Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980, Research Paper Example

Various people across the world deal with rampant issues which have been cultivated into livelihoods by their experiences over time. The major problems encountered include slavery, feminism, personal issues, and historical experiences. Often, barriers such as race, gender, and age prevent the expression of personal views and interactions with different people. Lucille Clifton expresses the above issues in her literary works by portraying them as thematic concerns, as showcased in the poetic repetition of some clauses. Therefore, there is a dire urge to deeply analyze and provide critical analysis of her work to represent the major aspects.

Lucille Clifton uses the poem “Miss Rosie” to express what Rosie went through in life. Miss Rosie’s expectation to be awarded respect and regard during her old age is not achieved. Her old age has earned her disrespect, and she can only reflect on the admiration that was given to her during her youthful period. Miss Rosie’s old age only attracts the notion of uselessness and neglect from other people. The clause “I stand up” has been distinctively repeated in three stanzas, hence bringing a reflection on the poem’s main theme (Levine et al., 695). The clause shows the need for the young generation to respect older adults in the community instead of regarding them as old and useless. Therefore, the repeated clause has proven the honor that the poet gives to the older adults. Miss Rosie is viewed as an old brown bag thrown into the water and covered with mud due to her old age, which has made her believe in being unattractive and of zero dependence by society (Levine et al., 695). The poem ha represented the thematic concerns very well as it calls out the idea of disrespect earned by older adults, who deserve good care and honor, as depicted in the term destruction, which has been portrayed in the poem.

Lucille Clifton expresses slavery as a theme in her poetic work, whereby she brings out the issues that racially sidelined people go through. The poem “Homage to my Hips,” brings out the idea of how employers ensured that slaves were accorded minimal movements in their lands and faced numerous restrictions (Werbanowska, 84). The slaves lived in the hope of being free from enslavement and achieving freedom to move away from their strict employers. The hips have been repetitively used across the poem to represent the colored race and the slaves. Feminism is also showcased in the poem as the poet demands freedom and space, which proves the embracement of her feminine nature. Lucille Clifton, in the poem, characterizes feminism in the demand of being let to sway her hips in any sired direction. Feminism is also portrayed in the ability of hips to awaken the male attraction to the opposite gender, hence a way of revealing the lust that exists among men (Levine et al., 696). Throughout her poem, the poet brings out the effect of the female body and its features towards men. The poem also seeks to condemn the traditional aspect of considering women to always be thin in order to be able to gain entrances in tiny positions and spaces (Levine et al., 696). The aspect can therefore be considered as a reflection of the other theme of personal issues. Lucille Clifton gives the hips an elevated nature of being mighty and magical, thus showing the strength that exists among the females and their ability to outshine the opinions given to their bodies by the societies and the opposite gender.

Lucille Clifton has portrayed the art of writing majorly on the concerns of women and the need to address them through her poems. The poems prove the female resistance towards ill-treatment from the males and express the feminine feelings and views regarding the issues. The poems have widely mirrored gender, age, racial and sexual barriers that face women on numerous occasions. The feminine features need to be adored and accorded respect even though the societies have varying beliefs concerning female body sizes. In the poem “wishes for sons,” Lucille Clifton portrays her disgrace and ungratefulness towards men (Levine et al., 697). The poet’s wishes for the male are the numerous encounters that females face, which widely earns them humiliation, disrespect, pain, and difficulties. The poet expresses her wish for the men to undergo considerable period pains and have blood clots. Lucille goes ahead to express her desire for the males to experience the humiliations that women have to go through in the hands of gynecologists as they seek medical attention and advice. In her poetic work, the poet is trying to reveal how shallow the men understand what women o through in life despite viewing them as a weak gender that solely depends on men. The poet also brings out the inequality across the world men view themselves to be the superior gender. In “Wild Blessings,” Lucille Clifton portrays the caring nature of women as she says that her hand is licked (Levine et al., 697).  The poet shows what females go through in the hands of unworthy priests, militants, and child exploiters, who have the desire to kill and torture people. Through these expressions, the poets prove the feminine nature to understand and silently cope with the ill-treatment accorded. Lucille Clifton also uses self-writing in her literary work. With this motive, she encourages the dire need to have women embrace the opportunity to express themselves through writing, leading to eradicating injustices cultivated on women (Tunc, 190) widely. Lucille Clifton demands the identification of black women and their bodies by employing her poetic voice. The black female bodies represent the need to end the patriarchal statuses that exist in many societies and the disregard accorded to women. Through her work, the poet also seeks to address the heterogenetic existence among different races that bear inequalities.

