Yusef Komunyakaa Literary Devices

Yusef Komunyakaa is like no other poet. He experiences make his poetry seem as if the reader is actually in the poem. Yusef was born on April 29th 1947, he was born in the of Bogalusa, Louisiana. He had five other siblings of which he was the oldest. Komunyakaa had a young adult experience in war which has had an effect on his writing and poetry since his years serving. He started writing poetry in 1969 while he was still in Vietnam and later continued writing. He left the army in 1970 and attended University of Colorado, that is where he would discover his true talent and sharpen or define his skills as a poet. Komunyakaa immediately fell in love with poetry. Yusef uses many literary devices to help enterge readers into his poems today. When writing “Facing It” Yusef Komunyakaa use moods, hyperboles and imagery to help the reader understand that the cruel and abominable events that are bound to take place during war, change the ¨victims¨ outlook forever. Komunyakaa uses moods to help convey that war

In a feeling of depression, the speaker says, ¨I go down the 58,022 names half-expecting to find my own in letters like smoke.¨ (14-16). Of course the speaker is not expecting to see his own letters in the memorial in reality he only feels this way. The author included this line to make a point about how the speaker feels. The author feels as if he is almost stone when he writes, ¨I turn this way-- the stone lets me go. I turn that way-- I,m inside,¨ (8-10). The way the speaker describes himself as being in the wall is an exaggeration, however he feels as if he is in the wall. Using a hyperbole in these lines helps achieve the effect of feeling like the reader is in the poem. The use of hyperboles in this poem has a huge effect on the reader and the way he/she perceives the