The Way I Feel

In the poem “The Way I Feel” Nikki Giovanni, expresses her emotions towards a special friend in her life. The title gives the reader a general idea about what Giovanni will be expressing throughout the poem. I assumed the speaker would be Nikki Giovanni, given that she uses words like “I’ve”, “I’m” and “I”, who can help give the reader an idea of the speaker.  This poem seemed to be written based off of the poets feelings at the moment. It seemed as if she has held these feelings in long enough and now she wanted to talk about how strong her feelings were towards this special individual. Giovanni uses a lot of metaphors to compare her feelings to various objects. For example she notes, “most time when you’re around I feel like a not Roberta flack is going to sing”. Roberta flack, is a famous jazz, R&B and folk singer , who has been recognized for her strong but peaceful music.  When Nikki Giovanni compared her feelings to this famous singer, one can assume her feelings were very strong for this individual but she was very content about it.  This poem has a very lyrical tone because it conveys the poet’s inner feelings or emotions. The tone reveals a lot about the poet’s attitude and feelings at this particular moment. The Rhetorical device in the poem gives an effect on the poet’s feelings of being happy with this person. Nikki Giovanni’s emotions were shown throughout the entire poem with just metaphors and her written language.