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Facing it poem by yusef komunyakaa analysis
Vietnam war creative writing
Analysis of "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa Essay example
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The poem recounts the story about the violent war, which is troublesome test for a man. Hero, who distinguishes himself with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, is enabling us to comprehend the environment of the occasion and the distress of individuals influenced by war.
In his poem, "Confronting It", Yusef Komunyakaa portrays his irresolute feelings towards the Vietnam War of which he was a veteran. Pondering his encounters, Yusef communicates his clashing emotions about the Vietnam War and his sentiments about how prejudice has had an influence in America's history. By using visual symbolism and figurative dialect all through the poem, Yusef can mirror the dismal and befuddled feelings he felt while going by the Vietnam memorial. Yusef starts
Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa is a collection of poems based on Komunyakaa’s personal experiences of the Vietnam War. He describes his experiences and observations in a way that isn’t as gritty and raw as some veterans, but still shows the horrors of war and the struggle to survive. What makes Komunyakaa’s work different is the emotion he uses when talking about the war. He tells it like it is and puts the reader in the soldiers’ shoes, allowing them to camouflage themselves and skulk around the jungles of Vietnam from the very first lines of “Camouflaging the Chimera.” Komunyakaa’s title Dien Cai Dau means “crazy” in Vietnamese and is an appropriate title based on the mind set of this veteran soldier. Two common themes I have found in Komunyakaa’s
Yusef Komanuyakaa's poem "Facing It" is a brutal examination of the affects that war leaves upon men. The reader can assume that Komanuyakaa drew upon his own experiences in Vietnam, thereby making the poem a personal statement. However, the poem is also a universal and real description of the pain that comes about for a soldier when remembering the horror of war. He creates the poem's persona by using flashbacks to the war, thereby informing the reader as to why the speaker is behaving and feeling the way he is. The thirty-one lines that make up "Facing It" journey back and forth between present and past to tell the story of one man's life.
The powerful poem ‘Weapons Training’ showcases a sergeant, through malicious words, guiding his troops. However it is through ‘Homecoming’, where Dawe exposes the brutal hopelessness brought forth by the futility of war. Therefore it can be seen that war has an emotional toll on both families and the soldiers. Both poems have a recurring message that all war does is bring loss, death and mourning, showcasing Dawes strong opinions about a futile
In Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It,” he discusses his experience during the Vietnam War. Komunyakaa was in Louisiana during the civil War. During the Vietnam War, he joined the army as a correspondent (Poets). Later, he began writing newspapers for the military called The Southern Cross. The poem begins with the reflection of Komunyakaa’s face fading as he views the stone. Those lines read, “My black face fades, / hiding inside the black granite” (1-2). The black granite does not allow his skin tone to show. He emphases his ethnicity when he uses ‘black’ twice. Furthermore, Komunyakaa acknowledged himself as an African American and created a connection between himself and the memorial. Here I believe he realized he should be on the memorial. He is remembering an incident during the Vietnam War that should have taken his life. His fading face makes me assume that he realizes that there were no separate races in that war. They were all Americans. In the next line, Komunyakaa can not control his emotions. He rejects his emotions when he says, “I said I wouldn't, / dammit: No tears” (3-4). When Komunyakaa views the wall his past emotions rush back to him. As he struggles with the emotions his perception of himself and his surroundings change. At the beginning, his face was distant, but appeared as discussed the memorial and its meaning. He could now describe h...
The “Man I Killed” takes us into the Vietnam War and tell us about a soldiers first time of killing another individual. The author describes a Viet Cong soldier that he has killed, using vivid, physical detail with clear descriptions of the dead mans’ fatal wounds. O'Brien envisions the biography of this man and envisions the individual history of the dead Vietnamese soldier starting with his birthplace moving through his life, and finished with him enrolling in the Vietnamese Army. O'Brien also describes some of the dead soldiers’ hopes and dreams. The author uses this history in an attempt to make the dead man more realistic to the reader
Facing it reflects the author's personal experience and dread from the Vietnam War. African American poet Yusef Komunyakaa was born and raised in Bogalusa, Louisiana, which at the author’s prime time was the center for the Ku Klux Klan and then later became a key destination for the civil rights movement, these situations later on heavily influenced Komunyakaa’s writing. In 1969, he joined the army and was stationed in Vietnam, there Komunyakaa served as a war correspondent. Witnessing the bloody battles also influenced his poetry. After coming back from the war, Komunyakaa began writing poetry and then attended the University of Colorado Springs to receive a BA. Furthermore, he then earned his MA and MFA in creative writing from Colorado State University and the University of California, Irvine, respectively. Komunyakaa is known to tackle difficult subjects and hits reality and history pretty hard.
