For my project I will be researching the numerous connections in the poetry of Walt Whitman and Yusef Komunyakaa with a focus on Whitman’s effect on Komunyakaa’s Vietnam War poetry found in Dien Cai Dau. The influence of Whitman on Komunyakaa is wide spread. Both poets have an interest in the interconnectedness of humans, as well as a spirituality in their poetry, and some association with musicality. Scholars have long been interested in these contextual and formal similarities between the poets. My interest in Komunyakaa and Whitman veers in a slightly different direction than most scholars. I will be looking at how each poet responds to war and the ways that Whitman influenced Komunyakaa’s response. As we know Whitman was deeply connected to the Civil War, acting as a nurse as well as a prolific writer during the war. Komunyakka was equally affected by the Vietnam War, where he worked as a journalist for the army while stationed in Vietnam. My project will be tracing the influence of Whitman’s Civil War poetry within Komunyakka’s Vietnam War poetry.
Yusef Komunyakaa has been extremely upfront about the influence of Whitman on his poetry. There are numerous interviews and poems where Komunyakaa addresses Whitman directly. These texts will be useful in seeing where Whitman is intentionally positioned within Kounyakaa’s poetry. There is a scholar named Jacob Wilkenfeld who has written several articles about the connection between Komunyakaa and Whitman. I will also be looking at several scholar’s writings that focus on each poet’s general involvement within their respective war. Another interesting text looks at Whitman’s impact on Vietnam War poetry in general. The conversation that already surrounds Whitman and Komunyakaa in general is fairly deep, however the connection between their war poetry has not yet been a focus of scholars. I will be using these sources coupled with analysis of each poets’ war poetry in order to explore the connection of Komunyakaa’s and Whitman’s response to war.
My project will take the shape of a traditional research paper. My analysis definitely lends itself to the classic form. The lengthy paper will trace the traditional conversation surrounding Whitman and Komunyakaa as well as my own analysis of war poetry. I plan on using this weekend to really dig into my sources and have the annotated bibliography done by Sunday morning, 4/10. I will have to spend a couple of hours everyday next week working on the final draft of my paper. In order to be finished by the 4/17 due date, I need to have the final draft completed by 4/14 because I will be out of town all weekend for my sister’s wedding. I will continue working on my draft after hearing feedback during the individual conferences the week of 4/18. By 4/21 when we have a peer review session, I hope to be confident in what I have written as a final paper. As a result of the peer review session, I will continue to make edits until I have a complete paper when it is due on 4/25.
Works Cited
Dowdy, Michael C. “Working in the Space of Disaster: Yusef Komunyakaa’s Dialogues with America” Callaloo 28:3 (2005): 812-823. Web. 4 April 2016.
Komunyakaa, Yusef. Conversations with Yusef Komunyakaa. Ed. Shirley A. James Hanshaw. Jackson: The University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Print.
Komunyakaa, Yusef. Blue Notes: Essays, Interviews, and Commentaries. Ed. Radiclani Clytus. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2000. Print.
Komunyakaa, Yusef. Pleasure Dome. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2001. Print.
Loving, Jerome. “Whitman Incountry: Our Civil War in Vietnam” South Central Review 4:1 (1987): 4-10. Web. 4 April 2016.
Morris, Roy, Jr. The Better Angel: Walt Whitman in the Civil War. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. Print.
Nelson, Cary. “Whitman in Vietnam: Poetry and History in Contemporary America” The Massachusetts Review 16.1 (1975):55-71. Web. 4 April 2016.
Whitman Noir: Black American and the Good Gray Poet. Ed. Ivy G. Wilson. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2014. Web. 2 April 2016.
Whitman, Walt. Poetry and Prose. New York: Library of America, 1996. Print.
Wilkenfeld, Jacob. “Celebration and Confrontation: Yusef Komunyakaa in Conversation about Walt Whitman.” Walt Whitman Quarterly Review 30.3 (2013): 150-160. Web. 2 April 2016.
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