Yusef Komunyakaa's Facing It

In Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Facing It,” the speaker encounters his grief at the Vietnam Memorial, undergoing confusing emotions from his experience of grief and loss at the war, but later realizes there is joy and harmony in living, appreciating the value of his own life [PrPP].
The first half of the poem demonstrates the speaker’s despair and confusion by visiting and reflecting on the wall from the memorial, the wall visually and physically representing the loss of his comrades. The poem opens with a tone of despondency as the speaker tries to have "no tears" (4) come from him, demonstrating his emotional struggle to visit this nostalgic memorial. The physical detail of "tears" (4) suggests that the speaker still experiences pain and sorrow whenever
Highlighting his desolation, the speaker notices himself in his cloudy reflection, experiencing both despair and hopelessness. In the ninth line, the tone of cafard continues when the speaker notices that “the stone lets [him] go,” (9) expressing separation and freedom from this undying barrier, but the speaker perceives it as the opposite of freedom since the names continue to be on the wall as he continues his mourning, not a part of the wall. The detail that the wall “lets [him] go” (9) demonstrates his epiphany that he does not belong on a stone yet, however everyone that he was closely related to does and will stay there for eternity, repeating the notion of his state of isolation. Emphasizing his desolation and anguish, the speaker’s ongoing sentiment persists as he remains at the memorial. Six lines later, the speaker experiences a contrast from this sense of not being part of the wall since he “half
For example, the transient detail of the speaker witnessing "the booby trap's white flash" (18) conjures images of horror and the sad memory of a friend's death. The detail of “booby trap’s” (18) suggests that his past experience of his friend’s death surprises and catches him by surprise whenever he recalls it, confining him in this depressing memory. Emphasizing his incredible shock and fear from this memory, the speaker continues his depression, but now recalling a specific event that brings him this dejection. Shortly after, the image of the “names stay[ing] on the wall” (21) repeats the despair and loneliness from line nine, demonstrating how the names are stuck permanently on the wall while the speaker is free without boundaries. The nonliving detail of “names” (21) emphasizes the once living have passed on from being alive into becoming referred only as letters and words. The specific diction of “stay[ing]” (21) repeats the speaker’s continued isolation from the names as the names eternally remain on the wall irrevocably. Since the speaker figures out that he is not in the same position as the permanent names on the wall, he concludes that he is separated from the wall with the names, facing loneliness and desolation [PrPP]. At the end of the poem, however, the