Nikki Giovanni is one of the best-known African-American poets who reached prominence during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her unique and insightful poetry testifies to her own evolving awareness and experiences: from child to young woman, from naive college freshman to seasoned civil rights activist, from daughter to mother. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride and respect for the family. Her informal style makes her work accessible to both adults and children. Metaphor, rhyme, rhythm, imagery and more make a few lines have a giant meaning. I have chosen the poem ¨Poetry¨ to make a detailed analysis in order to fully understand the meaning of that poem and what the poet is trying to communicate to the reader. The ability of a poet to tell many stories, protest and express many feelings in some short but meaningful lines is outstanding.
The first stanza of the poem ¨Poetry¨ encodes many literary elements. The first and second line are a perfect example of line breaks.
¨poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn¨
The first line as itself have a complete meaning, but as the reader continues reading the second meaning is exposed. I would like to compare this with a twisted ending story, where something is expected to happen and all of the sudden an unexpected scenes change the course of the story. The second stanza is another example of line breaks.
¨we poets tend to think
our words are golden
though emotion speaks too
loudly to be defined
by silence¨
The second stanza exposes a different type of line breaks where all the sentences have a meaning by itself but when they are read together transmits a different meaning. The first line states that poets tend to think, which is a complete sentence, but as soon as the second is read the meaning change in the statement that poets believe their word are golden. The implementation of line breaks is a characteristic Nikki Giovanni that allows her to build many concepts with the same lines. Nikki Giovanni goes beyond line breaks.
Metaphors, allusions, alliterations, Assonance, consonance and personification are some of the elements found in the third stanza of ¨Poetry¨ by Nikki Giovanni. The line ¨pulling loneliness around us¨ is an example of a metaphor for loneliness is not something tangible that can be wrapped around instead is something abstract that can’t be seen but can be felt. In the other hand the last two sentences is an allusion to Descartes and his famous phrase ¨I think, therefore I am.¨ this can be interpreted that Nikki Giovanni wants to represent the poems as something that has life when she states
¨it only says ‘i am’ and therefore
i concede that you are too¨
this is a perfect example that Giovanni offers of personification. Moreover, Giovanni in the middle of the third stanza she exposes us to many literary elements.
¨ignoring the weary wariness¨
Alliteration is which is the repeating sound at the beginning of a word can be found in the sound of ¨w¨ in both words weary wariness. In the same phrase, another literary element can be found assonance which is the repetition of vowel sounds to create internal rhyming within phrases or sentences. The vowel sounds repeated are ¨ae¨ and ¨ai¨ these allow the poem to take a musical sound. Giovanni, within the same phrase, also creates another literary element by the repetitive sounds produced by consonants within a sentence or phrase called in poetry consonance, the letter that allows this to happen is ¨r.¨ Nikki Giovanni exposed us to even more.
The fourth stanza Giovanni presents an imagery when she makes us felt the pure energy of a poem with a direct connection between the poet and the readers. Continue in the stanza she presents a repetition at the begging of the verse with the word ¨if it¨ the literary element for this is alliteration. Also in the same stanza, she makes an important emphasis where she states that the poem is never wrong, she basically states the poem is perfect and that is, the reader feels or found something wrong, the reader must discard himself or herself because the poem is perfect is all aspects.
¨if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not deligh discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead¨
Clearly, Giovanni considers the poem itself flawless. The fifth stanza is short, and she declares this is what all poets are trying to say. Also, is curious how she repeats one of her states above in the paragraph by worded it differently where she describes loneliness are something tangible. Giovanni is one of the greatest poets.
To conclude, a short poem by Nikki Giovanni offers to the reader many different messages hide behind lots of literary elements. The poem ¨Poetry¨ gives us insights of the excellent poet Giovanni is. Throughout the essay, all the literary elements found in the poem were discussed to obtain a better understanding of the meaning of the poem. This masterpiece is short, lyrical, and meaningful and many other beautiful adjectives a person can think about.
LIZZY GABRIELA URBINA HERNANDEZ 