An Analysis of Komanuyakaa Facing It Essay -- Komanuyakaa Facing It E

An Analysis of Facing It Yusef Komanuyakaas poem Facing It is a brutal psychometric test 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 contributionl statement. However, the poem is as well a universal and real description of the pain that comes about for a soldier when remembering the horror of war. He creates the poems persona by victimisation flashbacks to the war, thereby informing the reader as to why the utterer is behaving and jot the way he is. The thirty-one lines that make up Facing It jaunt back and forth between present and past to tell the bill of one mans life. The informal language and intimacy of the poem atomic number 18 twain techniques the poet uses to convey his message to his audience. He speaks openly and simply, as if he is talk of the town to a close friend. The language is full of slang, two-word sentences, and rambling thoughts all of which ar aspects of conversations between two people who know each some other well. The incident that none of the lines ryhme adds to the idea of an ordinary conversation, because near people do not speak in verse. The tone of the poem is rambling and gives the impression that the speaker is thinking and jumping from one thought to the next very quickly. His alfresco actions of touching the besiege and looking at all the names are causing him to react internally. He is remembering the past and is attempting to suppress the emotions that are rising within him. The first two lines of the poem set the imagination of fear and gloom which is constant throughout the remainder of the poem. The word plectron of black to describe the speakers verbal expression can convey several messages (502). The most obvious meaning ... ... the speaker is telling his audience that the dead soldier was a young man. The tenderness of his age further amplifies the horrific spirit of war. The poems persona and the Vietnam Veterans monument Wall depend on each other to express the poems intention. The poems intention is to show that war is lethal, less than gloriful, and extremely real. Although old age have gone by, these recollections are still affecting how he lives. but standing in front of the wall reminds the speaker of all of this. The Veterans Memorial takes on a life of its own. While the speaker is in its presense, the wall controls him. It forces him to remember painful memories and even cry, something he promised himself he would not do. The persona in the poem reacts to the power the wall has and realizes that he must face his past and everything related to it, especially Vietnam.