...The Vietnam War was the most controversial war in American History. Many believed that the US had no business being involved in that war while others think it was the right decision. Years after the war the government decided to give up a few hundred yards to a memorial for this war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a very respects and appropriate memorial for those lives lost. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is made of black granite walls 200ft long and 10ft tall. It has the names of all 57,692 loves lost in Vietnam in chronological order. The walls come together at 1300 degrees to make a v-shape (Ayres). At the bottom the walls sink and dip 10ft. into a trench. The opposing side may say that this monument is “pointedly insulting the vets” (Carhart). However this monument is a subtle yet powerful statement to honor those...
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...Chatman 8/5/2014 The Vietnam Memorial The purpose of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is to honor members of the United States Armed Forces who fought and died during the Vietnam War. The memorial consists of a 250-foot long series of polished black walls sunk into the ground. On the walls are inscribed 58,000 names of servicemen who were declared Killed in Action or Missing in Action during the Vietnam War. The names are listed in chronological order beginning at the top of the wall and visitors who come to view the names are able to see their own reflection in the black walls. The end points of the wall point to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. A few feet away from the entrance to the wall is statue of three soldiers in clothes that would be exactly as they would have been during the Vietnam War. They are called “The Three Soldiers.” The wall evokes diverse individual reflections on the Vietnam War because of its design. The wall is among the most famous monuments to American history on the Washington Mall, its difference from other forms of memorial reflect the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War. The Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, are both designed with pillars and white granite, and is are seen. The Vietnam Memorial however, is not visible until you are almost on top of it. If you approach it from behind it almost disappears into the land. The memorial represents the stigma brought upon veterans returning home from the war. The wall reflects the feelings...
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...right choice or not? Vietnam Veterans Memorial One of the most notable and prominent remembrances of war is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C, which was designed and proposed by Maya Lin....
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...Facing It Vietnam War veteran, Yusef Komunyakka describes a direct experience into his emotions when he went a visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the poem Facing It. In the poem Facing It, Komunyakka caught my attention because of the title, and how Komunyakka explains the meaning of his title, by the types of speech he has in his poem, and how he describes the wall. Komunyakka’s figurative launuage in this poem drives home the speaker’s feelings and memories that he is encountering at the war memorial, Yusef starts the poem off with an example of visual imagery. He states, “black face fades.” This tells us that Yusef is African American, and it also tells us the key word fades, meaning that he wasn’t the only person affected by the...
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...expresses her work through objects she makes. This objects or architectural works she has done are all made so people all feel connected in the same way. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington Dc, are two black granite walls which are together linked and have engraved text in chronological order with the names of the men and women who gave up their live for this war. You see that she expresses the amount of sadness and depression in a simple black marble wall that represents much more than that; the color black represents the amount of pain people passed through this years of war and the names written in chronological order make the viewer see all the people that died and see that the person was marked in making the United States a peaceful country. The ideal she wants to express in her work is to make a place for individuals within the landscape that can connect to her artwork. The landscape art Lin makes are sculptures, parks, monuments, and architectural projects in every work of art she express the aspects of nature. In every piece of art is has done she reflects the great amount of interest she has with nature. Lin incorporates aspects of mature in her works because she feels that viewers have to think about the world we live in and the sympathetic existence that we have with nature. For example, the Civil Rights Memorial she made a sculpture of a “water table”. This water table is a flat rounded table and has the movement of water running through out the whole upper layer...
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...expresses her work through objects she makes. This objects or architectural works she has done are all made so people all feel connected in the same way. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington Dc, are two black granite walls which are together linked and have engraved text in chronological order with the names of the men and women who gave up their live for this war. You see that she expresses the amount of sadness and depression in a simple black marble wall that represents much more than that; the color black represents the amount of pain people passed through this years of war and the names written in chronological order make the viewer see all the people that died and see that the person was marked in making the United States a peaceful country. The ideal she wants to express in her work is to make a place for individuals within the landscape that can connect to her artwork. The landscape art Lin makes are sculptures, parks, monuments, and architectural projects in every work of art she express the aspects of nature. In every piece of art is has done she reflects the great amount of interest she has with nature. Lin incorporates aspects of mature in her works because she feels that viewers have to think about the world we live in and the sympathetic existence that we have with nature. For example, the Civil Rights Memorial she made a sculpture of a “water table”. This water table is a flat rounded table and has the movement of water running through out the whole upper layer...
