Analysis Of Thanks By Yusef Komunyakaa

Soldiers go into war to fight for something they believe in. They do this knowing the risks that come with war. That’s why soldiers are so grateful when they come home from war unscathed. Many soldiers tend to capture this gratitude with words. The author of the poem delivers a solemn message about war. The passage, Thanks, is about the poet, Yusef Komunyakaa, serving in the Vietnam war in the 1960s as an American soldier & wrote a poem expressing his gratitude for being kept alive by both physical & spiritual forces. One way the poet expresses his message about war is by repeating the word “thanks”. The author states “thanks for the tree between me & a sniper's bullet.”, “Thanks for the vague white flower that pointed to the gleaming metal reflecting how it is to be broken like mist over grass.”, and “Thanks for deflecting the ricochet against that

Nature has kept this man alive time and time again, and gotten him out of many situations that the majority of people would not walk away from, which is why he is so thankful towards it and conveys this by constantly repeating the word thanks. Another way the poet expresses his message about war is through his reverent tone. The author maintains a reverent tone throughout the entire duration of the poem, never breaking away from the serious attitude he started the poem off with by referencing a sniper's bullet that nearly killed him. For example the definition of the word reverent is “feeling or showing deep and solemn respect” and the author shows great respect towards the physical & spiritual forces that kept him alive throughout the war during the entire poem. The author states “Again thanks for the dud hand grenade tossed at my feet outside Chu Lai. I’m still falling through its silence”.This sentence alone shows how by just using a reverent tone the author can convey the sheer amount of gratitude he has towards the physical & spiritual forces that kept