Irony of Perspective
In “The Death of Fred Clinton,” Lucille Clifton contemplates what her husband’s death must have been like. The irony of this poem is that Lucille chose to write from the perspective of her deceased husband—which she was not privy to—rather than her own perspective. As Lucille has not experienced death, the perspective of her poem—from her husband’s point-of-view—is different from what we would expect, resulting in an ironic sense of perspective.
Irony of Grief
In “The Lost Baby Poem,” the narrator recounts her experience losing a baby that she was planning to abort. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator is very matter-of-fact about her baby’s death. She recounts the experience in near-clinical detail. Despite this seemingly cold approach, there are notes of sorrow, regret, and sadness laced throughout the narrator’s thoughts. As such, this poem perfectly demonstrates how grief can be very ironic and not at all what we may first assume. Though the narrator initially appears to be very blasé about her baby’s death, a closer examination reveals that—though she does not regret the loss of life—she still grieves for the baby.
Irony of Justice
In “Kent State,” the narrator describes a racially-motivated protest that turned violent, at the very hands of those who were intended to protect the protestors. The narrator describes the racial tensions that occurred when students protested the Vietnam War at Kent State. The National Guard soldiers were called in and it was intended that these soldiers would maintain a sense of peace between the protestors, students, and other involved individuals. In a violent and cruel twisted irony, however, the protest turned violent and a few National Guard soldiers killed several peacefully protesting students. In this way, justice was cruelly twisted, as the very people who were supposed to protect the students and protestors ended up killing several due to racially motivated tensions.
Irony of Camouflage
In “Jackie Robinson,” Clifton summarizes, explores, and considers the inspirational journey of Jackie Robinson. She describes his rise to fame and uses it to comment on the irony of black men throughout history. Jackie Robinson’s life and success was widely publicized and watched. This, the narrator notes, is a stark contrast to Jackie Robinson’s black, male predecessors, who aimed to influence history while camouflaged and hidden. In other words, Jackie Robinson was one of the first men in black history, according to Clifton, who did not avoid attention or suspicion. In this way, his story is rather ironic, as black men of Robinson’s era tended to enact movements and change without raising suspicion, while Robinson changed the world in the public limelight.
Irony of Aging
In “oh antic god,” the narrator realizes that she is beginning to lose some of her most nuanced and sentimental memories of her mother. Though the narrator recognizes that she is beginning to age—and has actually lived to be nearly twice the age of her mother—she cannot accept that this memory loss may be a part of the natural progression of life. Rather, she blames God for this degeneration and begs him to restore her memory or bring her to Heaven, to be reunited with her mother. In this way, there is a certain irony in the narrator’s response, for it is unlikely that God purposefully removed these memories. Instead, it is more likely that the narrator’s memory loss is associated with her ailing health and older age.
