicing out their opinions as stated in the
line, In the name of justice wake up and form ranks sons of our ancestor and Be brave.
Besides that, he also stresses on the needs for the younger generation to be united and seek for
their freedom as he clearly states in his lines, And erect a wall of people and Stand up heirs of
our freedom. In Stanza 4,, again he empathetically urges the younger generation to speak after
him as now he is no longer strong to do so hence hopes for their voices to be heard as he
stresses, It is you now who should speak!.

SYMBOL
There are few symbols being highlighted in the poem. First is the wheelchair that connotes the
disability. Through this symbol, one manages to imagine the personas condition, the hardships
he went through before for the sake of achieving the countrys independence. Even though he is
now wheelchair bound, he still has the will and determination to trigger the younger generation
from their long asleep on how essential it is to retain the independence achieved from the
sacrifices paid by the old generation like him. Besides that, another symbol represents in the
poem isa wall of people which connotes people uniting. In this poem, it refers to a need for the
younger generation to unite themselves regardless any races, skin colors or backgrounds to speak
for themselves, prohibit from being influenced by the deceits being spread nowadays. It is also
essential for the younger generation to erect a wall of people to maintain the independence
achieved by the personas generation efforts.

ALLITERATION
It applies in the Stanza 1 (Line 6), that know no name. It is also includes in the Stanza 4 (Line
1), I have no morevoice! The initial alliteration also occurs within words as in the Stanza 2,
for the remnants of my crippled years
the net of deceit spread everywhere
Besides that, there is also an assonance uses in this poem. The assonance occurs
internally as in the Stanza 3,
And erect a wall of people
Stand up heirs of our freedom

METAPHOR
In this poem, one can see there are two examples of metaphor use. In the Stanza 2 (Line 6), the
persona uses the net of deceit where he voices out what kind of problem encounters by the
younger generation nowadays. He means how the modern generation deceives each other and
how the deceit being spread day by day and it obviously bothers him. The next metaphor applies
is in the Stanza 3 (Line 4), a wall of people where the persona feels that the people need to be
united and concrete as a wall to encounter any problems interfered. Only through this way, the
eternity of independence the personas generation fought for may be preserved for the upcoming
generations.

MORAL VALUES
1. We must be brave to uphold justice. The persona urges the Younger generation to stand up
against the wide spread lies which are rampant in society today. This net of deceit worries him
as it can destroy the solidarity of the people. Therefore, he urges them to stand united and uphold
justice to preserve the freedom and safety of the country.

2. We must be willing to make sacrifices to preserve our independence. In the fight for
independence, the persona and other soldiers sacrificed and risked their lives when they fought
for independence. Now, he is wheel chair-bound because he was either crippled in the war or is
now old and sick. Now, he wants the younger generation to make sacrifices too to preserve their
freedom.

3. We must be united to preserve our freedom. The persona wants the younger generation to
stand united regardless of their differences to ensure their freedom.