Poetry explication of
Komunyakaa's poem is about a Vietnam veteran's visit to the Vietnam memorial. He feels as though he should be a part of that wall and have died with his fellow veterans, because he feels so close to them. He recollects about his wartime memories, and watches the surrounding peoples' reflection on the wall. The title "Facing It" is very fitting for this poem. First of all, the speaker literally must face or look at the memorial. In this sense, he also sees his face in the reflection. It also figuratively shows how the veteran must face his past memories of the war and the tragedy of losing his comrades during the war. Rather than forget about the experience he must learn to accept it. This also deals with him reflecting on his own life and literally seeing his reflection and the other visitors' on the wall. The speaker starts out by using color imagery to make himself part of the "black" wall. He loses his humanlike qualities as he becomes lost in his own reverie: "No tears. / I'm stone." The author symbolically compares himself to a wall so that he can have no feelings of loss or sorrow. He also plays upon the importance of his own reflection. This is significant throughout the entire poem. "My clouded reflection eyes me/ like a
However, he can only see it indirectly, making him more a part of the wall that he is "facing. It can also mean how the way that he perceives the world can change, as the way that he can view himself. One name in particular, Andrew Johnson, reminds the speaker of this man's death: "I see the booby trap's white flash. " He is therefore reflecting on his friends' deaths as well, perhaps wondering how and why he managed to survive. This indirect way shows his own reflection or contemplation about the war, and the way that it has shifted his view of the world. He describes the names that "shimmer on a woman's blouse" but that the names will stay after she leaves. In this way, he reemphasizes that he is part of the wall, hiding inside it. Komunyakaa uses imagery to describe the reflections of the surrounding people, setting himself apart from them because he cannot see them directly; it is as if he is on a different level, or living in another world. " This literally describes the shininess of the wall's surface. It furthers his connection to the war, implying that he feels like he should be dead or that part of him is dead after such a painful experience. Therefore, the mother could be brushing her boy's hair, remembering her husband and attempting to erase his name so that he would not be dead and could come back to her. The idea that she might look as if she were erasing names as she brushes a boy's hair could allude to a lost husband. The speaker then goes on playing with his reflection, "depending on the light/ to make a difference. This view, or self-reflection, is continued as the speaker perceives his own name on the wall. " Rather than actually seeing the world as it exists, he sees it through the stonewall, like the dead soldiers do.
Common topics in this essay:
Andrew Johnson,
,
boy's hair,
poem speaker,
brushing boy's hair,
learn accept,
bird prey,
brushing boy's,
real world,
speaker forced,
friends' deaths,
own reflection,
view world,
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Acceptance Essays
