Komunyakaa is another contemporary poet. He, too, fits into other "categories" of poets. Where does he fall and why?
DO NOW: Please click on Comments and give your ideas about this poem.
Partying Towards Perfection
9 years ago
Monday, March 10, 2014
Yusef Komunyakaa: More Than Simply Fun To Say
Komunyakaa is another contemporary poet. He, too, fits into other "categories" of poets. Where does he fall and why?
DO NOW: Please click on Comments and give your ideas about this poem.
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Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It” was extremely confusing and difficult for me to understand. The speakers tone is quite depressing and by the end of the poem I actually felt sympathy for him. I would categorize this as a narrative poem because the man is reflecting on his past memories of war which consisted of much loss and sorrow.
ReplyDeleteMegan H.
Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem is somewhat simple to understand when read slowly and carefully. After reading it three times, I finally understood that this poem is a narrative. He is writing in first person and about a troubling time in his life. This is the poem of someone who is confused and hurt but doesn’t know what to do. Komunyakaa is a brilliant poet.
ReplyDelete-Anthony C.
This poem was very interesting. The speaker is the writer Yusef Komunyakaa. He is writing about his personal and emotional experiences after the war. It was a little confusing at first. After reading it a few times i understand the speaker. -Victoria G.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa the speaker is the poet. Yusef uses a lot of metaphors in his poem. He is recalling past experiences he had in the war. He felt a lot of emotions through this time in his life. From reading this poem I can tell that what he went through was unimaginable, walking through flash bangs and all of that army stuff. Yusef is a strong human being to survive living through a war and plus having the courage to express his feeling in his poetry. George P.
ReplyDeleteYusef Komunyakaa poem “Facing it” was a little confusing because it was a little difficult to cope with what he was speaking about, but after reading it more than once I was able to get the jiff of things. The speaker’s tone in this poem is very mournful and depressed because as he stands in front of the monument wall (Vietnam’s veteran’s memorial) he sees himself in it meaning he sees himself when he was at war in Vietnam. When he sees the wall or walk away from the wall the memories of the war will always be with him it will never go away. –Vanessa G
ReplyDeleteThe speaker of this poem, "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa, wanders in the Vietnam Veteran Memorial. The speaker feels such deep emotions about what veterans might felt during the war. The interesting thing about this poem is that the poet sometimes uses spiritual or unrealistic images like "like smoke", or "his pale eyes look through mine." It's a intelligent way to turn a certain event into a beautiful poem, I think. Also, by descrbing that the speaker moves back and forth, the poet can depict the complex emotion the speaker feels.
ReplyDeleteDonghwan K.
"Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa was a little confusing to me. From what I read I got the impression that he used to be a soldier and is walking through a Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Throughout the poem he was having flash backs of war. The way Komunyakaa described what he saw in war was really touching.
ReplyDelete-Megan S.
I enjoyed "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa more than the other. It is a short example of PTSD. The speaker is having flash backs and actually says "I go down the 58,022 names, half-expecting to find
ReplyDeletemy own in letters like smoke." This poem gives a really strong message of what it is like for a solider coming home.
-Jake G.
In believe, "Facing It" written by Yusef Komunyaka ie about the speaker who is an African American man who is admiring his memorial from the Vietnam War. Throughout the poem the speaker provides the readers with many emotions such as anger, sadness, and depression.
ReplyDelete-Marisa R
I enjoyed "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa because it had a deep meaning and I felt as if I could feel the emotion of the soldier. The speaker is having flash backs and sees the 58,022 names of others who have been killed at war. This poem gives a message of strength. -Emily Z.
ReplyDeleteThis poem is very deep. When Yusef Komunyakaa wrote" but when she walks away the names stay on the wall". That line meant to me that she was hoping that the loved one that she lost would come with her. But as it turned out she is a widow who lost her spouse in war. Overall this poem was good.-Ricasso b.
ReplyDeleteAt it's most simplistic core “Facing It” by Yusef Komunyakaa is a poem about a Vietnam veteran looking at the Vietnam memorial. But it's much more complex than that. He's not just looking at names, he's facing his fear. What that fear is is unknown. It could very likely be the fear of being reminded of his time in the war, which staring at the memorial is likely to do. It could be the fear of seeing the name of someone he knew personally that was wounded or died, as is evidenced by the lines “I touch the name Andrew Johnson; I see the booby trap's white flash.” It could be the fear of having to meet another veteran or another veteran's family. It could simply be the fear that this veteran has lost touch with his emotions and does not want to regain them due to the speaker not wanting to cry during his observation. It does not matter. Komunyakaa does not need to go into specifics, he's painted a picture that anyone, certainly other veterans can relate to, and that is that war is horrible and leaves scars that time won't heal, only facing them will. -Kyle B
ReplyDeleteI found "Facing It" to be a very dark and gloomy toned poem. It seems that this poet may have been having memories from War or maybe he's already dead. I also noticed that the word "black" is repeated in the first two lines which gives it a much more powerful sense. The war really affected the author so this is a very intense poem.-Matt.H
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Facing It" written by Yusef Komunyakaa is a very sad poem. The speaker reflects on the Vietnam War and his time served there. He uses his face as a metaphor which represents the time spent in Vietnam. There is also a sense of fear in the poem, especially when he states "My clouded reflection eyes me like a bird of prey, the profile of night slanted against morning" (Komunyakaa). Its as if the monument is haunting him. The intensity of the poem is fired by the actual experience of the speaker.
