Nikki Giovanni 1975 Poetry Analysis

How many times a day do you make choices? Too many to count some would say, you made a choice just now to think about if you wanted to count how many times you made choices. Sometimes you have a choice and other times you do not. Most times you only get stuck with one choice and you have to deal with it. In addition, it might not be the choice or decision you would have hoped for but you go with it. A choice is making a decision between two or more possibilities. In the poem, Choices by Nikki Giovanni she writes a very short but meaningful poem about decisions and choices that she makes. Giovanni wrote this poem in the year of 1978; the year her father passes away. Throughout the poem Giovanni expresses her need to feel conform

The two poems I chose to analyze were “Curandera” by Pat Mora and “Loose Woman” by Sandra Cisneros. They were an interesting read and made sure to reread several times to make sure I got everything I could from them. Both poems are so unique from other poems I have read; they are also unique from each other yet share similarities as well.

Nikki Giovanni, one of the most famous African American poet is widely known through her interesting style in her poetries. Giovanni’s innovative usage of poetic technique of allusion, wide range of imagery, excessive hyperbole and free verse conveys and emphasizes her style and persona as uncontrolled and unrestrained by rules.

Reading has never been too difficult for me. As a child I was constantly reading something. I loved to read, but as I grew my passion for reading slowly began to die. My interest in life and my ideas changed the way I do things, and it unfortunately has changed the way I feel about reading.

Nikki Giovanni gained most of her fame during the 1960s and 1970s, when she was expelled from her college and started exploring and investigating the world. She is well known for her more militant and violent poetry during that time period, but now she has become a more personal poet. A quote said by her could relate exactly to her themes in poetry and life. “A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.” As of today, she is seen as one of the most influential African American women in the world. Some may say that Nikki Giovanni’s change in style and themes in her poems from militant and harsh, to emotional and family-oriented were linked to the emotional changes in her life.

Nikki Giovanni’s poem, Ego Tripping is a well-known poem that celebrates beauty in black women everywhere. While reading the poem, readers may notice that there is not a specific known main character. This may be because she wants her readers to not look to any specific person as beautiful, but rather to accept all beauty regardless of its shape, color, and/or origin. She shares this message to her readers by making the character appear large/supernatural in the imagination of the reader. She also Places the character in rank with important figures and throughout the poem makes the character the creator of many things precious to the world without giving readers not the slightest clue who it could be.

Nikki Giovanni gained most of her fame during the 1960s and 1970s, when she was expelled from her college and started exploring and investigating the world. She is well known for her more militant and violent poetry during that time period, but now she has become a more personal poet. A quote said by her could relate exactly to her themes in poetry and life. “A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are. Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do, you can learn about the new world you're in and take advantage of it.” As of today, she is seen as one of the most influential African American women in the world. Some may say that Nikki Giovanni’s change in style and themes in her poems from militant and harsh, to emotional and family-oriented were linked to the emotional changes in her life.

The poem I chose as my favorite was, Sign for My Father, Who Stressed the Bunt by David Bottoms. The poem is about a young boy who played baseball with his father being his coach. Constantly, his father with stress the importance of bunting; yet, the son never understood why. The son continued wanting to hit his home runs and scoring for the glory. As the boy grew into a man he finally understood why his father had stressed the bunt all those years. The father was trying to show the boy sacrifice. The person who bunts normally is thrown out. When the boy was younger he did not understand this, but as he grew older he understood the message his father was trying to show him. This poem is my favorite because I can see some of my own actions throughout

Nikki Giovanni uses her culture and background as a way to describe past experiences that shaped her and how she is affected by it. Her writing style commonly utilizes extended metaphors, figurative language, imagery, and theme. Her unique point of view and writing style gives us a vivid insight of her past experiences and how they affected her,

The poem I selected is “The Raven” written by popular American writer, Edgar Allan Poe. I chose this poem because of previous memories of reading several of Edgar Allan Poe’s writings. I remember in 8th grade when my teacher introduced the whole class to a short story called “The Tell Tale Heart”. I loved the poem a lot, I liked how gory, detailed, and interesting it was. It went perfectly for the time of year it was, which was October. Soon after we were done reading the poem, the whole grade went on a class trip, to see live performances of several of Poe’s short stories and poems being performed by actors. It was fun and the actors were very talented and they captured every emotion perfectly. Overall, it was a very good experience.

administrators that their choice of career is vital. Educators still hold great influences on generations of children from

As a girl growing up around a group of bikers, boys and two parents who listened to eighties hair bands and metal, you wouldn’t think that I read or was read to frequently before starting school. I pursued in reading quite often, actually. When I finally started school, I had the tendency of keeping to myself and staying quiet. There never have been very many friends in the picture of my life. I learned at a young age that there often are going to be cliques, even when you’re an eight year old in girl scouts. I stood out in more ways than one, but for now I’m only going to elucidate why reading is so salient to me.

I found that my favorite poems from the class are about nature. Poems about nature related the most with me because I find them calming and relaxing. While “The Silver Thread” by Afaa Michael Weaver and “Fall Song” by Mary Oliver share similar themes and styles of writing, “The Silver Thread” is more connected to my life because of my past experiences and the more detailed imagery that it contains throughout the poem.

Do you feel that your movement is limited due to your appearance? Nikki Giovanna, author of the poem Choices, is an activist, writer, educator, and poet who originally published this poem in 1972 in a collection of poetry titled My House. Furthermore, Giovanna’s inspiration towards creating this poem is the Black Arts Movement, Civil Rights Movement, Equal Rights Amendment, and through her personal experiences as an African American female. This poem cornerstones the dilemma of the African American race.

Giovanni brilliantly uses the literary devices of imagery, paralleled repetition and symbolism to depict a vivid journey of transformation, concluding with an exquisite moment of self-realization.