Summary Of Facing It By Yusef Kubunyakaa

“Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa and “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen, are two powerful poems with the graphical life like images on the reality of war. It is apparent that the authors was a soldier who experienced some of the most gruesome images of World War I. In “Ducle et Decorum Est” Owen tells us about a personal experience in which he survived a chemical warfare attack. Although he survives, some of his fellow troops do not. As in “Facing It” Komunyakaa is also a soldier who has survived a war. Komunyakaa response to his war experience is deeply shaped by his visit to Lin’s memorial. Inspired by the monument, Komunyakaa confronts his conflicted feelings about Vietnam, its legacy, and even more broadly, the part race plays in

Yusef Komunyakaa was an African American soldier in Vietnam. After his service, he wrote a book full of poems that depicted what it was like to be a soldier in Vietnam, and titled it Dien Cai Dau. If the title were to be translated it would latterly men “to be crazy in the head”. The book brings up a lot of different questions that would seem crazy for a solder to think. One of these questions is not only relevant to soldiers in war but also to us. This question is: What do we see? That is a question that we all ask ourselves when we see someone else. We all know that people have bias and often find it hard to look past that first impression until you really get to know that person. While we as normal people have our own visions of people

Growing up, many young boys idolized the war heroes in movies such as Saving Private Ryan and American Sniper. However, in the poem "Tunnels," Yusef Komunyakaa portrays the theme of the true fear and lack of purpose experienced by the American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. This was done by showing the reader that any mistake could easily result in the death of a soldier. Through his use of poetic form and structure, figurative language, and diction Komunyakaa is able to effectively convey his theme.

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.

Literary works provide one of the avenues through which people express their concern about matters of interest in the society. For example, “Facing It” by Yusef Kommunyakaa is a poetic response to the Vietnam War Memorial. The author uses the poem to highlight his feelings about the memorial that also shows his personal attachment to it. The title of the poem indicates his deep reflection on the event, and an attempt to express and confront the deep feelings he has about the Vietnam War. A close reading of the poem shows that the poet uses certain literary styles to achieve his aim. I will now give a brief introduction about the author.

At first glance, the reader notices that both poems use first person pronouns in order to convey the poet’s perception of their personal experiences. In the poem “Facing It”, Yusef Komunyakaa repeatedly uses “I” to inform the audience that the sense of sorrow and regret when visiting the Vietnam War Veteran’s Memorial located in Washington DC expresses Komunyakaa’s painful journey. Komunyakaa’s ability to see his “black face” (1) fading “inside the black granite” (2) allows for the audience to understand and relate to the atmosphere when facing the granite monument. As the poem progresses, Komunyakaa continues to covey his personal emotions which allows the audience to illustrate a vivid image between the Vietnam War and memorial. In the poem “The Necessity for Irony”, Eavan Boland also demonstrates her personal experiences by frequently using “I” to inform the audience about her relationship with her daughter. In beginning of the poem, Boland states that she “would go with my twelve year old daughter into town” (4-5). As the poem progresses, the reader can gather clues that as the years passed by the strong relationship between mother and daughter slowly deteriorates. This emphasizes how individuals tend to move through the motions of life without realizing that the most important things are always standing in front of them. Boland eventually realizes this when she had her “back turned to her, searching- oh irony” (43-44). Eavan Boland’s past experience informs readers to avoid looking for happiness because the joy of life is closer than you think.

In the poem “facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa memorial may be more impacting than the monument itself. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin a student at Yale. She called the design “the architecture of design.” This memorial anticipated an effect on the veterans everywhere, and had a unique impact on the poet Yusef Komunyakaa himself. He found his first introduction to poems through his grandparents reading the old testimate, which sparked his interest for poetry. Later, he served in the Vietnam War from 1969 to 1970 as newspaper editor. A year after that the memorial was built, and he confronted his feelings along with the legacy of the Vietnam War and how race plays a big role into the war. As racism

At some point in life, people will deal with a difficult situation that leaves them heavily impacted. In these situations, there are many reactions that happen such as sorrow, anger, or guilt. Many attempt to forget this critical situation and walk away from it, but at some point, it will come back and need to be confronted. There will be a time when they have to confront their past. In “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa, this specific situation happens: The speaker, after a few years, visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. At the memorial, the speaker attempts his best to hold back his emotion. The speaker is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and at the memorial, he has a special connection with his fallen comrades. The theme of war leaving an impact

In Neon Vernacular, Yusef Komunyakaa brought to the forefront the struggles of African American soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War. They fought for the freedom of the very ones that denied them their freedom to be equal and the same as their white counterparts. The collection of poems really delve into the everyday matters that were a constant reminder to the African American soldiers that they were free to fight, but not free to be as those white soldiers that they fought beside. An analysis of Komunyakaa’s work opens the eyes of those who felt that the Vietnam War zone was an equal opportunity for all those who fought for America. Also,the realities of racism that existed in the Vietnam War are highlighted in the Neon Vernacular.

In "Facing it” a poem by Yusef Komunyakaa, the utilization of symbolism to propose the tone brings out various emotions from anticipation to fear. The use of imagery to suggest the tone evokes many different feelings from anticipation to fear. In the beginning of the poem the speaker talks to himself while holding back tears at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. During this time the viewing of the Memorial brought back countless uncomfortable memories for a Vietnam Veteran such as the speaker. While he is there he is going through many different emotions, he is envisioning them as they are moving on, remaining in sorrow or just being a hardened veteran in the wall. As a veteran of the Vietnam War, the speaker reconsiders the familiarities of pain and having been in one of the most challenging wars in US History. The memorial wall

Komunyakaa visits the memorial of all the fallen soldiers from the vietnam war, he starts to feel like he is apart of the memorial based off of the emotions that he had, when sculpting the names on the wall. He is overwhelmed at the amount of names that are written on the wall. He is showing his emotional distress when mourning over the names of the fallen soldiers. He told himself he would be strong enough to face the emotions of visiting the memorial, but he shortly

The poem Facing it by Yusef Komunyakaa, a black soldier, is a brilliant message of the difficulty of war. This Poem has many hidden meanings, with many literary devices to get his point across. He uses personification Metaphors and lots of Imagery. These devices make is very easy for the readers the image the hardship of looking at that wall, seeing people you know and loved name’s staring back at you. Many emotions appear in this poem but none stronger than guilt.

The meaning of “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa is conveyed by his excellent use of imagery throughout the poem to employ the speakers feeling while visiting the Vietnam Memorial. Imagery effects the poem by providing vivid descriptions of how a veteran feels after seeing the memorial for the first time and how the Vietnam War has impacted his life. Imagery furthers the poem because the speaker uses it to explain the effects of the Vietnam War on not only his life, but the lives of all those who suffered because of the war.

visitors. On the face of the memorial there is a list of all those who

How many times have you shown your friends and your family a face which doesn’t belong to you? A face which is not your real face? I’m sure we have all shown faces other than ours to people when we first met them. It could be for the fear of their judgment if they found out who we truly are. It could be a sense of insecurity that we’re not good enough, or it could just be a habit that we gained throughout our lives. Regarding this, the Egyptian writer, Salma Shallash, in her short story, “the other face”, endeavors to answer this question: Should we show our true faces to people around us sooner than late? Or should we try to keep it from showing way too soon? Shallash’s purpose is to indoctrinate, in a nostalgic tone, not only the couples but also everyone the idea on what our relationships should be built up.