The Poem Facing It By Yusef Komunyakaa

In the poem “Song of Napalm,” it is a straight narrative of what it is like to live with memories from such a horrible war. “Song of Napalm” follows a Viet Nam soldiers' memories of a scene he once saw. His mind tries to distort the image of a girl getting bombed and burning in front of his eyes into a pleasant scene. The effort to make the scene pleasurable is the mind's way of trying to protect itself from the horrific incident that actually happened.

“Facing It” a powerful sonnet, brings both exact and metaphorical meanings to the reader. As seen in “I see the booby trap’s white flash,” (18) where there is no room for a different interpretation, but a flashback; which invites the reader into the world of war. It is up to the vet to see himself as something other than a man of war and the Vietnam Memorial allows them to release their pain into the stone, the black granite; releasing the empty pain that is carried for years. “[H]alf-expecting to find / my own [name] in the letter” (15, 16) and the portrayal of “I am a window” (27) allows others to see through the vet what a veteran took away from the war. Not all came back whole either mind or body and Komunyakaa displays this within the reference of “his right arm / inside the stone” (28, 29) and how this soldier wishes the names and pain could be erased by the simple movement of a

Like many others soldiers the song writer Lachlan Irvine suffered PTSD being a major reason for writing these poems so people understand what he went through. The meaning of this poem is set upon how bad Vietnam war was like and more focusing on the lesser known parts that happened. The rhetorical questions throughout this poem created great emotional affect upon the audience making them think hard about all these different events. The language used with these questioned is very strong to create lasting effects being extremely upfront one used to

”with sorrowful quick fingers, heading south, heading east, home, home, home”, and “bringing them home now, too late, too early” are lines from the poem to signify that the soldiers have been returned home too early because the war has cost them their lives. The reader is left with a feeling of much sorrow at the thought of the many young lives lost at war. The simile “the noble jets are whining like hounds” indicates that the bodies are being returned to their homeland by plane. Dead bodies being flown home are one of the destructing characteristics of war. This also emotionally attaches the audience by explaining that the soldiers died defending their country and that throughout history soldiers have represented them not just in the Vietnam

Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It” is an emotional journey to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. According to Poets.org, Komunyakaa earned a Bronze Star for his service in the United States Army during the Vietnam war (1969-70). The use of first-person point of view gives the reader insight to the pain felt by a veteran reliving the horrors of war. The writer shares an indelible bond with not only the narrator, but all survivors of military combat. This bond is something that cannot be fully understood by the average person visiting the memorial. The theme of the perpetual effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is conveyed through the use of imagery, diction, and mood.

The title ‘Homecoming’ is a significant contrast to the traditional universal implication of the word with the reality of the dead soldiers being brought home, to their grieving families. The word “homecoming” usually implies a heroic or reception for a great achievement however Dawe has effectively placed it to represent the death, mourning and loss of a loved one. The poet uses powerful representation to emphasise the emotional damage caused to family or friends through the loss of a loved one. The striking personification used on lines 23-24: “telegrams tremble like leaves from a wintering tree and the spider grief swings his bitter geometry”, exemplifies the arbitrary grief that affects those who receive notices. Gaining an emotional distance through the use of a third person voice, the poem enables the reader to view the tragedy in its entirety. Repeating “home, home, home” accentuates the emotional ties of the soldiers, a technique indicative of the monotony of the experiences involved in warfare. By exposing the destructive aspects of war Dawe removes war from its falsely glorified

Have you ever went back to a place that impacted your life or reminded you of something that did? How did it make you feel ? Yusef Komunyakaa's Poem "Facing It" is about exactly that. He tells a story of an African American veteran visiting the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall. Throughout the poem, Komunyakaa shows the struggles that black men had to go through, the impact that the reflection of their faces had on the men, and the feelings and emotions that were brought back when visiting the memorial.

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

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.

In the poem Veterans Day by Dick Allen, there were many vivid observations made by the reader. The poem discusses two different people, who have taken different routes during the Vietnam War. The tone of the poem makes the reader assume the narrator has a grudge over the veterans, specifically veterans who were in the Vietnam War. Throughout the poem, the narrator is somewhat lashing out at this person, and the person is no one in particular; he could be a stranger, but a stranger who took part in the Vietnam War. The narrator gains the reader’s attention by making distinct comparisons between him and the veteran: “You were the soldier shouting at the rain. I was the marcher with a cause to claim.” The detail of the soldier shouting in the

Poets frequently utilize vivid images to further depict the overall meaning of their works. The imagery in “& the War Was in Its Infancy Then,” by Maurice Emerson Decaul, conveys mental images in the reader’s mind that shows the physical damage of war with the addition of the emotional effect it has on a person. The reader can conclude the speaker is a soldier because the poem is written from a soldier’s point of view, someone who had to have been a first hand witness. The poem is about a man who is emotionally damaged due to war and has had to learn to cope with his surroundings. By use of imagery the reader gets a deeper sense of how the man felt during the war. Through the use of imagery, tone, and deeper meaning, Decaul shows us the

This poem describes the feelings that the speaker felt back when he was in WW1 and how he feels in present time. One of the memory's that still haunts him in present time is gas attacks. He suffered when he was fighting in war and now he is suffering from the traumatizing memories. Patriotism is also talked about multiple times in this poem. Throughout the poem, the speaker talks about war so much that it becomes surreal.

While reading this poem readers have a great sense of empathy for the actions taking place. It forces us to think about what exactly do solider go through and ways they can be more appreciated after returning from war. It allows us to emphasize with the narrator for his struggles and appreciate all that active duty soldiers as well as veterans do for this country. Mental illness from war is real and I encourage everyone to it just enough importance they would a physical injury. Soldier should have the right to seek medical attention after returning from war without it being frowned upon. Everyone copes differently and while one soldier’s okay with not speaking about his experience the other might need a listening ear to release all of that

When faced with the countless problems of war including death, disease, sorrow, and loss, soldiers develop and intense bond between one another as they seek support in one another. A brotherhood is formed among these soldiers who rely on one another for protection and companionship amid a time in their lives where they are faced with the constant threat of death and violence everyday of their lives. But what happens to them after the war? In After the War, poet brings awareness to how the war-torn soldier attempts to reestablish their self in a society they have been isolated from for so many years through use of free verse and repetitive phrases, which further reinforces the theme throughout the poem.

Overall, I think that that this poem explores the relationship of the father and the son in a way which Vernon Scannell can talk about his past experience in being in the war which gives the reader an opportunity to look at the poem from a different perspective. Scannell has written this poem in retrospect in the past and the poem itself, in its narrative tone, shows the reader two different stories that are symbolised into one poem.