FREE ESSAY ON NIKKI GIOVANNI

NIKKI GIOVANNI

Nikki (Yolande Cornelia) Giovanni has made an enormous impact on African American
literature. She uses her own experiences to write wonderful poetry. In the poem
Nikki-Rosa, Nikki Giovanni writes the opposite about her growing up in her family.
When I first read this poem, I pictured a poverty-stricken family living in a small
apartment, much like the Younger family in A Raisin in the Sun. Evidently, the family is
poor because they have no inside toilet and take baths in one of those/ big tubs that
folk in chicago barbecue in (10-11). The family is not as concerned about poverty as they
are for their love for one another, 
And though you're poor it isn't poverty that
concerns you
and though they fought a lot
it isn't your father's drinking that makes any difference
but only that everybody is together and you
and your sister have happy birthdays and very good
Christmasses (20-26)
The poem reveals a good family does have its problems. I got the feeling the children in
the poem loved living where they lived although their parents weren't the richest, or
they didn't live in the nicest house. The children realized that there was more to life
than having a pleasant house and delightful things. The children in the poem realize that
family life is more important than material objects. 
The poem Nikki-Rosa was written based on the life of Nikki Giovanni. Nikki Giovanni's
childhood was very much different that the one described in the poem. Giovanni was raised
in a middle class family, although she did learn of poverty from her parents who happened
to be social workers (Wiedemann 1500). Her childhood could be described as very happy
(Great 178). Giovanni's world in her poetry is an extension of her real life. Often, she
sees herself existing among tensions. Biographers who write about Nikki Giovanni always
comment on the poverty of the family, her parent's fighting, and note her father's
alcoholism, but almost never comment on the closeness of her family or the richness of a
strong, supportive family (Wiedemann 1499). [I]t isn't your father's drinking that makes
any difference/ but only that everybody is together (23-24). This line in the poem sums
up very well the feeling of family in the home of Nikki Giovanni during her childhood.
The poem is not autobiographical of Giovanni's life, but it does parallel the development
of her radical conscious (Wiedemann 1500).
Nikki-Rosa is a typical example of a poem by Nikki Giovanni. She writes about what she
knows and what she has experienced. The poetry of Giovanni is related to issues
African-Americans face on a daily basis. According to Don L. Lee, she knows the need for
Black awareness, unity, and, solidarity; she has lived through it, and knows a change can
be affected. (182) Nikki Giovanni's poetry contains no punctuation, symbolizing a
continuous thought (Wiedemann 1499). Typically there is no form in her poetry. A wide
audience has read her poems because of the simplicity of the language used and the
imagery of everyday life (Wiedemann 1499). Giovanni rarely uses difficult symbols and
avoids the usage of complex vocabulary to convey the meaning of her poetry, especially
Nikki-Rosa (Wiedemann 1500). 
Barbara Wiedemann comments that Nikki-Rosa hints at the division of whites and blacks
(1500). In Wiedemann's interview with Giovanni, she states that whites cannot understand
the black experience, and because of the power structure in America, whites should be
held accountable for the poverty experienced by the black population. Giovanni believes
differences in education cause poverty, a lack of social services, and discrimination.
(1500) This poem, written the day after Martin Luther King, Jr.'s death is supposed to
represent a young person growing up in an impoverished family who later becomes a black
activist. The Nikki in the poem is not Nikki Giovanni. However, Rosa is Rosa Parks, the
same Rosa who, in 1955, refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman. Giovanni writes
about these kinds of things because she herself has attended antiwar demonstrations, the
Civil Rights Movement, and various riots throughout the nation. These and other events
such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and Robert Kennedy
helped to radicalize Nikki Giovanni (Wiedemann 1500).
Nikki Giovanni uses her knowledge of subjects related blacks to write her poetry. Within
her poetry, she emphasizes the importance of family and love in the family to create a
success. In her own family, she had two loving parents and siblings. She used her
knowledge and experience to write the poem Nikki-Rosa. Giovanni is a poet who wrote about
what she knew the most about, black culture and the importance of family. ? Works
Consulted
Giovanni, Nikki. Gemini. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc. 1971.
---. Racism 101. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1994.
Lee, Don L. Nikki Giovanni. Contemporary Literary Criticism Volume 64. Carolyn Riley, ed.
Detroit: Gale Research Co. 
Great Women Writers. Frank N. Magill, ed. New York: Henry & Colt Company. 1994
Wiedemann, Barbara. Nikki Giovanni. Masterplots II: Poetry Series Volume 4. Frank N.
Magill, ed. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Salem Press. 1992.