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... Images of war and death can wear on the psyche of anyone and can affect those exposed in vastly different ways. In Yosef Komunyakaa’s poem “Facing It,” the soldier depicted in the poem faces a struggle with images of death and his experiences in combat during the Vietnam War. He grapples with something that we understand today as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD; “Facing It” describes the mind altering events and the subsequent symptoms through the mind of the soldier in the poem. Moreover, as many veterans must do after they return from hell, the soldier faces coping with the memory of others around him that returned home in a flag draped box. The soldier depicted in the poem takes a journey of self-actualization to understand his PTSD, and as he stares at the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, he seeks to understand the reality of his condition by going out on patrol one more time. His final patrol provides a sense of closure and an understanding of his condition over a decade after his experiences in Vietnam. His “black face fades, hiding inside the black granite” (Komunyakaa 1538) as he becomes just one of the many faces of war depicted on the wall. He fights back tears as he is face to face with the wall, and his unresolved memories of pain trigger a flashback of “the boobie trap’s white flash” (Komunyakaa 1539). The resulting white flash kills another soldier named Andrew Johnson in the explosion, and he recounts the day, like it was yesterday as so many with PTSD...
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...Noe Medina Professor Art 12 December 2015 Describe the Vietnamese veterans memorial what made it so controversial? In 1979 the Vietnam Veterans committee was granted the right to build a memorial in Washington D.C. The committee sought out its artist by putting forth a competition and found there winner a 20 year old Yale Alumni named Maya Lin. The design itself is a black stone, V shape with names of fallen soldiers engraved along it in chronological order. When the design was first publisized the Veteran’s community felt it was disrespectful did not like the color black and felt like it was meant to be hidden in shame. The protesters secured some major players such as congressmen and demanded Lin redesign the memorial. Some of the changes...
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...imminent demise, or the death of those around me. For the Anniversary of my Death, is a poem depicting the tale of a man who realizes that death is unavoidable. Each year as we go about our daily business we all without celebration, pass our individual death anniversaries. We have no way of knowing when this day is and few of us take the time to contemplate this truth. Most of us are living our lives in fear of that day, attempting to get as much life as possible into our allotted time. Few of us take the time to think that it may even be tomorrow, and if so what have we truly accomplished. Facing It tells the story of a Vietnam Veteran visiting the memorial for the first time, he stands facing the memorial, reviewing the names, unconsciously in search of his own name, as though he can’t believe that he has truly survived the war. He is facing the Memorial, but he is also facing his past, facing his humanity. Merriam Webster defines imagery as language that causes people to imagine pictures in their mind. However imagery is more than just pictures in your mind. When I read a good book or poem, I become completely take away, it’s so much better than television or a movie. I can hear the rain falling or the birds chirping. I can taste the fried chicken or the cold lemonade. I empathize with the characters, I have been known to laugh out loud, or cry on many occasion while reading. In my opinion a good use of imagery is an essential attribute of a good writer. In the...
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...Nineteen stainless steel statues were sculpted by Frank Gaylord and were made to depict the multiple races that fought in the war. The soldiers are standing amongst Juniper buses to symbolize the harsh terrain soldiers faced. The memorial was dedicated on the 42d anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the conflict. The Vietnam War began in 1955 when the Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong fought over bringing Vietnam under communist rule. The United States joined on March 8th, 1965 on a general mission to stop the spread of Communism. A 3-acre...