ReplyDelete-Jordan C.
Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It" conveys a very gloomy tone. One example being "I'm stone. I'm flesh" (Komunyaka). This line pulls the human character out of the speaker and reduces the speaker to an object, something that is lifeless. As this carries throughout the poem Komunyakaa could be considered a Jazz poet. His tone and the expression of despair parallels Langston Hues's style from the Harlem Renaissance. Claude McKay and Komunyakaa a very similar as well. Their use of diction immediately grabs the readers attention. As Komunyakaa is considered to be a contemporary poet, he could also be considered a Jazz poet.
ReplyDelete-Doug C.
The poem "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyaka is a very depressing poem that seem to use terms of nature to show how dark and disturbed he is feeling. He is standing in a Vietnam memorial but he still is remembering every event that occurred while he was there and thinking about how he should be dead. It show that he has not recovered from the war.
ReplyDeleteJulianna C.
The poem "Facing It" byt Yusef Komunyakaa is very detailed and easily portrays the darkness and gloom that he was feeling while looking at the Memorial. It was full of emotions and it sounded as if he felt very overwhelmed by all of the names that were listed. When he says "I touch the name Andrew Johnson, I see the booby trap's white flash." it is clear that he is still deeply effected and even haunted by what he's seen and gone through.
ReplyDelete-Christina H
The speaker of the poem, "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa is an African American veteran of the Vietnam War. The poem is hard to comprehend at first, because his thoughts are all over the place. This is due to the trauma he has, post-war. He experiences momentarily, the terrible things that happened during the war. His reoccurring flashbacks to the war confuses the reality of where he is that is bringing about these memories. He says, "I'm in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial again". The shifts from recalling his past at war to his present, in the memorial shows that he is still not in peace. These memories haunt him still and this haunting creates the tone of the poem. He is not celebrating his contribution and participation in the war. Instead, he reads the names of all the people in the war that has died ad feels a connection to them because some of these people were his fellow soldiers. This affects who he is and where he goes even now that the war is over because he sees experiences of the war in everything around him. So, when others visit the memorial and walk away unaffected he doesn't understand because a part of him has lost himself by being in the war and visiting the memorial.
ReplyDelete- Esther Pagan
*and
DeleteIt's a bit confusing, but reading it a couple of times I pretty much get that this poem is about someone mourning at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The tone of this poem feels very sad and mournful. The speaker sounds like he is one of the statues at the memorial because he sorta describes himself in the beginning of the poem.
ReplyDeleteDarwin U
"Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa, the speaker is a male veteran who was in the Vietnam War. When veteran sees the names on the wall, he feels they stil with him and he would be died just like them. All the memory floats in his mind, it is a tough and depressed time during the Vietnam War. The tone in this poem is sad, depressed, and lonely.
ReplyDelete---Peng Q.
"Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa has a mournful tone to it. Looking through the names of vetereans who have fought and died bring the veteran to feel upset because of all the memories he is looking back on of when the war was taking place. Komunyakaa uses a good sense of imagery to portray his poems and lets the reader get a glimpse of the flashbacks the veteran is having. -Brett B
ReplyDeleteThis poem is about a Vietnam Veteran. The tone of this poem is sad. The speaker sounds like he is looking back on all of his memories of the war.
ReplyDelete- Akram A
In this poem, there's a Vietnam Veteran who feels a bit unnoticed and unappreciated. Throughout the poem you can see the racism being mentioned as much as him not being appreciated as a vet.
ReplyDeleteThe main idea of the poem "facing it" was to give the reader the perspective of a vietnam veteran at the vietnam memorial. The veteran faces his past memories, himself in the reflection, his fellow veterans imprinted on the wall, and the people around him mourning at the memorial.
ReplyDelete-Nick A
In the poem "Facing It" i feel like the narrator was dealing with allot of confliction with in himself from the past up to the present. He seems to be hurting from the memory of the war, even though the poem the doesn't tell use directly what he's feeling or thinking. If you look into the poem and read between the lines you can figure out what he is actually thinking or feeling.
ReplyDeleteAdewale Taiwo
I feel that this poem is very sad. The veteran visiting the memorial is having flashbacks to battle as he's looking for a soldier's name on the wall. Throughout the poem he is having bursts of horrible memories. You can tell that the past haunts him and that he is facing reality by not seeing his name on the wall, but a fellow soldier's.
ReplyDelete-Nicole R.
I feel like this is sort of a sad type of poem in general. Its like he is reliving him being in the war then again he is coming back to terms with his own current reality. Getting flash backs of the bad things he saw and all the names on the wall of his fellow and lost soldiers has him feeling like everything he did went unnoticed.
ReplyDelete-Omari G