Nikki Poem Giovanni

Words: 776
Pages: 4

“She decided to be a woman and though/ and though he still refused to be a man. She decides it was alright” (18-22). Poet, activist and writer Yolanda Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. “After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1967, she organized the Black Arts Festival in Cincinnati before entering graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University”. Nikki Giovanni poems are so inspiring, she encourages woman to chase their dreams, and not to rely on a man opinion. All of her poems all have the same message. Become your own person, she also makes us realize that it is okay for you to be on your own for a little while. Just so you could grow into the woman you want to become. …show more content…
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” (Home12). “When Giovanni was a young child, she moved with her parents from Knoxville to a predominantly black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio but remained close to her grandmother. Nikki was encouraged by several schoolteachers and enrolled early at Fisk University, a prestigious, all-black college in Nashville, Tennessee” (homes43). The poem Woman which is one of my favorite poems of hers, is basically about a typically relationship between a man and a woman. Where woman desires support he will not give her. All of Giovanni poems all have one message, which is to become more independent and be your own woman. Not to base your life around a man. In the poem it describes how the woman wants to be a blade of grass. Then, her man would not be her dandelion. By using the words, “blades of grass amid the fields”