According to Jocelyn Moody, the contemporary poet Lucille Clifton was born on June 27, 1936 in Depew, NY. She was very smart and always proved it ever since she was young. As result, she graduated very young, at the age of sixteen. As soon as she graduated she graduated she received a scholarship to attend Howard University located in Washington, D.C. Two years after, in 1955 she transferred to the Fredonia State Teachers College. She met Fred Clifton; he thought philosophy at the University of Buffalo. The couple recited their vows on May 10, 1958. Their marriage was very successful and had six children together (“About Lucille”, par. 1-3). Her success as a poet came about according to “Lucille Clifton” when “Clifton sent some of her poems to poet Robert Hayden, who showed them to poet Carolyn Kizer, who sent them, in turn, to the YW-YMHA Poetry Center in New York City. That year Clifton won the center's Discovery Award, presented annually to a promising but undiscovered poet, and Random House published Good Times, her first book of poems, which was subsequently cited by the New York Times as one of the ten best books of the year” (“Lucille”, par. 8). Her collection was accepted by critics and led to many other accomplishments and recognition to Clifton as a poet. To add on to her resume she after becomes a professor in different colleges teaching creative writing for more than fifteen years (“Lucille”, par. 26). As stated by Jocelyn Moody, Unfortunately her husband Fred passed away on November 10, 1984 but this did not stop the poet (“About Lucille”, par. 8). She obtained many awards like National Endowment for the Arts in1969, the Coretta Scott King Award in 1994, The Cannon Literary Award for Poetry in 1997 to mention a few (“... ... middle of paper ... ...eone more powerful than her. The way that she used to see it was like John was above her, not anymore. This poem simply explains Lorena’s true feelings towards the situation. How by her taking action she becomes free of the being under the control and mistreatment of her husband. Works Cited Crimes Below the Belt: Penile Removal and Castration. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc, 2009. Trutv. Rachel Bel. Web. 15 Nov. 2009 "Domestic Violence Statistics." American Institute on Domestic Violence. Web. 15 Nov. 2009. . “Lorena”. The Seagull Reader. 2nd ed. Vol. Poems. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008. Print. "Lucille Clifton." Contemporary Black Biography. Vol. 64. Gale, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC
The poem titled “It was a dream” written by poet Lucille Clifton contains a theme pertaining to the personified defeat of the speaker. “in which my greater self rose up before me accusing me of my life with her extra finger whirling in a gyre of rage at what my days had come to.” (Lines 1-6) What the speaker was intending for reader to infer was a sense a disapproval from a higher power. The speaker endured a situation that altered their perception of life, maybe they stopped singing out loud in fear of their own voice, or maybe they began to distance themselves from every positive thing that occurred in their lifetime for the sole reason that everything good comes to an end. The speaker is changing drastically, but the alterations didn’t
The descriptions and words used create the most vivid images of a mother’s escape to freedom with her son. This poem takes you on both a physical and emotional journey as it unravels through the treacherous demands of freedom. A beautiful example of her ability to rhyme both internally as well as externally can be seen here,
In romantic words, the poet expresses how much she does think of love. She state it clear that she will not trade love for peace in times of anguish.
"Forgiving My Father", a poem written by Lucille Clifton, is about a relationship between a daughter and her father. Lucille Clifton is a female poet/author for several poems and children 's book. She was born in 1936 "in a small town near Buffalo, New York"; she attended Howard University, and she earned her teaching degree at Fredonia State Teacher 's College. She won numerous awards and recognitions, including an Emmy, for her works. She died in 2010 after a long battle with cancer. "Forgiving My Father" is part of the collection in her 1980 book Two-Headed Woman (Schilb and Clifford 270). In this poem, Clifton described a daughter 's memories of her father led her to become angry with him, sympathize with him, and eventually forgive him.
The diction of this poem influences the imagery with the tone of the words . They are used to convey the message of how it feels to not feel the spark of love
Similarly to the way people hold expectations for the daystar, or sun, to rise every day, mothers are expected to perform their duties like cleaning the house or taking care of the children. Both are taken advantage of and are not fully appreciated until they stop performing their duties. Throughout the poem, the woman’s daughter and husband are given names, “Liza” (line 12) and “Thomas” (line 17) respectively, but not her. The woman is only referred to as “she” or “her” which further highlights the lack of acknowledgement she receives. The mother is taken for granted by her family and is not regarded as important. Her efforts are ignored and she is never thanked for completing her tasks around the house because that is the role she is “supposed” to fulfill.
