As in poetry, an aubade refers to a love poem or song that signifies the break of dawn, and the “Aubade with Burning City” is typical of other Ocean Vuong’s poetry pieces. It carries heavy contradictory aspects, which become integral in making him gain so much fame at a tender age. It carries instances of repetition of themes where patience, violence, and love are so dominant. At the same time, it bears strictness on poetry’s role in focusing on the aspect of tragedy and its manifestation, while the remedies sense of positive soul development through moments of magic and romance.
The poem describes the horrendous evacuation of the Americans at Saigon during the Vietnamese war while creating a striking interconnection with the relationships between American Soldiers and Vietnamese women in a brothel setting. It portrays heavy attachment towards events as they unfold while still being overly romanticized.
“Snow shredded with gunfire,
Red sky,
Snow on the tank rolling over the city walls,
A helicopter lifting the living just out of reach,
The city so white waiting for ink.”
The harsh landscape and the depiction of evacuation interlude with the use of the “White Chrismas” song by Berlin, Irving. More dominant is the theme of destruction, emphasized by the description of dead police and a crushed dog in the streets. The interspersion of the two lovers and the destruction resulting from the Saigon evacuation form a formal imagery implication.
In the poem, irony is used to portray the wreckage and damage done in the city with repetition of lyrics from the song “White Christmas.” Moreover, it offers different views on Saigon’s fall and destruction, which culminates in chaotic and violent destruction. It includes the intertwining between personal and mythical aspects, with the irregular stanzas forming a light depiction of disarray and confusion.
The poem’s description of the relation between the divine and profane, including a personal level, connotations of purity symbolized by whiteness, and lover interaction as an integral aspect of profaneness, helps to highlight the show of a hostile atmosphere. There is heavy implication towards religious incantation. Consequently, interconnection can be drawn to the deliberate coincidental relation between the lover’s interaction in the hotel room and the American soldier evacuation.