F08250_deggman

="Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa (1988)=

Way 1: First Impressions
The character in the poem is a black person who is visiting the Vietnam War Memorial. The visit to the wall is bringing forward powerful memories and emotions. The emotion is so powerful it seems to place him in an altered state and the actions of other visitors meld in his imagination so that the wall acts like a mirror or canvas playing like a movie and the visitors become part of that movie. Some questions that come to me are: Did the person actually serve in Vietnam?, What is the person's relationship with Andrew Johnson?, Was the person present when Andrew Johnson died?

Way 2: Engaging with the Text
The poem seems to use a forms of allliteration and assonance. Several words repeat throughout the poem: black, name, sky, flash, white, stone. Lines two and four use an internal rhyme via granite and dammit, the only time a specific rhyming scheme is used. Otherwise, there is not a rhyming scheme or metrical form, thus making the structure of the poem free verse. The repetition of the words, and the vowel sounds within, create a pattern that cause the poem to flow for me. The poem brings out opposites such as black and white, night and light. The poem also has recurring themes throughout: reflection, window and mirror; granite and stone. The word name/names is repeated five times emphasizing the human element of the poem. Separate from the repetition of the words I do observe alliteration by the repetition of the "fa" and "fl" sounds through the poem.

Way 3: A Point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
The poem is free verse with no rhyming. This form allow the writer flexibility to let the form of the poem influence the meaning  The colon after the word dammit (4) creates an abrupt stop, creating emotional emphasis. The three two word sentences immediately following, further the abruptness and heighten the emotion.  The use of the semi-colon after Andrew Johnson (16) connects him to his aweful fate. The reader can picture the writer re-living the scene in his mind.

Way 3: Another point about Form and Its Relationship to Content
 The poem has a flow that alternates between the image of a mirror and the writer standing outside the wall versus the wall opening up and the writer becoming part of the wall. This pattern occurs three times within the poem and contributes to the conflicted emotion within the poem. This imagery aligns and reinforces the pattern of opposites of black and white, night and light. It also lends to the emotionally charged feelings and memories a visit to the wall must evoke, particularly for those who were part of the Vietnam conflict.