Baylor College Medical School

260. 3. Woman by Nikki Giovanni (poem)

260 3. Do you think this poem is mainly about love or about independence? Can you please support your answer with evidence from the poem?

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The poem is about independence. The speaker wishes for a man to complete her. Note the natural support to each metaphor is never realized,

"She wanted to be a robin singing through the leaves but he refused to be her tree" / "she wanted to be a blade of grass amid the fields but he wouldn’t agree to be the dandelion."

In the end she decides that this guy cant't complete her and indeed nobody can complete her. She needs to find herself hence the theme of independence.