Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Yusef Komunyakaa and Brian Turner
Yusef Komunyakaa and Brian Turner are both war veterans who have written poetry about their experiences during their time served. Yusef Komunyakaa served in Vietnam, while Brian Turner served more recently in Iraq. Both poets share similar themes throughout their poetry. The biggest theme I noticed throughout both their writing is the concept of paranoia. Both poets express the immense lack of trust throughout their time served. In Komunyakaa's writing he stresses the aspect of never knowing who to trust, who really was a Vietnamese civilian, and who was a Vietnamese solider. Turner makes the same point in his poem The Hurt Locker, when he writes, "Believe it when a twelve-year-old rolls a grenade into the room. This line goes hand in hand with Komunyakaa's point throughout the Vietnam war of not being able to trust anyone, no matter how innocent the individual may seem.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You made a great observation when discussing the way that both poets write about paranoia. Which is a big issue among soldiers across time and both poets express the importance of the issue in their poems.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point on how a human's being innocence means nothing in modern warfare. A soldier's paranoia is increased to such high levels that what once was unbelievable and out of bounds becomes part of the everyday fact of the soldier's life.
ReplyDelete