Nikki Giovanni: An Influential Afro Poet of the 20th Century

This is my final Giovanni poem for you all! This is actually the poem that I chose to do my analytical paper on as well. The picture is an excerpt from the poem. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of the full version. "Habits" is about Nikki's reflection on what habits are and how they are formed or picked up. After reading and rereading the poem hundreds of times, I've concluded that the universal theme is that the habits that one acquires over doing something for a long period of time are the ones that stick with you. The habits that one obtains because of laziness or observation can be forgotten just as easily as they are picked up. Giovanni uses a lot of consonance in her piece in order to show that. The repeated suffix"-ing" in stanza 5( not shown in the picture) helps to emphasize that her lover presently and consistently does things that makes her feel unloved. When you do something for a long period of time, whether it is good or bad, it

"A Poem of Friendship"! The message and the poet's viewpoint here are quite clear. To Giovanni, what makes a friendship true is much more than how often you spend time with them or what you do for them. She goes into detail about the characteristics that she believes make a friendship genuine, loving, and everlasting. The theme of the poem is simply that true friendship isn't just about the material things and the good times shared when in one another's presence; it's about the love and care that they have for each other despite the defying odds. " We are not lover's because of the love we make, but the love we have... I will never miss you because of what we do, but what we are....". Nikki Giovanni applied a lot of repetition in the literary piece ( i.e "we are, we make, we spend, we save..."). These repeated words emphasize the point that true friends are always there for each other, but not just because of what they do. It's bec

                   The Poem “ Choices” explicates how Giovanni feels being an oppressed, black woman in a white man’s world. Clearly, this is one of her works written during the Civil Rights Era. The piece is trying to convey that everyone within a society doesn’t have equal opportunity and choices because of certain factors( in this case, race and gender). Because of this, citizens learn to develop frustration and bitterness towards their own society. " If I can't do what I want to do, then job to not want what I don't want to do... and none of it is equal." Here, she is trying to say that if she cannot do what she wants because of her limits as black and female American, then she is not obligated to do anything that she doesn't want to do. She uses some imagery in her writing as well," Mankind amongst the animals learns to cry." This phrase is perhaps the most important part of the poem due to the fact that the phrase is a symbol for how fr

 I've had the pleasure of reading and analyzing quite a few of Giovanni's wonderful poems, so I just chose a few of them to share, picking the ones that were very touching to me.   Now this poem was hands down my favorite!!! I'm a bit of a romantic, so this poem just naturally spoke to me. "Resignation" is about Nikki's undying, deep, and intense love for someone. According to her, loving that person is only natural; it's like a habit because she picked it up one day, and now it is just stuck on her. She simply cannot imagine a life without loving the person. The poem's theme is that loving someone is simply the nature of human beings, as we look for it, live for it, and depend on it:" I love you because it is the natural order of things." She also wrote " I love you because it’s been so good for so long that if I didn’t love you, I’d have to be born again." This hyperbole, or exaggeration, was used to emphasize how truly and

                       Nikki Giovanni, birth name actually being Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr., was born on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee. She grew up in Cincinnati, and at a fairly early age, she became well known for creating the first Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati during 1967. She graduated from Fisk University that year as well, immediately going to work writing poems and publishing her own books. During the 70’s, she obtained her first teaching job at Livingston College of Rutgers University. The TV show “Soul!” was the first show that she had ever been in, and she appeared on it quite a bit in order to promote black entertainment and black art. In 1987, she began instructing at Virginia Tech, where she is currently still teaching as a literature professor. She's been awarded a plethora of things during her time, ranging from the NAACP Image Award to the Rosa Parks and the Langston Hughes Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters! Ad

                                 Hello fellow internet browsers!!!! My name is Christian Jackson, and I am a high school senior from Jonesboro, Georgia. I made this blog simply because it is a literature assignment for my senior English teacher. On this blog, I will be sharing with you all various poem analyses for different poets of history. Today, the poet that I will be talking about is Miss Nikki Giovanni!!! I chose her because she is an infamous African American poet( I have to educate people about the black artists of the world) who is best known for her influential role in the Civil Rights Movement and Black art/ entertainment Also, I pretty much chose her because I didn't know anything about her, so I figured I'd educate not only my browsers, but also myself.