Nikki Giovanni poem #10

          Love Is

Some people forget that love is
tucking you in and kissing you
'Good night'
no matter how young or old you are
Some people don't remember that
love is
listening and laughing and asking
questions
no matter what your age
Few recognize that love is
commitment, responsibility
no fun at all
unless

Love is
You and me       

Allusion - N/A

Tone -  The tone of this poem is pensive because she's reflecting on what Love is through her perspective.

Figurative Language - The figurative language used in this poem is symbolism. The reason why is because Nikki Giovanni is pointing out what love symbolizes. (ex: Some people forget that love is tucking you in and kissing you "Good night" no matter how young or old you are.)

Theme - The theme in this poem talks about the meaning of Love.

Personal Interpretation - I think that Nikki Giovanni is showing what Love means in her point of view. It doesn't have to be hugging, kissing, laughing, and all these other things to call

 

Nikki Giovanni poem #9

                       Summer Love Poem

 

Clouds float by on a summer sky
I hop scotch over to you
Rainbows arch from ground to gold
I climb over to you
Thunder grumbles, lightning tumbles
And I bounce over to you
Sun beams back and catches me
Smiling over at you

 

Summer love is a euphoric feeling and it extraordinary      

Nikki Giovanni poem #7

                I'm Not Lonely

I'm not lonely

sleeping all alone
you think i'm scared
but i'm a big girl
i don't cry or anything

I have a great
big bed to roll around
in and lots of space
and i don't dream
bad dreams like i used
to have that you
were leaving me
anymore

In my interpretation, this is a poem of sadness and denial.
The amount of times the poet repeats the word lonely, shows that its the focus of their mind. The fact that they follow the sentence "I am not lonely, sleeping all alone" makes the initial statement into somewhat of an oxymoron. And the last word of sentence of the poem being "All alone" indeed the last word being "Alone" to me points to how she really feels.
The way she says "I dont cry, or anything" in the rhyme scheme she has chosen, takes from the impact of the statement "I dont cry" and makes it more uncertain while simultaneous filling it with the idea that she doesn't feel emotion at all anymore.
In verse three where she states "and i don't dream, bad dreams, like i used, to have that you,
were leaving me, anymore" to me insinuates that she doesn't dream at all, good bad or indifferent, this she reiterates at the start of verse four. It also implies that her worst fear while they were together was him leaving, which is why it played out in her subconscious mind as a (seemingly reoccurring) dream.
Finally I believe that the "big bed to roll around in, and lots of space" shows the level of commitment in the relationship, to me it conveys the image that they were quite serious and living together, which is why she alights on the bed and size. Also it sounds like she spends a lot of time tossing and turning and notices the lack of him, which also shows that he hasn't been replaced, and she hasn't moved on.       

Nikki Giovanni poem #8

                    Balances

In life
one is always
balancing

like we juggle our mothers
against our fathers

or one teacher
against another
(only to balance our grade average)

3 grains of salt
to one ounce truth

our sweet black essence
or the funky honkies down the street

and lately i've begun wondering
if you're trying to tell me something

we used to talk all night
and do things alone together

and i've begun

(as a reaction to a feeling)
to balance
the pleasure of loneliness
against the pain
of loving you

I'd say the theme is love and its imperfections. The poet knows the love they now share with their significant other is becoming harder and harder to sustain. It is not easy loving someone who also causes you pain. Being separate is now less painful than being together. The balance is out when loneliness is pleasurable and love is painful.
      

William Shakespeare poem #10

                             Silvia

WHO is Silvia? What is she?
   That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
   The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.

Is she kind as she is fair?
   For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
   To help him of his blindness;
And, being help'd, inhabits there.

Then to Silvia let us sing,
   That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
   Upon the dull earth dwelling:
To her let us garlands bring.
 
 
       Praises Silva's beauty,virtue, and wisdom!

Act I Scene I: Valentine says goodbye and teases Proteus about being in love. Scene II: Lucetta advises Julia to accept Proteus' letter. Julia tears it up. Scene III: Panthino wants Antonio to send Proteus with Valentine.

Act II Scene I: Valentine and Silvia are in love. Scene II: Proteus and Julia exchange rings. Scene III: Launce will go with Proteus. Scene IV: Thurio is also in love with Silvia Valentine tells the Duke and Silvia about Proteus. Valentine plans to elope with Silvia. Proteus has also fallen in love with Silvia. Scene V: Speed greets Launce. Scene VI: Proteus plots to win Silvia. Scene VII: Julia plans to disguise herself as a boy and journey to meet Proteus.

Act III Scene I: The Duke tricks Valentine into revealing his plan and banishes him. Valentine flees and Speed goes to meet him. Scene II: Proteus agrees to speak badly of Valentine to Silvia and tells Thurio to write poetry to her.

