blog




  • Essay / The work and life of Lucille Clifton: a biographical approach

    "You can walk in someone else's shoes," the saying goes, "but you can't walk in their shoes." -Tracey MishkinSay no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"?Get the original essayLucille Clifton is an author whose work draws attention to "forms of oppression such as the exploitation of women, people of color and other subjugated groups” (Hashim) used her experience as an African American woman in a New York neighborhood and incorporated “the black experience, family life, and the female body” to be “ the main concerns” of his life. his poetry (Hashim). Lucille Clifton was born and raised in Depew, New York. Neither his father nor his mother, Samuel and Thelma Sayles, were educated, but they laid the foundation for Clifton's (Moody) work. Lucille Clifton began writing; around the age of twelve; In an interview with Hilary Holladay, Clifton said that what pushed her to start writing was this inner need everyone has to express themselves: “Cooks do it with food; clothing, fabrics. I always loved words, the sound of words, the feel of words in my mouth, and that’s why I did it that way” (Holladay 182). Clifton's expressions couldn't have come at a more inspiring time. She began her work during the “Explosive Black Arts Movement” (Mishkin 305). In this article, I will connect Clifton's poetry to his journey and to this movement in particular. “Oh Ancient God” is one of Clifton's last poems. This shows the love she felt for her mother and the sadness that even years later persists over her loss. The speaker of the poem thinks that God's action of taking her mother was a kind of "trick," a kind of cruel joke. At any given time, mothers typically exert a significant and influential influence on their children's lives. This was especially the case in Clifton's life, as she drew her early inspiration and skills from her poet mother. Assuming Clifton is the direct speaker, she just wants to remember her mother and everything she contributed to her life because "although her wild hair stripes my [speaker's] dreams", she barely remembers his mother's characteristics (Clifton 1482). "The Poem of the Lost Baby" and "Miss Rosie" are similar to Lucille Clifton's "Oh God Ancient" in that all three are poems of remembrance. “The Poem of the Lost Baby” centers on a nostalgic and regretful mother and her thoughts towards her aborted child. The poem is divided into three sections. The first section talks about abortion itself. The second part is about the mother's apology and the third part is about the lessons she learned from this experience. This period was particularly difficult to live in and poverty rates were high, especially for an African American woman. The speaker uses this as a rather logical and good excuse in the lines that say what the child would be born into, like no money and the cold. The speaker made the choice to have an abortion, a common choice at that time, because she knew she could not support herself; however, as she speaks, she has new children. She makes a promise to herself and her unborn child, a promise that she will do right by her unborn child by caring for the baby's living siblings. There is respect towards the mother for her decision. On the subject of respect, there is “Miss Rosie”. This poem initially has a sympathetic tone which turns into notes of harshness and hatred at the words “you wet brown bag of a woman” (Clifton 1479). Although there is this tone, it almost seems like.