Summary Of The Poem 'Facing It' By Diyanni

A.) In the poem “Facing It” on page 820, the author uses various colors as symbolism. DiYanni defines symbolism as “any object or action that represents something beyond itself” DiYanni (536). He first uses the color black a few times. I think the color black represents the color of his skin as well as the color of the memorial. I can infer this because the poem states, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite”. He says his face is black and we later learn the granite is the memorial. The author also uses the color white. I believe the color white symbolizes the white veteran soldiers. I can infer this because the poem states, “A white vet’s image floats closer to me”. White represents the color of their skin. Lastly, the poem uses the color red. “A red bird’s wings cutting across my stare”. The bird, or the transition to the author becoming a window, was made red on purpose. I think it represents the blood and death the Vietnam War brought. The author doesn’t specifically mention it in the poem, but I believe the symbolism of red was meant to be subtle and a small but important symbol.

B.) …show more content…
DiYanni defines syntax as “the arrangement of words in a sentence, phrase, or clause” (DiYanni 542). The author puts two contradicting statements in the same sentence, “I’m stone, I’m flesh”. I believe the purpose of this was for readers to understand how connected the author is with the memorial. We can infer this because we already know that the author is standing in front of the black granite, “My black face fades, hiding inside the black granite”. Perhaps he’s also split between stone and flesh. While being at the memorial, the flesh suggests he’s soft and emotional while the stone suggests he’s hard and tough in regards to the dead soldiers who he may have served