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Amr Bedawi
Poetry Research Paper
Nearly everyone knows about the Civil Rights Movement and the fight for racial
equality, but not everyone understands the people involved in it. The Civil Rights Movement was
a fight by African Americans against discrimination. Many members of this movement
attempted to create change in different ways, some gave speeches, some wrote songs, and some
held protests, Nikki Giovanni, however, wrote poems. Two of Giovannis poems, Ego-tripping
and Winter, deal with racial equality and are heavily influenced by the events in the Civil
Rights Movement happening at the time period.
Two leitmotifs of Ego-Tripping are strength and power, two character traits of the
members of the civil rights movement (Ego-Tripping). One instance in which Giovanni asserts
strength and power is when she says, I sat on the throne, drinking nectar with allah, the speaker
shows herself as a deity for she sits equal with allah, something a subject could never do (Ego-
Tripping). The speaker continues to show her might by saying, the tears from my birth pains
created the nile. The Nile is the longest river in the world at 4000 miles in length. The Nile
was so important in early Egyptian life that its flood and drought cycle became the basis for the
Egyptian seasons (Ego-Tripping). She states she was able to create the Nile from the tears from
her birth pains. Creating something as immense and as crucial as the Nile requires a great deal of
strength and power, but the speaker was able to do it with little effort, which further enforces the
strength the speaker wields.
Not only is Ego-Tripping influenced by the Civil Rights Movement, it is also
influenced by Nikki Giovannis own heritage. Giovanni is an African American female and she
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embraces this in her poem Ego-Tripping. Ego-Tripping is set in Africa, a continent African
Americans can be proud of, for it offers a rich history with major societal advancements such as
modern day math. The poem acknowledges the multitude of African contributions that improved
society, which offers a sense of pride to African Americans who read Ego-Tripping. The first
line of the poem, I was born in Congo, establishes her pride in her ancestors homeland
because she wants everyone to know her origin (Ego-Tripping). The title offers an important
connection to the meaning of the poem as well, but it can easily be misunderstood. The title
makes it seem as though there is an ego so big that the author is tripping over, but that is not the
purpose of the poem. The poem is a celebration of black heritage, which offers such a rich
history that it can be easy to be Ego-Tripping (Ego-Tripping).
Even though Ego-Tripping is about the societal contributions of African Americans, a
serious topic, Giovanni creates a poem that is interesting and enjoyable to read by using tropes.
Giovanni uses tropes when she can in order to keep the poem entertaining. For example
Giovanni says, My nose giving oil to the Arab world, this figurative structure offers a vivid
image and an interesting thought to the reader. Also it is more interesting than saying, oil
originates from the decay of organic plant and animal life, which is then compressed by heat and
pressure and sedentary rocks into fossil fuels (Ego-Tripping). Personification is another trope
used in the poem. The speaker in this poem is Africa, a personified figure represented as a
female. Africa does not have bowels that deliver uranium; however, the image that is created by
this phrase is thought-provoking and helps to create an enjoyable, yet serious poem.
At first glance, Winter seems to be a childrens poem written solely about the season
winter; however, it is about the hope for a better future for African Americans. Giovanni sees
winter as a symbol of the cold, dark time period in which blacks are discriminated against.
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Spring, on the other hand, is a symbol of an improved future, which will come to thaw out the
brutality of winter. When analyzing the poem, it can be seen that, in all three stanzas, man is
compared to its animal counterparts. This parallelism shows how man, just like the animals, must
prepare and change for the coming winter. This shows how the time period and the turmoil
surrounding Giovanni influenced her to write a clever poem about racial inequality and her hopes
for change in the future (Winter).
Giovanni does not only use winter and spring as symbols in Winter, the quilt is a major
symbol that is sometimes overlooked, even though it conveys multiple ideas. "The most
appropriate metaphor to describe Nikki Giovanni's work is perhaps the quilt. Elaine Showalter
has argued that 'the patchwork quilt came to replace the melting-pot as the central metaphor of
American cultural identity. The quilt is a major symbol of African American heritage, for quilt
making was a common activity performed by enslaved African American women (Fowler). Not
only does a quilt represent African American heritage, it also represents change. When winter
arrives, people air out quilts in order to get rid of the stench that is accumulated from storing the
quilts during spring, summer, and fall. Also, quilts are always changing, for new pieces are
added as time goes on and the owner experiences new things.
Nikki Giovannis work is heavily influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and her own
life. This is evident her use of tropes to convey a specific meaning of strength and power. The
leitmotif of strength and power was drawn from the characteristics of the Civil Rights Movement
and the people involved in it. Many subtle symbols, such as the quilt, are used to relate to
African Americans and the struggle that they are facing. Nikki Giovannis work is not only
entertainment; it is activism for a better future.

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Works Cited
"Ego-Tripping." Poetry for Students. Vol. 28. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 110-134. Gale Virtual
Reference Library. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Fowler, Virginia C. "And This Poem Recognizes That: Embracing Contrarieties in the Poetry of
Nikki Giovanni." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 7 Mar.
"Winter." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 35. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 295-314.
Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Feb. 2014.


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Ego-Tripping by Nikki Giovanni
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

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

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

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother's day
My strength flows ever on

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

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
the filings from my fingernails are
semi-precious jewels
On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
the earth as I went
The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
across three continents

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

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

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Winter by Nikki Giovanni
Frogs burrow the mud
snails bury themselves
and I air my quilts
preparing for the cold

Dogs grow more hair
mothers make oatmeal
and little boys and girls
take Father Johns Medicine

Bears store fat
chipmunks gather nuts
and I collect books
For the coming winter