In Naomi Shihab Nye's poem, "All Things Not Considered", the poet uses vivid images of the death of children in a war started by religion dispute. By using images, imagery, repetition and diction, the poet makes a statement on the brutality of war, a war of religious cause and the death of innocent children and youths.
The poem starts with uses of negation "cannot stitch the breath/back into this boy.", unlike a bad cut, once life is out, we "cannot" do anything to fix it. The verb "stitch" hints desperation and movements or attempts to bring "this boy" back to life. These images continued to the end of the first stanza where the last two lines shows how cruel the war had been to the people there and the heartache of a parent having to bury their child.
Questions put forth in italics, "In what language/is this holy?" and "If this is holy,/could we have some new religions please?". The poet seems to be recording her own thoughts in the midst of depicting reality. Fury and lost of faith in humanity and religion, the poet lashes out her thoughts, where in the world would these killings of innocent, especially the young ones, for a cause of religion be "holy" and that "if" these are considered "holy", she would like a change of belief.
She uses real names to add to the reality and the serious, somber tone of the poem: the death of Asel Asleh and Mohammad al-Durra.
In stanza two, her view shifts to people "from a distance" and what they say, like to "take our children" escape the was and live a life of a refuge, which is normally easier said then done. As outsiders, the poet says "we can say "whatever we want", showing the simplicity of just throwing words at people without actually experiencing the horrors of war subjectively.
In the third stanza, her choice of double negatives "No one was right./Everyone was wrong." does not bring in positive and the lines have similar meanings. "the flawed narrator wins." showing how she is certain of her feelings and claims, a war caused by religion, a sacrifice nobody would agree.
Like many other wars that happened, the same mortal mistake, causing hurt to people, those with power or "holy" are allowed to use guns but some used "stones". The contrasting imagery of "guns" and "stones" show how the one with "guns" started the war for their own benefits while the people stuck in the situation, using "stones" and "turnip roots or olive pits" are, in desperation, defending, protecting themselves, probably wishing they were far, far away from the scene.
The imagery of "people... studying history,/going to school" to the people in the lines before, those who have "picked up turnip roots or olive pits" shows a situation where children and youths are in a peaceful situation, learning history(probably with scorn) while the other shows people in the chaos of war, desperately using anything in defense of their attacker., writing "history".
The last stanza depicts calm, peaceful and beautiful images, probably what the poet wishes for, calm and peace.
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