The physical representation is portrayed in the work of Lucille Clifton. She uses the model of black people and their skin to show how well people cope with challenges and embraces their aural states. Various issues have been used to address the concern of physical representation. The children, God, personal attributes, and the uterus are the issues that have been brought out. Homage to my hips shows the respect that women are given based on physical appearances (Levine et al., 696). Through her portrayal of the feminine body, the idea of identity and bodily appearances reveal the never-ending regard of the change in a person ( hoelzer, 2). The concept of female identities is showcased all through the work of Clifton. She proves the need for everyone to trust in their abilities and disregard societal norms. The descriptive nature of hips being mighty and magical (Levine et al. 696) showcases positiveness towards one’s skills and personality.

Clifton shows her ability to depend on herself, which large audiences should widely embrace. In the poem “you won’t celebrate me,” she brings out the reliance on human hands. The interconnection between her mental and physical nature is what she classifies as the one to be widely embraced rather than that of other people’s opinions (Harding, 40).  In the poem, the phrase “what I have shaped into” shows the poet’s ability to embrace her nature and appreciate her ways by celebrating her achievements. Therefore there is a need to meet the physical and mental acuity (Harding, 40). Ironically, the poet expresses pride through what she can offer rather than telling her dire need for reliance on other people to achieve individual goals. She criticizes homogeneous acts, yet there have been no places accorded to women in patriarchal societies.

There is a historical representation in the work of Lucille Clifton, as she shows the African American experiences. They live in oppression and poverty with the longing for home. Through this, the Africans show an understanding of their place across the world as a sidelined race. Lucille Clifton tries to bring out the idea of embracing people in how they are rather than by their races. The Africans live in poverty, as portrayed in the poem “the lost baby poem.” The baby is aborted and let into the river due to poverty (Levine et al., 696). However, the woman later lives a life full of regret hoping that she can never be subjected to such an inhumane act. The guilt is expressed in the line “what did I know about waters rushing back.” Lucille says hope in her poetry using the poem “hag riding.” She expresses the loss of hope by older women in society. They live in the dilemma of remaining alive or being dead (Clifton, 26). The poem reflects on the fear of human beings towards death and hopelessness. Poetic rhyme has been used throughout the poem to connect death and life and how people try to overcome challenges in life.

There is a portrayal of attitude toward the light as it is sensitive to Lucille Clifton. Light represents Lucifer, who, according to her, is a prodigal son of God (Werbanowska, 87). Through light, Clifton shows the idea of truth and how people need to accept the fact and lead into fitting into life experiences. There is wide cross-examination of life as the poet reflects on Africans’ experiences in America. They hope for a brighter future and the journey back home. It is, however, ironic that they cannot move away from slavery as they live in abject darkness in the hands of employers. Therefore, the theme of experience has been looked deeply into in as much as it faces the slaves face opposition in their ideas as much as they long to move away back to the ancestral lands.

The poems by Clifton express the command in her voice and the view she has toward the beauty of the earth. ” I taste in my natural appetite of things that are alive everywhere” (Clifton, 34). She expresses her understanding of earth by presenting beautiful lands and the need for the embracement of environments. The reviews of the blackfish, har, and animals showcase the different human races worldwide, hence a reflection of beauty. In the poem ” The Mississippi River Empties into the Gulf,” Lucille identifies with the river as a representation of human beings. she notes the beauty in normal nature (Levine et al., 698). Through personification, Lucille Clifton shows how rivers represent the memories that human beings carry along with them. The African Americans carry memories of their past that they find hard to forget. They have memories with them in the European lands and regret a loss of identity with their relations. They live lives filled with bitterness and cannot easily be seen to forget what they have been out through (Levine et al., 698). the linguistic approach of blacks and whites as race determinants in the work of Lucille Clifton defines the world and its natural setting. Therefore, the use of poetry has revealed the poet’s ability to insist on equal treatment across races.

In conclusion, Lucille Clifton’s work of literature had expressed different concerns which ordinary people face in their lives. The poet has sought to express major concerns African Americans go through and the feminine struggles amidst gender inequalities and racial segregation. Through her work, Lucille presents the idea of wide readership and analysis of various concepts.

Work cited

Clifton, Lucille. The collected poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010. BOA Editions, Ltd., 2015.

Clifton, Lucille. Good woman: Poems and a memoir 1969-1980. BOA Editions, Ltd., 2014.

Harding, Rachel Elizabeth. “Authority, History, and Everyday Mysticism in the Poetry of Lucille Clifton: A Womanist View.” Meridians 12.1 (2014): 36-57.

Hoelzer, Kaitlin. “The Importance of the Physical: Lucille Clifton’s Poetry About Bodies.” Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism 12.2 (2019): 3.

Levine, Robert S., Elliott, Michael A., Gustafson, Sandra M., Hungerford, Amy, and Loeffelholz, Mary. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volume C, D and E. W. W. Norton, 2016

Tunç, Tanfer Emin. “The poetics of self-writing: women and national body in the works of Lucille Clifton.” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 26.1 (2009).

Werbanowska, Marta. “There Is Hope in Connecting”: Black Ecotheology and the Poetry of Lucille Clifton.” ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 26.1 (2019): 83-96