In Lamentations 3:1 the writer of this chapter is identified with the following statement: I am the man.
There have been various opinions regarding to the identity of this man. The following six proposals are the most common:
Jeremiah.
An idealised Jeremiah (i.e., one who speaks like Jeremiah and represents a paradigm for suffering).
The Jewish king (Zedekiah or Jehoiachin, who was deported in 597 BC). Considered as being representative of the people, this option is used to explain why the Davidic covenant stays in focus.
A personified Zion or Jerusalem. This option sees a continuation from Lamentations 1:1–22 in Lamentations 3:1–66. On this proposal, personified Jerusalem can either be identified as I or include the whole population as we. The problem with this view, however, is the fact that Lamentations does not otherwise personify Jerusalem as a man.
An anonymous representative - an
everyman
that suffered as all the people had.A figurative representation of the whole nation.
When similarities between the first two chapters and the third one are considered (see, for example, Lamentations 2:11;Lamentations 3:48), it is probable that it is the same writer who wrote all these chapters. Although there are first- and third-person texts in these chapters, none of them contradict each other.1
With this in mind, it seems that the writer of Lamentations 3:1–66 is the same as the writer of the first two chapters. It seems to be an individual who sometimes speaks personally, sometimes closely identified with Jerusalem. It seems to be the voice of a male survivor who has experienced the horrors of Jerusalem's fall and destruction. This description correlates with the sufferings of the people of Judah as a whole. Therefore, it may be taken as reflecting the feelings of Jeremiah, or another unknown individual who shared in the suffering of his people.2 (Note: the likelyhood of this individual being Jeremiah is discussed in the authorship question.)
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath;