Ego Tripping(there may be a reason why)

Diana SantiagoJessica TorresKelly De LeonSamerra GreenCameron Bonitto

Nikki Giovanni was born on June 7, 1943 as Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni. She was born in Knoxville Tennessee and grew up in Lincoln Heights. Nikki grew up with both her parents and sister

Nikki doesn't really believe that someone could inspire someone else to write poetry but she knows that in some way her grandmother had a part in her for making poetry.

After graduating from Austin High School she attended Fisk University where she got in with early acceptance. In 1967 Nikki graduated Fisk university with a bachelors degree arts.

After graduating from Fisk university, Nikki began to attend the University of Pennsylvania  and Colombia University.

Nikki as well organized The Black Art Festival in Cincinnati after she graduated from Frisk University. In 1968 Nikki's first book Black Feeling, Black Talk which included many poems that reflected on an African American identity as well as her book Black Judgement which was published in 1969. She began to build poems from assassinations of Martin Luther king JR., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and Robert Kennedy. Through her poems she wanted to raise awareness of plight and rights that African Americans have.Through her messages sent through her poetry and books Nikki became very successful  and inspiring to others

. As time passed and more of her poems became published she began to be called "Princess of black poetry", "National treasure", and one of Oprah's twenty  five "Living Legends".

During the 1980s Nikki still published many poems and spent most of her time touring to attend speaking engagements. She began to teach at College amount. St. Joseph and Virginia Tech. university where she still teaches now. Many awards that Nikki has received was in 1973 from the Women of the Year award, 1996 from the Langston Hughes award for. Distinguished contributions to  Arts and letters, and in 1998 she was awarded three NAACP  image Awards for literature. Throughout the years she made many television appearances, was given more than twenty honorary degrees from national colleges and universities, and was given keys to more than dozen cities. (New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, New Orleans, etc.)

Free verse No rhyme scheme nine stanzas 51 lines

EN(ENJAMBMENT)

I was born in the congoI walked to the fertile crescent and built   EN the sphinxI designed a pyramid so tough that a star     EN that only glows every one hundred years falls     EN into the center giving divine perfect lightI am bad

Congo- republic in central Africaorigin of speaker

Fertile crescent (a crescent shaped region containing moist and fertile land. Middle East where civilizations began)

“fertile crescent and built a sphinx”Imagery

Sphinx- hairless cat with large ears often used as an Egyptian symbol to represent the pharaoh

“I designed a star so tough” Galaxy, Milky way, super nova

stars explodes every 100 years and appears a very bright starHyperbole

“I am so bad” Litote (1970s slang for “I am

awesome”)

I sat on the throne    EN drinking nectar with allahI got hot and sent an ice age to europe    EN  to cool my thirstMy oldest daughter is nefertiti    EN  the tears from my birth pains     EN created the nileI am a beautiful woman

‘Throne’ Religious allusion

Sat next to him not below him she is equal to Allah(God)

“allah”(God)

Nefertiti(Egyptian Queen known for her religious revolution for only worshipping one God) elegant beauty

“Birth Pains”Mother Earth Supernatural Hyperbole “birth pains created the nile” Nile River extraordinary

civilization in history, the longest river in the world4,000 miles In length

"The tears from my birth pain created the nile" creator of life black females are powerful

I gazed on the forest and burned     EN out the sahara desert     EN with a packet of goat's meat    EN  and a change of clothesI crossed it in two hoursI am a gazelle so swift    EN  so swift you can't catch me

Gaze is powerful Sahara desert largest

desert in the world- 3,000 miles

Goat’s meat she escapes those who see her as prey

“I crossed it in two hours” the strength and power of an airplane , an airplane takes more time

Litote “so swift you can’t catch me”

Gazelle small antelope in Africa, fastest animal in the world, herbivore

    For a birthday present when he was threeI gave my son hannibal an elephant

    He gave me rome for mother's dayMy strength flows ever on

"He gave me rome for Mother's Day “metaphor to the Second Punic War

He didn’t acquire Rome so he didn’t really giver her it’s just a part of her imagination but she is still proud and strong

HannibalWar between the Roman Republic and the Punic Empire leader's son Hannibal acquired new base in Spain were they would renew war against Rome they used elephants in the march to war

Fought against Rome, enemy The goddess power isn’t

diminished

My son noah built new/ark andI stood proudly at the helm    EN  as we sailed on a soft summer dayI turned myself into myself and was     EN jesus    EN  men intone my loving name   EN   All praises All praisesI am the one who would save

Noah God saves Noah and his family as well as animals from the flood, God gives instructions to built the ark

The first black mayor elected, the city of Newark was called New Ark in the black community

New/ark Caesura Helm- A circular wheel used to

steer a ship Repetition "All praises All praises

" Biblical reference “jesus” She finds herself and turned herself

into a new woman she has found a new closeness within Herself and has been forgiven for her sins and has become a better person

she was Jesus and she is the one who would save other people

I sowed diamonds in my back yardMy bowels deliver uranium   EN the filings from my fingernails are     EN semi-precious jewels    EN On a trip northI caught a cold and blewMy nose giving oil to the arab world

"I sowed diamonds in my backyard "

• She is stating that she grows precious food in her backyard such as strawberries

• Semi-precious• Semi(“half”) precious• Caesura The most disposable

parts of your body are useful to create products to the world

I am so hip even my errors are correctI sailed west to reach east and had to round off   EN   the earth as I went

   The hair from my head

thinned and gold was laid     EN across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surrealI cannot be comprehended except by my permission

I mean...I...can fly    like a bird in the sky...

Simile “I mean.... I.... can fly /like a bird in the sky”

she doubts that she can fly but then she is confident that she can fly and soar like a bird

couplet rhymes "fly" and "sky“

Ethereal: light, airy, delicate Last lines have “…I…” and

sky…”emphasis caesuras

Walked, built, designed, tough, glows, falls, divine, perfect, cool, tears, pains, created, beautiful, gazed, burned, crossed, swift, gave, flows, built, proudly sailed, save, sowed, deliver, uranium, hip, errors, correct, reach, thinned, ethereal, surreal, permission, fly

The tone is empowerment towards women and the black community

The poem represents and tells the strength of equality

It's calling for blacks to rise up to power A motivation for blacks to have pride in

themselves and in their hearts  even if the odds are against their favor

The poem is themed around equality and Mother Earth

At the end of each stanza Nikki Giovanni has to remind herself the strength and power she has in herself

She explained how she has suffered from her experiences but they are worth it because she has created and made things beautiful and she has risen her ego over that of everybody else's.