Yusef Komunyakaa's “Facing It” and John Keats’ “Ode to a Grecian Urn” are two abstract poems that, while different in subject, share a deep connection of the individual person through the use of figurative language and structured verse. Komunyakaa’s piece confronts the ghost of war, implying a free-verse form that mirrors memory. At the same time, Keat’s ode bonds to a consistent iambic pentameter, a rhythmic pattern of ten syllables in each line consisting of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, capturing the timeless narrative engraved in the ancient art of the urn. Both poets exploit figurative language: Komunyakkaa through the reflective granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Keats through the silent yet loud features on …show more content…
“Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa is a poignant and powerful poem that dives into the complex emotions of a Vietnam War veteran as the author confronts the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. His poem navigates through themes of memory, trauma, and the intersection of personal and collective grief. Komunyakaa, pulling from his own experience in the war, uses vivid imagery and careful control of tone to bring the audience into a reflective space where the granite stone wall changes into a mirror for the internal turmoil of the speaker. The speaker's description of the memorial as a mirror represents the grief he still carries with him and the feeling of sinking back into the memories of the war. A quote from the text that shows excellent uses of figurative language to express the author’s emotions and personal conflict is, “My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night” (Komunyakaa, lines …show more content…
John Keats’ “Ode to a Grecian Urn” is an enduring work of beauty that masterfully intertwines the permanence of art with the transient nature of human experience. In the fourth stanza of the text, Keats mentions nature and humans as well, “What little town by river or sea sore,/ Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,/ Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?” (Keats, lines 35-37). Keats describes the sense of abandonment in a once vibrant place. In this poem, Keats employs an abundant veil of figurative language to explore the stories captured on the surface of the urn, which themselves are a powerful depiction of reality and the emotions that come with life. The poem is structured into five stanzas, each consisting of ten lines of iambic pentameter, with a complex rhyme scheme. Keats uses metaphor and personification to bring life into the art, allowing it to express truth through storytelling. The images depicted on the urn—a lover’s chase, a sacrifice, and a ghost town—cite the relationship between art and
In various forms of literature there is theme. The theme is the central idea of the story that is inferred by the reader from details in the story. A theme is the main concept of the writing. The poems Glory by Yusef Komunyakaa and Success is Counted Sweetest by Emily Dickinson share the theme of success. Success is the achievement of an intention that was planned or attempted. Success not only requires bravery and courage, but hard work and determination. The theme of success in the poem, Glory
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
to do this. The second piece of inspiration I like is, “I will put Chaos into fourteen lines”, by Edna St. Vincent Millay. On a depressing side of things, I am then moving on to a more disheartening type of poem. This poem is “Facing It”, by Yusef Komunyakaa. In “The Tyger”, by Blake, I really enjoy many lines of this poem. This whole poem gets me going. In line six, the words “Burnt the fire of thine eyes” give me a picture of a tiger lying in the jungle and all you can see are his eyes lying somewhere
Harold Steele Professor Jennifer Vacca English 2307 15 Sept. 2015 Facing Adversity Yusef Komunyakaa is a Louisiana native, Vietnam Veteran. Born in 1947, Yusef, an African-American, dealt with racism both overseas and within our borders. In the Army, he served one tour in the Vietnam War; the poem Facing It allows the reader a small amount of access into the mind of Yusef Komunyakaa. This poem is the last excerpt in the series called, Dien Cai Dau. This series of, Vietnam War themed, poems express
mentality of many soldiers. Whether you are at war for your country or at war in society, sometimes it may seem like your fighting a never ending battle. In Allen Ginsberg’s poem “America” and in Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It”, they talk about war and what they were facing at that moment in time. Ginsberg and Yusef both have different attitudes about war and their country. These poets share many similarities in their poems, but yet they also have many differences as well In Allen Ginsberg’s poem “America”
Dove and Yusef Komunyakaa explore issues broader than rural black America. In “Parsley”, Dove canvasses the issues of inequality and oppression in Haiti; whereas in “Facing It”, Komunyakaa examines the Vietnam War from the perspective of a black solider and the post-traumatic stress he endures. What unites the two poets is their utilization of lyricism and rhythms to articulate personal narratives and create complex images of life through observations and experiences. Both Dove and Komunyakaa stress
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
The two poems that I have selected for the Analytic Paper are “Blue Light Lounge Sutra For The Performance Poets At Harold Park Hotel” and “Thanks” by Yusef Komunyakaa. The former was read and analyzed as part of a class discussion early on in the quarter while the latter is a piece never analyzed, but closely related to another that was examined for its content and stylistic techniques (“Facing It”, Penguin Anthology, page 441). Though both were written by the same author, there are specific discrepancies
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
Remembering Vietnam "Facing It," by Yusef Komunyakaa talks about a war which most, if not all Americans are familiar with. The ever so controversial Vietnam Conflict, also known as the Vietnam War. This poem was very well written, and I respect all that was said in the context of the poem. "Facing It," discusses his visit to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C., and his emotions that he experienced while he was at the memorial. I can not imagine what the feelings would be like to see one
express themselves throughout slavery and war. It would have been a dangerous thing to do. Therefore, they used music, writings, writing poems and stories was the best way to put out their situations. 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
O’Brien, the poem “Camouflaging the Chimera” by Yusef Komunyakaa, and the song “Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival, the authors feel the emotional reasoning for staying in the Vietnam War outweighed the diplomatic reasons that they were originally there for. For these soldiers, they were simply used by the government to enact on their orders, and in all events criticized and demoralized for doing so. In Tim O’Brien’s “Field Trip,” Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Camouflaging the Chimera,” and “Fortunate
background. Yusef Komunyakaa makes this clear in his poem “Untitled Blues.” Composed in 1984, this poem exemplifies the unique conditions of an African American male living in the city of New Orleans. “Untitled Blues” epitomizes the themes of injustice and music within
O’Brien describes a more personal experience of the difficulties soldiers face during war. In the other hand, Komunyakaa tells us in his poem the type of challenges veterans have long after they were in war. Although sometimes when we think about war, we think being the strongest physically can be enough to be a warrior, but we tend to forget that mentally we need to be equally strong. Komunyakaa uses vivid imagery, diction, and a sad tone throughout his poem and is able to show the reader his sadness
medium, Dunbar and Komunyakaa are able to indirectly battle racism. Although the poets were born during different times, there is a clear division between blacks and whites, which is broken down by Dunbar 's “Sympathy” and Komunyakaa 's “Facing It.” Dunbar speaks out against racism and uses the caged bird to represent a slave within his poem. At the end of his poem, Dunbar calls for help from his black community and evoke sympathy and remorse from the white people. Komunyakaa uses an approach that