Blessing the Boats

Clifton’s work was originally discovered by Langston Hughes who was a prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hughes included some of Clifton’s earliest works in his anthology The Poetry of the Negro. The Harlem Renaissance was not necessarily a cohesive movement with unifying themes. It was, rather, a time in history in which many African American writers and artists rose to prominence. These included writers and artists such as Hubert Harrison, Anne Spencer, Fenton Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston.

In her review of Blessing the Boats, Louise McKee writes “Clifton's work hearkens back to the days of the Black Arts Movement and sheds light on the new Black aesthetic.” The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s was founded by Amiri Baraka and coincided with the Black Power Movement. Unlike the Harlem Renaissance the authors of the Black Arts Movement sought to create an aesthetic that appealed to and represented African Americans specifically. Whereas poets like Langston Hughes had written in a style that conformed to The King’s English, or the English taught in schools that would have been familiar and accessible to Americans of European descent, poets of the Black Arts Movement embraced idioms, vernacular and rhythms of speech that were spoken in casual settings by most African Americans. Some of the most well-known poets of this movement include Gwendolyn Brooks, Sonia Sanchez, Robert Hayden, Nikki Giovanni, Larry Neal, Mari Evans, and June Jordan. One of the major aims of the movement was also to revive interest in and appreciation for African forms of dress and hairstyles. Clifton wrote many poems that convey the popular message “Black is Beautiful.” Another of Clifton’s most well-known poems “Homage to my Hips” praises her hips for their freedom and power.

One of the goals for poets of the Black Arts Movement was to write poems that were short but powerful, so they could be memorized and recited in public. In addition to being forms of artistic expression they were also meant to be a type of political speech that could inspire a crowd. In the 1970’s the movement waned in popularity. Artists wanted to expand their work and make it applicable and accessible to a wider audience. Some might argue that a wider audience was now more receptive to reading poetry that incorporated idioms, slang and a less formal vernacular in writing. Most of Clifton’s poems are short, using irregular meter, free-verse techniques, and informal language so they are accessible to many readers. Her pieces are nevertheless dense with meaning and complex thoughts and feelings.

Although the Black Arts Movement faded in popularity many of the poets from that school continued to write and publish. Clifton’s next books continued to make use of the style that had defined her earlier work. However, her later books focused more on issues of personal history, feminism, and spirituality.

In the 1950’s poets such as Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and W. D. Snodgrass pioneered “confessional poetry.” This was a style in which poets expressed stories, feelings and ideas that had previously been considered too personal to air in public. For women poets this included themes about sex, drug-use, and discontentment with domestic life and motherhood. The “post-confessional” poets who came after continued to discuss these themes even as society became more accepting of their openness of expression.

Poets like Lucille Clifton pushed the envelope of this movement by writing about personal issues of the body and specifically the female body. She wrote poems about menstruation, abortion, as well as poems that dealt with her illnesses, including breast cancer. In the decades prior these subjects would have been too taboo to publish. Thanks to the work of daring poets such as Clifton they became worthy of a “literary” status.