That Time of Year

I do declare, this is a Shakespearean Sonnet, which is a fancy term for a poem consisting of the quatrains which present an example with a final couplet as a conclusion, following the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. In this poem, each quatrain presents a different metaphorical way of saying essentially the same thing. The first refers to the trees during autumn. They once were green and full of life, but now they are fading, and have only yellow leaves, or none at all. In the second quatrain, twilight is mentioned, the time when day finally gives way to night, light finally giving in to darkness. Lastly, there is the image of a dying fire, which has burned up all it fuel and is just smoldering, about to die. All three of these images pertain to the end of something, whether it's the end of a season as summer gives way to fall, or the end of a day as light gives way to darkness, or the end of a fire, as it begins to finally burn out. The speaker is ultimately saying that all things come to an end. This is taken deeper in that last couplet, of course. The speaker states that like all things, love too must end. However, he also states that this end does not detract from the love itself, but rather makes it stronger. He states that it is far more powerful to love something that one must soon lose. The very fleeting nature of life and love is what makes it so precious.

I always do really irresponsible things whenever I am around bonfires.
Taking unnecessary risks also makes life precious.

Six - How to Tell a True War Story

In this chapter, O'Brien discusses how to discern the truth from a war story, and provides some truly charming examples from a squad firebombing a Vietnamese glee club to Rat Kiley gradually dismantling a buffalo with his M16. Now, I could talk about what all of these individual stories all mean ad infinitum (look at me using Latin, oh ho), so I'll just zoom in on one little thing he wrote that I found particularly intriguing: "That proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life" (p. 77). I guess the reason why this struck me as so important was because I've seen this theme of death, or near-death, bringing on a new appreciation for life in many other places. The most prominent of which I found a while ago in my recent reading of the novel Shōgun by James Clavell. Anjin-san, the protagonist, suffers a bitter insult, and thus decides to commit suicide, but is stopped by the others present. This near death experience causes Anjin-san to take on a new perspective for life, allowing him to appreciate it more fully. Another example of this concept is the song "Life is Beautiful" by Sixx:A.M. The general premise of the song is that "When you've lost it all, that's when you realize that life is beautiful." I just made a connection between Feudal Japan, Vietnam, and modern rock. There should be a literary term for that.

This is a samurai. He was in Shōgun.