Act IV Scene I: The outlaws make Valentine their leader. Scene II: Thurio comes to woo Silvia. Julia hears Proteus singing to Silvia. Silvia accuses Proteus of disloyalty but agrees to give him her picture. Scene III: Eglamour agrees to go to find Valentine. Scene IV: Silvia refuses to accept Crab as a gift. Proteus sends Launce to find the dog he was supposed to give her. Proteus sends Julia to deliver a ring to Silvia and obtain her picture. Silvia refuses the ring.

Act V Scene I: Silvia meets Eglamour. Scene II: Proteus tells Thurio that Silvia doesn't like him. The Duke takes Thurio and Proteus to pursue Silvia. Scene III: The outlaws bring Silvia to Valentine. Scene IV: Silvia refuses Proteus again and declares her love for Valentine, who saves her. Proteus repents and is forgiven. Proteus recognizes Julia and she forgives him. Thurio agrees to leave Silvia alone. The Duke pardons Valentine and the outlaws.

Layman's summary:
In “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” two friends, Valentine and Proteus, both fall in love with Silvia, daughter of the Duke of Milan (even though Proteus is already secretly betrothed to a girl named Julia.). Silvia’s father wants her to marry a foolish knight called Thurio, and asks Proteus to help him persuade her. The song, which praises Silvia’s beauty, virtue and wisdom, is arranged to be heard by her, to persuade her to come onto her balcony and talk to Thurio. However, by the time she appears, Proteus has got rid of Thurio and woos Silvia himself. As he begs for her love, he doesn’t know that his deserted first love, Julia, is listening nearby, disguised as a boy. Silvia, who knows about Julia, won’t listen to Proteus’ declarations but upbraids him for abandoning Julia.
Later, Julia, still in disguise, comes to work for Proteus. He is still pursuing Silvia and eventually tries to rape her. She is rescued by Valentine and, eventually, Silvia and Valentine are betrothed, Proteus is forgiven and he and Julia are reunited.

William Shakespeare poem #9

                            A Madrigal

Crabbed Age and Youth
Cannot live together:
Youth is full of pleasance,
Age is full of care;
Youth like summer morn,
Age like winter weather;
Youth like summer brave,
Age like winter bare:
Youth is full of sports,
Age's breath is short,
Youth is nimble, Age is lame:
Youth is hot and bold,
Age is weak and cold,
Youth is wild, and Age is tame:-
Age, I do abhor thee;
Youth, I do adore thee;
O! my Love, my Love is young!
Age, I do defy thee-
O sweet shepherd, hie thee,
For methinks thou stay'st too long.

      In this poem Shakespeare compares Youth and “Crabbed age” (old age). He describes them as a couple which cannot live together since they are the complete opposites of each other. While Youth is careless, summer-like and healthy, Age is weak, sad and has “short breath”.

William Shakespeare poem #8

                                  Dirge

COME away, come away, death,

And in sad cypres let me be laid;
Fly away, fly away, breath;
   I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
   O prepare it!
My part of death, no one so true
   Did share it.

Not a flower, not a flower sweet,
   On my black coffin let there be strown;
Not a friend, not a friend greet
   My poor corse, where my bones shall be thrown:
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
   Lay me, O, where
Sad true lover never find my grave
   To weep there!

   A dirge is a song that is sung at a funeral. The speaker piles one image of nature upon another to describe the grief he feels, including the moaning and wild wind, the sullen clouds, the sad storm, the bare woods, the deep caves, and the dreary main. Note that the speaker is anthropomorphizing his surroundings to express his grief, and almost all of the nouns are anthropomorphized via sad and gloomy adjectives. Put all together, the poet expresses the frustration of feeling that the whole world is “wrong” and is grieving its own sorry state.   

William Shakespeare poem #7

                                        Sonnnet 109

O, never say that I was false of heart,
Though absence seemed my flame to qualify.
As easy might I from my self depart
As from my soul which in thy breast doth lie.
That is my home of love; if I have ranged,
Like him that travels I return again,
Just to the time, not with the time exchanged,
So that myself bring water for my stain.
Never believe though in my nature reigned
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood,
That it could so preposterously be stained
To leave for nothing all thy sum of good;
For nothing this wide universe I call
Save thou, my rose, in it thou art my all.      

 

                                                     Poem Defined!

 

Don't ever say that my feelings were not sincere
Even though I stayed away so it seemed so
I could not any more leave myself
than leave my soul which in fact you possess
You are where my heart lies, even if I've been absent
I return like all travellers do
in a predictable way
And when I return my sins are washed away
Even though I am as weak as any other person
Do not believe that my weaknesses could overcome my love for you and your infinite goodness
Because you are the entire beauty of the world and I am completely yours forever. 

