American poet Yolande Cornelia (Nikki) Giovanni, Jr. (born 1943), initially wrote poetry from a revolutionary African American standpoint in the 1960s, but later moved to more traditional themes and s...
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Biography EssayNikki Giovanni came into prominence on the American scene as one of the most noted poets of the new black renaissance that began in the 1960s. Since that time she has grown from the ope...
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One of the best-known African American poets to reach prominence during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Nikki Giovanni has continued to create poems that encompass a life fully experienced. Her unique...
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Nikki Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., in Knoxville, Tennessee. In 1967 she graduated with honors from Fisk University, where, in 1964, she was instrumental in restoring the campus ch...
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Nikki Giovanni is an important and extremely popular literary figure who came into prominence on the American scene as one of the most noted poets of the new black renaissance which began in the 1960s...
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In the following excerpt, Juhasz reads Giovanni's poetry as a record of her attempts to meld her roles as a black, a woman, and a poet by defining those roles "in terms of two primary fa...
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In the following essay, Harris regards Giovanni as "a good popular poet" whose work responds to the complex events of her time yet sometimes suffers from a lack of a more complete realiz...
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In the following essay, McDowell argues for a more comprehensive criticism of Giovanni's work, claiming that it is generally misinterpreted and poorly assessed due to earlier criticism biased b...
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In the following interview, Giovanni discusses her work's development, considers the effects of race and gender on writing, and provides insight into her own creative process.
Nikki Giovanni be...
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In the following essay, Cook discusses the theme of place in Giovanni's poems, arguing that Giovanni's most important poems are not the early, militant poems, but those which are greatly...
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Critical Essay by David Llorens
[Get] next to Black Judgement …, a book of poems by the sister from Cincinnati that's one more fast number. (p. 83)
Enjoy the guts of [Giovanni] on her jo...
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Critical Essay by Sarah Webster Fabio
[Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgment] is a record of a time and an involvement and awareness and activism which marks the late Sixties as special. Nikki Gio...
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Critical Essay by Jerry H. Bryant
Gemini is a collection of miscellaneous essays—roughly half of them autobiographical; the rest, critical and political…. Miss Giovanni allows her sense ...
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Critical Essay by Paula Giddings
[Even though the content of Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-Five Years of Being a Black Poet] is contemporary, it is written from a p...
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Critical Essay by James Finn Cotter
Nikki Giovanni in [The Women and the Men offers an unfortunate example] of the dangers of success. [She is] self-consciously determined to speak as [a black woman o...
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Critical Essay by George E. Kent
[My House] by title implies both a kind of freedom to deal in lyrics with things which affect the poet personally and intimately and a projection of the mind and feeli...
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In the following essay, Bell analyzes African-American poetry, discussing its influences and its agenda.
Perhaps the most phenomenal cultural development in the nation during the 1960's was the...
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In the following review of Racism 101, Crockett argues that Giovanni accurately reflects African-American views on race.
Poet Nikki Giovanni is caught up in the past and the future at the same time. I...
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In the following essay, Boldridge explores the relation between Miguel de Cervantes's character Don Quixote and Giovanni's world view.
Of the generation of black poets that emerged in th...
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In the following review, Rosenberg praises Giovanni's style and skill in Ego-Tripping.
In a previous book, Spin a Soft Black Song, Miss Giovanni used warm, unaffected language to describe being...
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In the following essay based on an interview with Giovanni, Stokes remarks on Giovanni's home and family.
"Now don't expect to find me in a fancy mansion," Nikki Giovanni s...
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In the following interview, Giovanni discusses her travels to Africa, the role of the writer in society, and writers she admires.
Throughout her career, Nikki Giovanni's poetry has been valued,...
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In the interview below, Giovanni offers her views on modern culture and writing.
Nikki Giovanni wants to make it clear: "I did not perform in South Africa. I think that's ridiculous. I m...
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In the following essay, McDowell argues that critics have failed to adequately analyze the whole of Giovanni's poetry.
The nature of Nikki Giovanni's poetry cannot be fully understood no...
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In the following review of Sacred Cows … and Other Edibles, McDermott criticizes Giovanni's monotony and lack of wit.
On February 19th William Morrow and Company will publish what it def...
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In the essay below, Cook considers the influence of the Southern writing tradition on Giovanni's writing.
Nikki Giovanni's poetry has been most often viewed by literary critics in the tr...
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The poem "Woman" by Nikki Giovanni tells a story of a female who straggles to fuse together her need for self actualization and empowerment, with the socially instilled in her notion about her role as...
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Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr.
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni
