Yusef Komunyakaa Essay

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James William Brown, also known as Yusef Komunyakaa was born on April 29, 1941, he grew up in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He served in the U.S Army during the Vietnam War as a specialist for the military paper. During this time frame there were quite a few things going on inside and outside the United States. Komunyakaa grew up during the Civil Rights Era and for an African American like Komunyakaa, you can imagine the hardships and trials he had to go through. After his relies from the Army in December of 1966, Komunyakaa went on the right poetry at the University of Colorado a few years later. (Poetry Foundation)
Once he graduated, Komunyakaa went on the write several poems, later on his poems would end up becoming nominated several times and his most recent nomination was in March of 2012 at the National Book Critics Circle Awards. Being in the military paper especially back in Vietnam there one of two ways you find the news someone brings it to you or you get attached to a unit that is going to the front lines and report the story yourself. His poem “Facing it” was included in his 1988 collection. The poem at first glance describes Komunyakaa’s time during the Vietnam War. However, looking beneath the content it describes much more.(Blumberg, Naomi) …show more content…
From the first line the speaker also gives use a physical description of himself, “My black face” you can assume that the speaker is an African American, just like Komunyakaa. Lines 3-5, give use a little more depth information on the speaker. This is where the emotion of the poem is introduced, you get a sense of grief and the speaker is hardening himself of an emotion almost repressing it. From these first five lines you can tell that the speaker is some place where a person can grieve combined with the black granite you get a picture of a
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