16 pages • 32 minutes read
Lucille CliftonThe Lost Baby Poem
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Form & Meter
Written in mostly iambic pentameter, “the lost baby poem” contains three stanzas, the first and final of which are made up of six lines each, and the middle stanza made up of eight. The poem is relatively short, containing only 20 lines total—a testament to Clifton’s prowess in economical expression, given how expansive the world of the poem really is.
As with her brevity and unconventional punctuation, Clifton adeptly flouts tradition in her aesthetic forms; the poem departs from orthodox linear structures and qualifies as “visual poetry,” employing three significant blank spaces in Lines 9, 19, and 20. In visual poetry, the page is no longer an “invisible” vehicle for the text. Rather, the overall visual of the poem, including the page, is part of the poem’s semantics. Such blank spaces are functional units of meaning; the reader interacts with the space—reads the space. The spaces are often emphatic and, in the case of “the lost baby poem,” stand in for the otherwise absent punctuation.
The pacing of the poem reads like a journal entry, flowing deliberately and with intention without getting too bogged down in syllables and complex forms. The poem is small in scale, emphasizing the gravity of the topic discussed and calling attention to the often secret or hidden nature of abortion.
Apostrophe
An apostrophe poem is addressed to a dead or absent person, or when someone is addressing an object as if it were a person. Apostrophe is closely related to personification, but differs in that it does not have to reference an inanimate object. In the case of Clifton’s “the lost baby poem,” the addressee of the poem is the child she would have had if not for her abortion. This technique functions in the poem as a way for the speaker to make amends and vow to be a strong mother for her children in honor of the child she could not have. It allows her to speak directly to this lost child in order to come to terms with the event that took place and find closure moving forward.
Lack of Capitalization & Punctuation
Clifton’s signature style of omitting capitalization and punctuation helps demonstrate the grief and pain of the speaker as well as the almost secretive nature of abortions. Clifton claims that her biggest influence for writing this poem was her predecessor Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem about the same topic entitled “the mother,” written in 1945. Clifton’s poem, although directly influenced by Brooks, differs in tone because of her stylistic writing choices. Instead of making definite proclamations about the reality of abortion, “the lost baby poem” is more subtle and intimate, calmly reflecting on a memory. The lack of punctuation and capitalization establish a sad but resolved poetic tone.
Related Titles
By Lucille Clifton