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...1. Both are rather rigid structures. One is a slab of steel the other in 500 feet of black limestone-masonry. There are some major conceptual differences with the two works. Serra’s work has an infinite number of meanings and can be understood in multiple ways. It’s tilt or its color or its shape could trigger multiple meanings from people, and this is what Serra was striving to achieve. With Lin, her work has a solid meaning and purpose; to remember the dead of this terrible conflict, and to connect in mourning (not to blame). While its shape could be interpreted in different ways, the gist of the work is that it is shaped like a black cut to represent the divide in post-war American society. On culture differences, Serra’s work remained extremely controversial in practice and expression and failed to gain massive supporters. It was so controversial that it was petitioned to be taken down. At the same time, the equally-controversial monument that Lin was creating held a rather solid meaning and represented something very sacred to the American public. There is little, if any, chance that the Vietnam memorial will be taken down, due to...
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...For thousands of years artists have been inspired by the world around them. Artists create beautiful paintings, sculptures, buildings and so much more that has been motivated by the history of their culture, the people around them, myths and stories, and great wars and battles. Wars, whether it be the Trojan War, WWI, or the Vietnam War have inspired artists to create outstanding works that captures and holds the viewers in so they can experience the visual and sensory impact that war has. The pieces of art that you will see on the VAM Tour today records the consequences and conflicts of war from not only from the men and women that fought in the battles but also the civilians that endured the repercussions of it. The first piece on the tour takes us back to Ancient Greece around 530 BCE. This particular piece is called Achilles and Ajax Playing Droughts by Exekias. It is a very famous amphora which is...
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...In the class, I chose to answer the first question of the Poetry Assignment. The question asks to describe the speaker’s state of mind. In the poem that I chose, “Facing It”, by Yusef Komunyakaa, the speaker describes his feelings while visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. The speaker’s state of mind transitions chronological throughout the poem from the reflection of self, reflection of past and finally through acceptance of reality. The state of mind of the speaker in the beginning of the poem, he starts reflecting on himself. Struggling to hold back his tears even when he made an agreement with himself, “No tears” (line 4), the speaker realizes that he is only human and the emotion is overwhelming for him, “I’m stone....
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...“Facing It”: A Poetry Analysis The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C. is a unique setting for Yusef Komunyakaa's poem "Facing It". Not only does the wall display the names of the American military troops who died in the war, the wall is made of polished stone so those who look at it can see their own faces reflecting off the names of the dead. By facing "it", the Memorial, the speaker also finds himself in the face of other "its", including his past as a veteran and his mixed feelings about the present. In Komunyakaa’s poem, “Facing It”, he uses imagery and metaphor to shed light on the psychological impact of war and loss. At the start of the poem, “Facing It”, Yusef Komunyakaa uses imagery to indicate his race in the first lines. He writes “My black face fades, / hiding inside the black granite" (lines 1-2). The word ‘black’ has been repeated twice in these lines, once to explain his skin color and the other in relation to the color of the war memorial. By Komunyakaa doing this he not only has made it known that he is an African American, but he also creates a connection between himself and the color of the memorial wall. He becomes one with the wall as he goes on to explain that his face “fades” and “hides inside” the granite. The outline of his face that allows him to be noticeable from the memorial vanishes, and he and the memorial have become one item. This coming together is not only on a general level, as his face goes "inside" the granite, but he is...
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...The size of the monument should commemorate the event or the work of the historical figure. The size of the monument must ensure that the event or the person gets the right amount of recognition. The Commission of Fine Arts stated that the designs for the Holocaust Museum was too “massive” and that it would overcome the Mall (Source E). The monument has to be able to fit the given space and fit properly with the surrounding area. The right choice of materials is also crucial. The materials should be chosen carefully and with great consideration. Maya Lin, who was the designer for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, chose black granite so that it would make the surface reflective and peaceful (Source G). Maya Lin also decided to put two walls where one faced the Lincoln Memorial and the other one toward the Washington Monument (Source G). She picked out the materials with care. Lin made sure that the materials she chose went well with the type of monument she was...
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