The Lost Baby Poem

A detailed Summary of The Lost Baby Poem


In Lucille Clifton's, "The Lost Baby Poem," the poet displays a young mother who is full of regret and guilt for her child in which she had lost to death. There are many technical devices that express the poet's intentions and how it all fits together within this poem. First, I will be discussing what this poem is trying to convey also the denotations and connotations within this poem. Secondly, the poet uses imagery so intensely that one can almost feel the coldness of the winter chill. Lastly, I will discuss how figurative language plays a major role in the young lady's guilt.

First of all, I noticed that this poem had been written all in lower case letters except for "Genesee Hill" and "Canada," which were names of the place that they had lived. The poet had even written herself as "i" in lower case in which it symbolizing a great shame upon herself. Then I had broken this poem into three groups in which they have already been divided. I believe the first group represents the process in which the baby in being aborted. "The time I dropped you almost body down down to meet the waters under the city and run one with the sewage to the sea what did i know about waters rushing back what did i know


The second group represents the excuses that the poet makes for her baby not being born as if it was a benefit for the unborn baby. For example, "You would have been born into winter the year of the disconnected gas and no car," (7-9) represents how poor the poet was. "We would have made the thin walk over Genesee Hill into Canada wind," (9-10) this represents the location in which the area that they had lived. "To watch you slip like ice into strangers hands." (11) I believe that the poet is trying to say that if the baby was born then it would probably be given up for adoption, living in an orphanage or just abandoned. "You would have fallen naked as snow into winter." (12) Since this was an unprepared problem, the baby would not have enough clothing to wear. "If you were here i could tell you these and some other things." By saying this, she means that if you (the baby) were here, you would have lived a miserable life.



Some common words found in the essay are:
Lucille Clifton, Hill Canada, Baby Poem, unborn child, fallen naked, slip ice, Lost Baby, rivers pour head, fallen naked snow, sea spiller seas, Genesee Hill, watch slip ice, figurative language, waters rushing drowning, gaps poem, poem written, sense feeling, pour head, sea spiller, coldness winter, Poem Lucille, Clifton's Lost, Lucille Clifton's,

Approximate Word count = 2415
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous

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