Lorna Goodison- Selected Poems

Question 1

Hannan (2014)- Failure and Triumph

Answer 1

“With compassion and empathy, Goodison writes about human failure and triumph.” and how they, in effect “guide us firmly to redemption”

Question 2

Baugh (1986) - Communal Voice

Answer 2

” [her] capacity for imaginative empathy enables [her] to merge her personal voice with the communal voice”

Question 2

Matrona (2015) - Breaking the Stereotype

Answer 2

Goodison’s goal is to “portray Jamaica and the Caribbean more broadly, in a more genuine way than most people stereotypically understand and represent it”

Question 2

Baugh (1990) - Tropes

Answer 2

He suggests that Goodison’s work articulates some of the concerns, impulses and tropes which have been identified by feminist critics

Question 3

Kuwabong (1999) - Goodison’s mother

Answer 3

Goodison’s poetry is, “grounded in the representation of her mother as an archetype of herself”

Question 4

Calderaro (2008) - Real Characters (Nanny, Doris, Rosa Parks)

Answer 4

“she transforms her characters’ lives into eternal myths to be sung and remembered by future, spellbound generations.”

“mesmerized by this song of endurance and resilience which chronicles the lives of strong women…”

Question 5

Robinson (2000) - What is Feminine?

Answer 5

Hers is a poetry that spawns “conflicting signals” for woman, questioning and uprooting various notions of the feminine.

Question 6

Robinson (2000) - Legacy of Slavery

Answer 6

“Her poems speak to a legacy of slavery and colonialism registering the mixed responses of despair and pain, fortitude and resistance, to the African diaspora.”

Question 7

Robinson (2000) - Use of Language and Dialect

Answer 7

Language offers a rich plethora of possibilities, which Goodison makes use of as she employs the “Queen’s English”, but also utilizes the dialect common to “the market women” even “Rasta man”. [supported by Nasta 1992)

Question 8

Liddell (1990) - Image of the mother

Answer 8

“the image of the mother” is that of “giver and nurturer of life; teacher and instiller of values and mores”

Question 9

Cobham and Hodge (1987) - Solidarity of Women (Garden of Women Once Fallen)

Answer 9

“sisterly solidarity”

Question 10

Salkey (1993)

Answer 10

He praises Goodison’s heart-and-mind-concerns for
language, history, racial identity, and gender rather than primarily focusing on Goodison’s motherhood
themes

Question 11

Dawes (2001)

Answer 11

Telling the other side of the story “nobody can stop it…they will tell it”