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Carolyn ForchéA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
“Because One is Always Forgotten” by Carolyn Forché (1981)
This poem appears along with “The Colonel” in Forché’s second book of poetry, The Country Between Us. Like “The Colonel,” this poem blends journalism with literature, bearing witness to the violence and political unrest of the El Salvadoran people of the time. Unlike the prose poem, “Because One is Always Forgotten” is structured and highly literary, utilizing numerous metaphors and metrical patterns to communicate its devastating narrative. The poem exemplifies not only Forché’s thematic passions but also her technical range as a poet.
“Thinking About El Salvador” by Denise Levertov (1984)
While Forché was turning away from the myopic intimacies of Confessionalism-influenced poetry, another American poet was also writing poems that powerfully blended the personal with the political. Denise Levertov, with whom Forché is often grouped, wrote about numerous political subjects. Here, she writes powerfully against the United State’s economic intervention in El Salvador and the ways in which it contributed to the horrors that the government inflicted on its people. While “The Colonel” documents a specific experience Forché had while in El Salvador, “Thinking About El Salvador” does what the title suggests—reflects on the violence from a distance.
“The Dictators” by Pablo Neruda (1952)
Pablo Neruda, along with Octavio Paz, is one of the most seminal political poets of the Spanish language in the 20th century. While Neruda wrote in a different language than Forché, his legendary blend of personal and political gave Forché much to draw on as she began writing about the political injustices of Central American countries as well. This poem exemplifies how Neruda brought the political to light through potent, imagistic verse.
What You Have Heard Is True by Carolyn Forché (2019)
This memoir was a finalist for the National Book Award. With a title taken from the first sentence of “The Colonel,” the memoir is highly relevant to that poem. What You Have Heard Is True documents Forché’s experiences in El Salvador while she wrote “The Colonel” and its collection The Country Between Us.
“Witnessing War, with Carolyn Forché” by Patrick Iber (2020)
This interview from Dissent Magazine is a fantastic introduction to Forché’s political poetry, her experiences in El Salvador, and her idea of a “poetry of witness.” The interview explores Forché’s memoir about El Salvador, her politics, and the publication of her collection The Country Between Us. The interview even discusses “The Colonel” in particular, illuminating the background of the poem.
“Poetry of Witness” by Billy Tooma & Anthony Cirilo (2015)
This documentary film follows six contemporary poets (including Forché) who have suffered politically and written about those experiences. It debuted at the Buffalo International Film Festival in 2015. The poets’ backgrounds are diverse and include Iran, Romania, American veterans of the Vietnam war. Titled after Forché’s term for poetry that intimately documents political horrors experienced first-hand, the film is a unique window into Forché’s poetics.
While there are many recordings of Forché reading her famous poem, several of which are easily accessible on YouTube, this video is a particularly powerful performance. Forché performed this poem in 1992 at the Connections Literary Series at the College of Southern Maryland. She reads with a quiet intensity, looking at the audience all the while, her text apparently memorized. The pauses and emphases Forché uses to punctuate her prose poem bring the text alive in a unique way.