Lucille Clifton Summary

Lucille Clifton's pride in being black and in being a woman helps her transform difficult circumstances into a qualified affirmation about the black urban world she portrays. She perceives in her own ... Read more

In the following review of Good News about the Earth, Mills discusses Clifton's work as a poetry of reality and of affirmation. Those who found Lucille Clifton's Good Times an amazing... Read more

Below, poet and critic Bennett discusses Clifton's thematic exploration of cultural and personal history in Quilting: Poems 1987-90. Readers familiar with Ms. Clifton will find in Quilting, ... Read more

Here, poet and critic David Kirby applauds the humanity of Clifton's poetry in The Book of Light. Ms. Clifton finds beauty in actual people and places. In "thel" (uncapitalized... Read more

In the essay below, Anaporte-Easton cites Clifton's thematic healing of the disparity between the mind, spirit, and the body. The distinctive quality of Clifton's voice comes from her... Read more

Below, poet and critic Waniek reviews the visionary and transcendent nature of Clifton's poems in Two-Headed Woman. Lucille Clifton is a visionary poet. Her vision, however, is one of sanity... Read more

In the following essay, poet, critic, and educator Madhubuti discusses the language and cultural sensitivity of Clifton's poetry In everything she creates, this Lucille Clifton, a writer of ... Read more

Poet and critic Marilyn Hacker calls Clifton's style in Next one of astonishing economy and her theme one of asserting the connecting spirit. Lucille Clifton's sixth book, Next, has b... Read more

In the following review of Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980, critic William Harris discusses the lyrical and textured style of Clifton's work. Lucille Clifton is a poet who has grown... Read more

Critical Essay by Ann Cathey Carver Lucille Clifton's Good Times poems communicate a microcosm of the black experience in America in all its complexity. And it is Miss Clifton's perfect... Read more

Critical Essay by Angela Jackson [The poems in Good News About The Earth] makes a sister want to give witness…. [At] some or several points in the god/spell according to Sister Lucille any bod... Read more

Critical Essay by Helen Vendler "Love," "grace," "mystery," "survive," "strong," "good" and "wise"&#x... Read more

Critical Essay by Carol Muske Lucille Clifton, in her third collection of poems, An Ordinary Woman, plays on [a] collective sense of déjà vu, by using the power of everyday objects. She... Read more

In the following essay, Johnson argues that Clifton's Everett Anderson series of books for young readers functions as a thoughtful exploration of African-American community, culture, and identi... Read more

In the following essay, Whitley compares Clifton's Generations to Walt Whitman's “Song of Myself” in the context of the American literary tradition. Poet Lucille Clifton... Read more

In the following review of Quilting: Poems, 1987-1990, Bennett examines the central themes of each of the work's five sections. Readers familiar with Ms. Clifton will find in Quilting, her s... Read more

In the following essay, Anaporte-Easton examines the thematic focus on Christianity and African-American culture in the poetry of Clifton and Judith Johnson. The distinctive quality of Clifton�... Read more

In the following essay, White observes how Clifton's poetry can function as a rhetorical discourse on African-American identity. And I could tell you about things we been through, some awful... Read more

In the following essay, Wall examines Clifton's exploration of the past through the reconstruction of family genealogy in Generations. in populated air our ancestors continue i have seen the... Read more