Essay On Lucille Clifton's Poetry

“Poetry is a matter of life, not just a matter of language.” By Lucille Clifton. Poets, Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou wrote poetry based on their experiences in life and during their own time period. Langston Hughes was a social activist and a poet, he wrote about his personal experiences and is the author of “Dreams” and “Mother to Son.” Maya Angelou, the author of “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and “Still I rise” was a civil rights activist and her poetry was mainly about autobiography, in connection with her life story. “Still I rise” , “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”, “Mother to Son”, and “Dreams” are being analyzed, showing similarities and differences between the poems. Each poem is trying to tell us about how racial segregation
Hughes’s poem “Mother to son” is a mother talking to her son about her struggles in life but she continued to persevere, he uses metaphor to compare her trials in life to stairs. His other poem “Dreams” is a short poem that uses metaphor to compare a broken-winged bird to a dream that has been let go. The poem is referring to how letting go of your dreams is just like giving up on life. Angelou’s poem, “Still I rise” talks about the people who tried bringing her down but she continued to come back up. Poetic devices such as repetition, simile, and metaphor were used throughout the poem.“I know why the caged bird sings” also written by Angelou talks about her past experiences about racism and segregation, in addition to this symbolism and metaphor were used in this poem. The poems that were analyzed are similar to each other in many
Angelou’s poem, “Still I rise” and Hughes’s poem “Mother to son” share common comparisons. In “Still I rise”, she says, “I rise” meaning she continues to get back up even after all the negative force pushing her back down. In “Mother to Son”, the mother says, “I’se still climbin’,” she actually means that even though life is tough you shouldn’t let it bring you down and continue to move forward. The two poems resemble each other because they explain that even with the negative forces, they continue to “rise” or “climb” and not give up. Both poems are in first person point of view and they wrote it as if they were talking to a specific person(s). In “Mother to son” the mother is talking to her son, “Well, son” and in “Still I rise” “you” are the negative force or the people who tried to bring her down. The mood for the two poems are alike because both are empowering. The phrase, “don’t you turn back” is said by the mother because she is trying to motivate her son to not give up. The speaker in “Still I rise” says, “Still I’ll rise” this gives an empowering and motivational mood because even after all the negative surroundings she continues to stay optimistic. Yet the poems that were presented are alike in many ways but they also differ from each