Nikki Giovanni poem #6

               I Wrote A Good Omelet

I wrote a good omelet...and ate
a hot poem... after loving you
Buttoned my car...and drove my
coat home...in the rain...
after loving you
I goed on red...and stopped on
green...floating somewhere in between...
being here and being there...
after loving you
I rolled my bed...turned down
my hair...slightly
confused but...I don't care...
Laid out my teeth...and gargled my
gown...then I stood
...and laid me down...
To sleep...
after loving you  

In this poem, Giovanni expresses a view that is so essential to falling in love: blissful distraction. However, Giovanni never says that she is so crazy about her new love that she cannot think straight and she is totally screwing up everyday tasks.  Instead, she uses the actual images of confusion to express the “experience” of this euphoric distraction. “I Wrote a Good Omelet” is not a complicated love poem but it is packed with sentiment and images. We understand her experience with love, even with her use of simple words.   

Nikki Giovanni poem #5

 

And I Have You

Rain has drops

Sun has shine
Moon has beams
That make you mine
Rivers have banks
Sands for shores
Hearts have heartbeats
That make me yours
Needles have eyes
Though pins may prick
Elmer has glue
To make things stick
Winter has Spring
Stockings feet
Pepper has mint
To make it sweet
Teachers have lessons
Soup du jour
Lawyers sue bad folks
Doctors cure
All and all
This much is true
You have me
And I have you       

In this poem, Giovanni talks about the different things that pair up. These items fit together just like her and her partner.

Nikki Giovanni poem #4

                                            Choices
                                     

If i can't do
what i want to do
then my job is to not
do what i don't want
to do
It's not the same thing
but it's the best i can
do

If i can't have
what i want . . . then
my job is to want
what i've got
and be satisfied
that at least there
is something more to want

Since i can't go
where i need
to go . . . then i must . . . go
where the signs point
through always understanding
parallel movement
isn't lateral

When i can't express
what i really feel
i practice feeling
what i can express
and none of it is equal
I know
but that's why mankind
alone among the animals
learns to cry       

This poem deals with choices, but it actually talks about choices when you don't really have the choices you believe you should have. The only real choices you may have are between things that you didn't really want in the first place because your "real" choice is not available to you. It shows angst of being both black and female in a white man's world. "The Drum" deals with how she will handle a world "tight and hard" like a drum...as defined by her father, to whom she says she'll simply "beat out my own rhythm"...meaning that she can't change the way the world is, but she will do what she can with what she has and it will be enough.

Nikki Giovanni poem #3

     
            Ego Tripping

Here is the poem and another analysis

In this poem, Nikki references a spiritual allusion. She uses words such as: throne, Allah, nile, and Jesus to explain her spiritual reincarnation into a “beautiful woman.” In the sixth stanza, Nikki writes “I turned myself into myself and was Jesus.” At first I thought this was very ignorant, however; she is not trying to take Jesus’s place. Giovanni implies that she found a new closeness within herself (that is similar to that of God and Jesus) that has changed her into a divine woman. She has created a new being that is to be seen from the outside and the inside as well. This poem can be viewed in many different ways but the theme is evident within the very last stanza. “I mean…I … can fly like a bird in the sky.” This simile ties the entire poem together. As she comforts herself through reassurance that she is new, the etc. punctuation suggests that she is unsure of her reincarnation of her new self. Finally, she decides that she is new and everlasting like a bird soaring in the sky. Being that she didn’t suggest a land animal, it recommends that she feels majestic and glorious as if no one can bring her down.

Nikki Giovanni poem #2

 

Kidnap Poem

 

 

Ever been kidnapped
by a poet
if i were a poet
i'd kidnap you
put you in my phrases and meter
You to jones beach
or maybe coney island
or maybe just to my house
lyric you in lilacs
dash you in the rain
blend into the beach
to complement my see
Play the lyre for you
ode you with my love song
anything to win you
wrap you in the red Black green
show you off to mama
yeah if i were a poet i'd kid
nap you         

 

 

 

In this poem, I realize there are no stanzas. This symbolizes kidnapping because when it happens it is unexpected and many things run through your mind. She writes “ever been kidnapped by a poet”.  By analyzing this line, the reader is able to take away that she wants to know if her audience has ever been taken from their home by words. She leaves the question unanswered by leaving out punctuation marks to infer that these words are never ending. Giovanni uses “I” and “you” which helps the reader understand the message of the poem which is that she is willing to use her words and metaphors to change the world and see things from her perspective.

Nikki Giovanni poem #1

                   A Poem Of Friendship

 

We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love
we have
We are not friends
because of the laughs
we spend
but the tears
we save

I don't want to be near you
for the thoughts we share
but the words we never have
to speak
I will never miss you
because of what we do
but what we are
together We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love
we have
We are not friends
because of the laughs
we spend
but the tears
we save

I don't want to be near you
for the thoughts we share
but the words we never have
to speak
I will never miss you
because of what we do
but what we are
together

 

This poem shows strong passion to what she believes in as of friendship. The person doesn't always have to have their happy times, but also their sad times in friendship. No matter what happens,  up's & down's, they're still friends. The figurative language that is shown is assonance. (ex: ....but the love we have. ....we save. ..... I will never miss you....)

William Shakespeare poem #6

All the World's a Stage

Get mocked in Shakespearean language!

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Explanation here!