The forced vibration of a finite cylindrical shell has been analyzed from an elastic wave viewpoint. The displacement vector is used to formulate the vibration field, that is regarded as a superposition of disturbances due to elastic waves propagating on the shell. The reflection matrix is also used in the formulation of the vibration field, that is easily derived in the present approach. It allows one to easily identify the wave conversion of elastic waves at the ends of the shell. The present approach is used to predict the vibration field of the cylindrical shell with free-free boundary conditions. The contribution of each type of elastic waves into the vibration field was identified, and the wave conversion at the ends of the shell was observed. Those results showed that the present approach can be effectively used to analyze the forced vibration of the cylindrical shell from an elastic wave viewpoint.