by yusef komunyakaa group: lizbet palacios,gladys arciniega,elvis garcia, anthony mancillas, ruby...
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
By Yusef Komunyakaa
Group: Lizbet Palacios ,Gladys Arciniega ,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas , Ruby Rodriquez
“Facing It”
![Page 2: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn’t,
dammit: No tears.
I’m stone. I’m flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
I turn that way--I’m inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap’s white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet’s image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I’m a window.
He’s lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.
![Page 3: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Born April 29, 1947 – / American poet Given birth name James William brown, he later changed his name to his
grandfathers He grew up in the small town of Bogalusa, Louisiana He served in the US army (1969-1971), he served during the Vietnam War
(1969-1971) During his time in the army he worked as the specialist for the military paper Yusef Komunyakaa interviewed soldiers and wrote articles on Vietnams History
to publish in the military paper. Earned a Bronze Star in his time serving the army Began to write poems in 1973 at the University of Colorado He earned his M.A. in writing at the University of Colorado(1978), and he
earned his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine(1980)
Noble awards: Kinsley Tufts Poetry Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize
Bio
![Page 4: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
“My black face fades,
hiding inside the black
granite.
I said I wouldn’t,
dammit: No tears.
I’m stone. I’m flesh.”
Hides his anger as well as struggles to resolve any emotional feelings from the war
“Stone” solid = restrained
“Flesh” can be seen as humans vulnerability , fragile
Black face hiding behind granite or a tombstone signifying death
Acknowledging being both “stone” and “flesh” reveals the veterans true conscienceless towards his own morality
![Page 5: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
“My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of
night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
I turn that way--I’m inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference. “
Poet sees his own mortality. After seeing his own reflection
sees that he is trapped in which he must break free from the bad part he sees.
Komunyakaa is a prisoner his only escape is to turn away from wall.
The wall with the veterans names is the constant reminder of what he wants to get away from remembering experiences from the war
No matter where he turns he just can’t escape
![Page 6: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
“I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew
Johnson;
I see the booby trap’s white
flash.”
The 58,022 names represent the number of soldiers that died in the Vietnam War.
Andrew Jackson was the 17th president. He denied to free slaves and equal protection.
![Page 7: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
![Page 8: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
“Names shimmer on a woman’s
blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.”
Names is personified as the veterans who passed away.
The names on the memorial wall reflect on the woman’s blouse
The granite from the wall as well as the sky reflect onto the woman’s blouse , reflecting the names from one place to another
The Poet sees the bird’s wings to being a plane, which means the threat of a plane attack during the Vietnam War.
![Page 9: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
“A white vet’s image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I’m a
window.
He’s lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black
mirror
a woman’s trying to erase
names:
No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.”
The vet looks right through him like a “window”
The white vet signifies another veteran that happens to be white.
The vet can see right through him because he has seen what Yusef has seen and what he’s going through.
Komunyakaa then believes that the woman is trying to remake the past, but then sees her true actions.
Komunyakaa does not know whether or not the women is trying to erase the names or bring back the dead veterans
![Page 10: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Theme The theme of the poem is coping, coping with the events he
had faced during the war. “Facing It” goes through the emotional effects after the war
honoring the their sacrifices .
![Page 11: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Meter Type of Poem My black face fades,
hi ding in side the black gran ite.
I said I would n’t,
dam mit: No tears.
I’m stone. I’m flesh.
The meter of the poem is a Iambic meter.
Has a different number of feet
Facing It is a Lyric Poem A lyric poem is a subjective,
reflective poetry with regular rhyme and meter which which reveals the poet’s thoughts and feelings to create a single, unique impression.
![Page 12: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Literary Devices The poet uses Imagery to
descriptively show the negativity aspects of the war.
The poem has no rhyme scheme
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
15 enjambments
I turn that way--I’m inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
8 caesuras
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way--the stone lets me go.
I turn that way--I’m inside
![Page 13: By Yusef Komunyakaa Group: Lizbet Palacios,Gladys Arciniega,Elvis Garcia, Anthony Mancillas, Ruby Rodriquez](https://reader035.vdocuments.net/reader035/viewer/2022071806/56649d755503460f94a557b1/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
DictionNegative Diction Black, fades, tears, prey,
smoke, cutting, pale, lost, etc.
The poem has more of negative emotional tone.
The poet chooses negative vocabulary to demonstrate the negative aspect of the war.
Tone