Summary
Denise Levertov wrote the poem “What Were They Like?” to draw attention to the human cost of the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. The poem imagines a future in which “they” (the Vietnamese people) have been wiped out by the war.
The poem is made up of six questions followed by six answers. The questions are asked by an unnamed questioner, referred to as “sir,” who wants information about the culture, habits, and everyday life of the Vietnamese. He asks if they used stone lanterns, celebrated the coming of spring, laughed quietly, used substances like ivory and silver for decoration, produced an epic poem, or understood the difference between singing and speaking. The unnamed respondent answers these questions one by one. He does this in a way that emphasizes the terrible costs of the war. No one remembers if the Vietnamese people used stone lanterns, but their “hearts turned to stone” when the bombs began falling on them. Whatever spring festivities they practiced stopped after their children were killed in the war. They stopped laughing because one only laughs when one is joyful. They may not have had an epic poem because they were mostly peasants, but old men might have told stories to their children. Their speech was more like singing, but the violence of the war silenced them forever.
Analysis
The poem is structured like a questionnaire with six questions and six answers. In fact, the title is also a question (“What Were They Like?”) and the six questions that follow ask for further details about the life and ways of the Vietnamese people. Both the title and the questions are in the past tense. This suggests that the poem takes place in an alternative future in which the Vietnamese have been wiped out by the war. In this dystopian future, the questioner seeks to gain information about this lost culture while the responder tries to provide answers. By describing the culture and practices that could be destroyed if the war continues, the poem forces the reader to meditate on the human cost of American aggression in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s. The poem tries to show that an entire culture is under threat of being wiped out.
The poem does not go back and forth between question and answer, but rather dedicates one stanza to the six questions and one stanza to the six answers. The numbering of the questions and the suspense created by having to wait for the answer gives the poem the feeling of a formal interview. This formal tone is also reinforced when the questioner is addressed as “sir.” Yet while the questions are short and straightforward, the answers are longer and more poetic. The questioner seeks factual information about the Vietnamese people while the respondent shows that it is impossible to speak with any certainty about a culture that has been destroyed by war. The respondent repeatedly emphasizes this uncertainty with phrases like: “It is not remembered, “perhaps,” “a dream ago,” and “Who can say?”
The first question asks whether the Vietnamese people used lanterns of stone. The answer responds with a metaphor, saying that because of the war “their light hearts turned to stone.” The use of “light” both draws on the image of lanterns used for illumination and suggests that they were “lighthearted.” However, the violence of war caused their hearts to turn to stone. The respondent does not give a clear answer about lanterns but instead points to the awful emotional toll of war.
The second question is about whether or not the Vietnamese held ceremonies to welcome the spring and the “opening of buds.” The answer is again inconclusive: “perhaps” they did, but once their children were killed in war “there were no more buds.” When a community loses its children, they are no longer inclined to celebrate. Here, “buds” can refer both to the new flowers of springtime and the young people in the community. Question four continues in a similar vein. The questioner asks whether the Vietnamese were “inclined to quiet laughter” and the respondent answers harshly and directly that “laughter is bitter to the burned mouth.” This may be a reference to the use of the incendiary chemical napalm during the war. Question four asks whether the people used bone, ivory, jade, and silver for ornament. The response is that “ornament is for joy.” There was no reason to decorate once “bones were charred.” These three responses show how out of touch the questions are. How can people think of celebrating and laughter when they are being slaughtered?
The fifth question is whether or not the Vietnamese had an epic poem. European and North American cultures emphasize epics, particularly those of the Greeks and Romans like Homer’s Iliad, as the origin of Western civilization. The question seeks to understand whether or not Vietnamese culture is similar to Western culture. The answer, the longest in the poem, again refuses to give a straight answer. It begins “It is not remembered.” When a culture has been destroyed, it is not easy to offer precise information about it. The answer also reminds the questioner that the Vietnamese were mostly peasants. It goes on to provide an idyllic description of unity with nature. The Vietnamese cultivated rice and built using bamboo. The poem then uses a technique of contrast to show how this peaceful society was destroyed: “When peaceful clouds were reflected in the paddies/and the water buffalo stepped surely along terraces,/maybe fathers told their sons old tales.” The Vietnamese version of an epic poem may have been these “old tales” told on peaceful days. However, the violence of war destroyed this: “When bombs smashed those mirrors/there was time only to scream.” In this powerful metaphor, the clouds reflected in the water of the rice paddies become mirrors, which are shattered by bombs dropped from the sky. In such moments, “old tales” become transformed into “screams.”
The word “screams” provides a transition to the sixth and final question of whether or not the Vietnamese “distinguish[ed] between speech and singing.” This poem may also betray a Western perspective that assumes the Vietnamese are less advanced because they do not recognize the difference between talking and music. The answer says that their speech was beautiful: “like a song.” It also “resembled/the flight of moths in moonlight.” This simile compares the rising and falling of melodious voices to the flying of moths in a peaceful scene. However, even this is described with uncertainty, as the respondent says “It is reported.” This passive phrase (it is unclear who is doing the reporting) suggests that no one knows for sure. The only certain thing is that this speech-singing “is silent now.” The Vietnamese culture has been devastated by war.
