Warring Connections and Contradictions: The Poetry of Yusef Komunyakaa and Walt Whitman

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My paper focused on the connection between Walt Whitman’s Civil War Poetry and the Vietnam War Poetry of Yusef Komunyakaa. Both poets wrote about war, however, their experience with war was extremely different. Komunyakaa often refers to Whitman as an influence on his poetry but not directly in conjunction to his war poetry. I thought it would be interesting to see what aspects Whitman appeared in Komunyakaa’s war poetry, especially because this has not really been studied before. Within Dien Cai Dau there are multiple strains of Whitmanian energy like: a compassion to the enemy, a focus on physical human touch, and a voice for the multitudes. But as Komunyakaa said “the only way to write like Whitman is to write unlike Whitman, to forge a new kind of poetry” and the differences between the poets are many. This appears in the obvious difference of form in the length of line as well as the overwhelming sense of division of black and white soldiers with only hints of reconciliation towards the end of Dien Cai Dau. Within the 5 poems that I choose to analyze from Dien Cai Dau, I was able to recognize different Whitmanian energies. I was also able to trace a crisis and reconciliation that is often found within Whitman’s poetry. Komunyakaa looks to Whitman as an influence in many different way even thought the two poets are extremely different. So, this begs the question if Whitman’s influence can reach as far as Komunyakaa where else will it appear? It is possible to imagine hundreds of well-read future war poets looking back to both Komunyakaa and Whitman as influences. It is also interesting to note that Komunyakaa was able to connect poetically over war poetry. The embracing multitudes of Komunyakaa and Whitman are brought together through the violence of war and we, as the reader, get to be a part of that.

 

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