This poem in general is very pro-war and talks a lot about the how the
criticize the affects of propaganda. For those who believe that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country, any man who has experienced war first hand would admit that patriotic propaganda is a lie. It would be interesting to further analyze the poems and consider how historical usage of propaganda and modern media by politicians compare, as well as to analyse if propaganda today is still using and abusing patriotism.
Through reading this poem several times I decided that the message from the poem is that war is full of horror and there is little or no glory. Methods which I found most effective were Full rhyme and metaphor.
The physical effects of war overwhelm the naïve causing pain and suffering. Initially, war entangles the lives of youth, destroying the innocence that they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl “glid[ing] gracefully down the path” (1) and the boy “rid[ing] eagerly down the road” (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women’s lives creating turmoil. The woman who works “deftly in the fields” ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The “wire cuts,” ( ) pushing her away from the normal flow of life. In addition, man undergoes tragic obstacles as a result of war. “A man walks nobly and alone” ( ) before the horrible effects of war set in on his life causing disruptions. War enters the life of man destroying the bond man shares with his beloved environment ( ).
War is cruel. The Vietnam War, which lasted for 21 years from 1954 to 1975, was a horrific and tragic event in human history. The Second World War was as frightening and tragic even though it lasted for only 6 years from 1939 to 1945 comparing with the longer-lasting war in Vietnam. During both wars, thousands of millions of soldiers and civilians had been killed. Especially during the Second World War, numerous innocent people were sent into concentration camps, or some places as internment camps for no specific reasons told. Some of these people came out sound after the war, but others were never heard of again. After both wars, people that were alive experienced not only the physical damages, but also the psychic trauma by seeing the deaths and injuries of family members, friends or even just strangers. In the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh about the Vietnam War, and the documentary film Barbed Wire and Mandolins directed by Nicola Zavaglia with a background of the Second World War, they both explore and convey the trauma of war. However, the short story “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” is more effective in conveying the trauma of war than the film Barbed Wire and Mandolins because of its well-developed plot with well-illustrated details, and its ability to raise emotional responses from its readers.
It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting. Bao Ninh’s novel
The movie The Message by Moustapha Akkad tries to tell the story of Mohammad from the Islamic religion to an audience that may know nothing of the religion. As any representation of Mohammad is forbidden the movie never depicts or voices the Prophet using instead side characters who become the main characters to supplement the story. The creators also utilize an ingenious technique of second person filming.. The scenes which Mohammad was present the filming was done from the viewer's perspective that the remaining characters then spoke to. The handling of Mohammad’s epic tale along with stipulation of the religion was masterfully done. The Message acts as a wonderful medium to explore the story and historical life of the Prophet Mohammad.
Yusef Komunyakaa, the poet of war, vividly describes his vacillating emotions about the Vietnam War and his relation to it as an African-American veteran in the poem, “Facing It.” Komunyakaa, the protagonist of his narrative, reflective poem, contemplates his past experiences as he promenades around the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, struggling to conceal his ardent emotions and remain hard and cold as “stone.” He writes one stanza in a dark mood, and by using metaphors and visual imagery, he paints a picture with his words for all to see.
The simple definition of war is a state of armed competition, conflict, or hostility between different nations or groups; however war differs drastically in the eyes of naive children or experienced soldiers. Whether one is a young boy or a soldier, war is never as easy to understand as the definition. comprehend. There will inevitably be an event or circumstance where one is befuddled by the horror of war. For a young boy, it may occur when war first breaks out in his country, such as in “Song of Becoming.” Yet, in “Dulce et Decorum Est” it took a man dying in front of a soldier's face for the soldier to realize how awful war truly is. Both “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” are poems about people experiencing the monstrosity of war for the first time. One is told from the perspective of young boys who were stripped of their joyful innocence and forced to experience war first hand. The other is from the perspective of a soldier, reflecting on the death of one of his fellow soldiers and realizing that there is nothing he can do to save him. While “Song of Becoming” and “Dulce et Decorum Est” both focus on the theme of the loss of innocence, “Song of Becoming” illustrates how war affects the lives of young boys, whereas “Dulce et Decorum Est” depicts the affect on an experienced soldier.