The poem depicts a young soldier writing letters home to his mother about his experiences in war. In his early letters, he writes vaguely about the weather to avoid upsetting her. When she presses him to share more, he describes killing a man and dropping napalm on civilians. His father then tells him to stop writing such depressing letters, as it upsets his mother. In later letters, the soldier reverts to only discussing the weather to spare his mother the horrific truths of war.

1. APO 96225
Mailing address of the
25th Infantry Division
“And the young man once went off to war in a far off country…”

2. A young man once went off to war in a far country,
and when he had time, he wrote home and said,
“Dear Mom, sure rains a lot here.”
But his mother – reading between the lines as mothers
always do – wrote back,
“We’re quite concerned. Tell us what it’s really like.”
And the young man responded,
“Wow! You ought to see the funny monkeys.”
To which the mother replied,
“Don’t hold back. How is it there?”
And the young man wrote,
“The sunsets here are spectacular!”
So the next time he wrote, the young man said,
In her next letter, the mother pleaded, “Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm
“Son, we want you to tell us everything. Everything!” on woman and children.”
And the father wrote right back,
“Please don’t write back such depressing letters. You’re
upsetting your mother.”
So, after a while,
the young man wrote,
“Dear Mom, sure rains here a lot.”

3. "Poetry should be great & unobtrusive, a
thing which enters into one's soul, and does
not startle it or amaze it with itself but with its
subject.”
-Keats

4. Good poetry
• although poem is not artfully or charmingly
written, the underlying message is powerful
• does not startle or amaze with the poem itself
– startles and amazes with its subject
– startles and amazes with its message

5. Stanzas 1-6
Expressing interest for information
• light tone
– “And the young man responded,
‘Wow! You ought to see the funny monkeys’” (6-7).
• light subject matter
– “Dear Mom, sure rains a lot here” (3).
– “The sunsets here are spectacular!” (11).
• only writes

6. Stanzas 1-6
• Structure
– begins with a triplet, proceeds with couplets
– short, exact communication
– non-revealing of the soldier’s reality
• the solider is hiding something
• his communications are short, they are concealing the truth
• Emotion
– “the mother pleaded” (12)
• the soldier’s mother is desperate to know what her son is
going through
– “Son, we want you to tell us everything. Everything!” (13).
• the mother expresses her earnest concern, care, and interest
• ironic, because she does not truly want to know the horrors
her son is going through

7. Stanza 7
Information given
So the next time he wrote, the young man said,
“Today I killed a man. Yesterday, I helped drop napalm
on women and children.” (13-15).
• the reality of what the “young” (1) soldier is doing and
experiencing is alarming, saddening, and terrifying
– this is his truthful response to what is really
happening
– gruesome imagery of incendiary napalm bombs used
against women and children
• his mother, a woman, cannot handle this truth

8. Stanza 8
Reaction to the information given
And the father wrote right back,
“Please don’t write such depressing letters. You’re
upsetting your mother.” (16-18).
• the soldier’s honest response to his mother’s
pleaded question is devastating and distressing
to her
• the father contradicts the mother’s original
request
• ironic that the mother cannot handle the truth
she so urgently besought

9. Stanza 9
Resolution
So, after a while,
the young man wrote,
“Dear mom, sure rains a lot here.” (19-21).
• the young man relates what he had originally
communicated
– non-upsetting, light information
– information that his mother can handle
– not the brutal, disturbing, shocking truth of his
battle stories
• short, blunt lines
– reverts back to hiding information, the real truth

10. Conclusion
• To hide the shocking and disturbing truth from concerned relatives back
home is more acceptable than to relate the horrors of the atrocities
committed in war.
– not necessarily better, but easier
• easier than upsetting those who cannot handle the truth
• The truth of what goes on and what is experienced on the battlefield is
difficult for those who have not been in war to handle.
• It is difficult to acknowledge and accept what is going on during the “war
in a far country” (1).
– parallels the attitude of the American people at the time during the
Vietnam War
– can show concern and interest, but cannot accept the gruesome reality

11. Irony in APO 96225
• Situational Irony
– the mother implores her son to tell her everything
that he is experiencing but cannot even bring
herself to write back to her son after he tells her
what he has done, she is so upset by it
– she did not expect her son to admit to the
atrocities he had committed

12. Possible Alternative Meanings
• “rains a lot here” (3) or “rains here a lot” (21)
– the soldier could possibly be referring to the rain
of blood or bullets
• “see the funny monkeys” (7)
– the soldier could be talking about the foreign
people
• “sunsets here are spectacular” (11)
– the solider could be relating skies of red and
orange, or skies of blood, crossfire, and carnage