Although the little girl doesn’t listen to the mother the first time she eventually listens in the end. For example, in stanzas 1-4, the little girl asks if she can go to the Freedom March not once, but twice even after her mother had already denied her the first time. These stanzas show how the daughter is a little disobedient at first, but then is able to respect her mother’s wishes. In stanzas 5 and 6, as the little girl is getting ready the mother is happy and smiling because she knows that her little girl is going to be safe, or so she thinks. By these stanzas the reader is able to tell how happy the mother was because she thought her daughter would be safe by listening to her and not going to the March. The last two stanzas, 7 and 8, show that the mother senses something is wrong, she runs to the church to find nothing, but her daughter’s shoe. At this moment she realizes that her baby is gone. These stanzas symbolize that even though her daughter listened to her she still wasn’t safe and is now dead. The Shoe symbolizes the loss the mother is going through and her loss of hope as well. This poem shows how elastic the bond between the daughter and her mother is because the daughter respected her mother’s wish by not going to the March and although the daughter is now dead her mother will always have her in her heart. By her having her
Fulfilling the roles of both mother and breadwinner creates an assortment of reactions for the narrator. In the poem’s opening lines, she commences her day in the harried role as a mother, and with “too much to do,” (2) expresses her struggle with balancing priorities. After saying goodbye to her children she rushes out the door, transitioning from both, one role to the next, as well as, one emotion to another. As the day continues, when reflecting on
...s the theme of family. For example, when you truly love someone in your family, you make sure that you show them you truly love them by not only giving them a hug but also telling them that you love them. I can relate to this situation because whenever I notice that my mom is feeling down, I make sure that I tell her that I love her and she is the best mom in the world. Another theme that is present in this poem that I can relate with my life is the theme of mortality. For example, the man is obsessed with not only how but also why Annabel died. I can relate to the man in this situation because after my mom’s dog passed away about nine or ten years ago I was wondering for the longest time why she had to pass away. She wasn’t always the nicest dog, but I still loved her anyways. This poem celebrates the child-like emotions with the ideals of the Romantic era.
The poem is a combination of beauty and poignancy. It is a discovery in a trajectory path of rise and fall of human values and modernity. She is a sole traveler, a traveler apart in a literary romp afresh, tracing the thinning line of time and action.
The verbose use of imagery in this poem is really what makes everything flow in this poem. As this poem is written in open form, the imagery of this writing is what makes this poem poetic and stand out to you. Marisa de los Santos begins her poem with “Its here in a student’s journal, a blue confession in smudged, erasable ink: ‘I can’t stop hoping/ I’ll wake up, suddenly beautiful’” (1-3). Even from the first lines of this story you can already picture this young girl sitting at her desk, doodling on her college ruled paper. It automatically hooks you into the poem, delving deeper and deeper as she goes along. She entices you into reading more as she writes, daring you to imagine the most perfect woman in the world, “cobalt-eyed, hair puddling/ like cognac,” (5-6). This may not be the ideal image of every person, but from the inten...
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas on June 7, 1917. She died on December 3, 2000 at the age of 83 (Gwendolyn). Her father wanted to be a doctor, but, due to money problems, had no choice but to become a janitor. Her mother was a Sunday school teacher. At a young age, she was encouraged to pursue her love of writing poetry. For example, at age seven, her mother encouraged her to write. Langston Hughes, a famous poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist, read several of the poems she wrote, and encouraged her to pursue writing poetry as more than a pastime. Gwendolyn often wrote about being female and black in America because she could easily relate to that topic (“'We Real' Analysis”). This allowed her to go on to be the first African American woman to win the 1950 Pulitzer prize (“Gwendolyn”).
Overall, the imagery that Plath creates is framed by her diction and is used to convey her emotions toward all relationships and probably even her own marriage to Ted Hughes, who had rude, disorderly habits. Even the structure of the poem is strict in appearance as each stanza ends with a period and consists of exactly six lines. In addition, the persona of the poem is very detached and realistic, so much that it is hard to distinguish between her and Plath, herself. However, Plath insinuates that the woman actually wants love deep down, but finds the complexity and unpredictability of love to be frightening. As a result, she settles for solitude as a defense against her underlying fear.
This, in fact, is an example of “dynamic decomposition” of which the speaker claims she understands nothing. The ironic contradiction of form and content underlines the contradiction between the women’s presentation of her outer self and that of her inner self. The poem concludes with the line “’Let us go home she is tired and wants to go to bed.’” which is a statement made by the man. Hence, it “appears to give the last word to the men” but, in reality, it mirrors the poem’s opening lines and emphasises the role the woman assumes on the outside as well as her inner awareness and criticism. This echoes Loy’s proclamation in her “Feminist Manifesto” in which she states that women should “[l]eave off looking to men to find out what [they] are not [but] seek within [themselves] to find out what [they] are”. Therefore, the poem presents a “new woman” confined in the traditional social order but resisting it as she is aware and critical of
Judith Wright is a respected Australian poet is also known as a conservationist and protester. Her poetry has captured the most amazing imagery of Australian Culture. For Australian students to understand their own culture and history it is necessary to study the best poetry and Judith Wright’s poetry is definitely some of the best.