Use of Imagery and Figurative Language in “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa

“Facing It” by the American black poet Yusef Komunyakaa of Shreveport is written with the use of visual images. Yusef Komunyakaa writes about one of his many trips to the Vietnam's Veteran's Memorial in Washington DC. This Memorial is a long polished slab of black reflectant granite with the names of all the US soldiers who lost their lives in Vietnam. Yusef says “my black face fades, hiding inside the black granite”. Here Yusef uses his reflection in the wall to bring the reader back to the war and how he feels standing at the wall now. He makes his feeling ambiguous and give the reader the opportuntity to decide what he is feeling through his use of viual images.

He struggles to internalize his emotions, telling himself he is stone, like the granite memorial, a strong and steady reminder of the past, but he fails as he realizes the difference between him and the memorial: he is a living human being. He shares the darkness, the blackness, with the granite memorial, yet he can feel the full impact of this connection whereas a granite memorial cannot itself feel the pain that it directly represents. The overall moral of the poems is fairly up front for the reader. It is that war is not how stories make it sound, it is not honorable and fun and glorious, it is gruesome, deadly, and changes the lives of many young men and women who still had a lot of life and innocence left in front of them, and now all they will have are the memories of death and their friends dying in front of them. As Komuyakaa face becomes clear it now serves as a direct reminder of the emotional impact of his surroundings upon him, through mirroring his own face and also by simultaneously illuminating his surroundings and his silhouetted existence within these surroundings, reminding him that he stands within the Vietnam Memorial. This effect is described within the (lines 8-13) His constant turning and moving from angle to angle also suggests emotion as he cannot view the

* Line 3 – ‘Loved and were loved, and now we lie…’ ‘loved and were

Cruel and terrible events forever leave a mark on our memory. Especially, when these events are directly related to person, the memory reproduces every second of what happened. Unfortunately, humanity fully cognized the term of "war". "Facing it" by Yusef Komunyakaa reveals another several sides of the war. Poem tells the reader about which consequences, the war left and how changed people's lives. The hero identifies itself with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, mourns all those killed and who did not return. That is why the poem is dramatic. War has become a part of the hero's life, even after the ending.

A statement such as ‘War is unavoidable’, for some leave a bad taste in their mouth, as if the person stating such a claim was the devil himself, for others it is a way of life. “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa a poem that takes place where most refuse to tread; a journey which displays the interpretation of each viewer and the memories and images the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial evokes. They erect various Memorials and Monuments which help individuals associate memories and the meanings; but only someone who went through it or experience a personal lost, will find release from conflict, memories left untouched for years, “I said I wouldn’t / dammit: No tears.” (3, 4)

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 delves into the everyday matters that were a constant reminder for the African American soldiers that they were free to fight, but not free to be as the white soldiers. 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. In addition, the realities of racism that existed in the Vietnam War are highlighted.

The purpose of this essay is to compare the of Wendell Berry’s essay, “The Failure of War”, Dorianne Laux’s poem, Staff Sgt. Metz and Damon Winter’s photograph of Sgt. Brian Keith. All three of these pieces represent the controversial issue of War which is a topic for a argumentative piece. In two of the written pieces the writer acknowledges the opposition, however, the picture the opposition is implied. Each piece has a purpose aimed at an audience with an emotional appeal.

Many people say that war is worse than Hell because innocent people die in it. In Beah’s life, this is most definitely true. Throughout the war, Beah goes through many hardships and witnesses the deaths of innocent loved ones, and Beah’s writing reflects how he felt during these times. Beah uses rhetorical strategies like diction, imagery, and detail choice to convey the emotional process he had to undergo in order to survive.

The first stanza tells the reader that the writer glorified war and hoped to be a solider. In the second stanza, the battles that he speaks of aren’t real, they’re battles that he has imagined. The battles and innumerable wounds could be metaphors for his hard upbringing (3-4). The poem uses a lot of figurative language to portray the authors youthful imagination. Simic imagines what it would be like to be a solider, by playing with cardboard swords and boasting about “Slain thousands” (4).

"White people, black people, green people speak Vietnamese. One guy ask... What does he ask? I stare at him then back at the wall."(Hatch) "Facing It", a poem by Yusef Kumunyakaa, outlines an African-American Vietnam Veteran's experience when he visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Sharon Kraus and Jeannine Johnson explore the poem through identity, alienation, and survival.

Jeannine Johnson explains some of the different feelings and emotions the speaker is feeling in the poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa. She said, "In his poem, Komunyakaa, a recipient of the Bronz Star, recalls viewing the Vietnam Veterans memorial in Washington, D.C., and the many conflicting sensations he feels in it's presence" (pg 118). When he comes to the memorial it brings back different kinds of feelings for him. Not only is he dealing with the thoughts of war, but also of how realizing he isn't there anymore. He is feeling both comfort and discomfort while coming baxk to the wall.

In the poem “Facing It” by American author Yusef Komunyakaa, the author uses in order to express to his audience the close experience of making his journey to the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial in Washington, DC. Through the use of these various literary devices, the speaker is not only able to draw the audience into his involvement in the war, and place the events of the war inside the lives and hearts of his audience. The speaker of the poem, whom the reader can assume is Komunyakaa himself, faces the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall with all of these feelings. Komunyakaa uses the wall as a backdrop to express these feelings. In the poem, the wall is used as at times a window into the speaker's grief about the war, a reflection of his sadness.

Poetry is a way of letting readers know what people experience in life, either it is pleasing or tragic. Yuself Komanyakaa signifies his tragic experience in the poem “Facing It,” by writing what happens when he faces the remembrances of different times of war. In the poem, a veteran describes his visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where he recalls what happened during war. The poem “Facing It,” uses symbolism, imagery, and similes to show that coping with the memories of war can be dreadful.

The first aspect of the poem that caught my attention was how reflective and nostalgic the soldier portrayed himself. One prime example of this occurring is when the soldier states, “Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;” (12). Here, he is referring to how much pleasure he had in the presence of his homeland, and his desire to go back. Additionally, it is evident that the soldier is longing to return home when

Since the soldiers could do nothing to help the dying man they “flung” (line 18) him behind a wagon. This shows how people are dehumanized in war and their lives are disposable and can simply be flung away to become another statistic. When the narrator says, “In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,” (line 15) it insinuates that all his dreams have been replaced by nightmares of the chilling memory of how he could not do anything to help his fellow soldier. He can only replay the horrific memory of the gas attack over and over inside his head. The reader cannot help but visualize this young soldier dying a slow, painful death. This emphasizes the sarcasm in the title. How can anyone glorify a death so horrible?