blessing the boats lucille clifton meaning

It would make sense that in this case the speaker is using “boats” as a metaphor for a body but also for something more than the mere physical form of a person. In their most rudimentary form, a boat is a vessel that crosses water and often carries life or lives aboard.

Presumably the boats may be a metaphor for the body or for a life. Next, “boats,” as plural suggests that she is going beyond her own “boat” to encompass multiple boats. This makes the “blessing” available to everyone who reads it and not to anyone in particular. blessing the boats, Lucille Clifton Meditation Change is often accompanied by fear as the tides move us from one stage of life to the next. The poem moves on to use the pronoun “our” (Line 3) and “you” (Line 4) rather than “I.” Clifton is drawing a circle that encompasses multiple people, including herself, the reader, and perhaps others who are not specifically named. The poem is about blessing, but it is not totally clear what the boats are. This inspired me so much that I felt my heart swell and swell and swell and then my idiot brain straight went to I's the b'ye that builds the boat and I's the b'ye that sails her. Beginning with the title “blessing the boats”, the speaker sets up an immediate intention. blessing the boats By Lucille Clifton (at St. It relies on metaphors, and each metaphor may have several nuanced interpretations. Like many of Clifton’s poems, “blessing the boats” is short but dense. popular poem at convocations and commencements, blessing the boats is one of those lyrics that has a tried and true wisdom to it.

Blessing the boats lucille clifton meaning