Denise Levertov wrote "What Were They Like?" in protest against the Vietnam War. She had strong antiwar feelings that she expressed through her poetry. The message to the reader is that war only causes death and destruction. She deliberately used the matter of fact questioning to portray what Americans were seeing every night on television. By using this format she recalled from the readers mind images seen on television that would promote her antiwar position. …showed first 75 words of 1136 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1136 total…Department of English University of Illinois Home Page. June 21, 2003 <URL:http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_1/levertov/life.htm> Screen 5 Levertov, Denise "Statement For A Television Program." Gifts of Speech. June 21,2003 <URL:http://www.gos.sbc.edu/I/levertov2.html> Screen 3 Levertov, Denise "Speech For A Rally." Gifts of Speech at Sweet Briar College Home Page. June 21, 2003 <URL:http://www.gos.sbc.edu/I/levertov1.html> Screen 3