19 pages • 38-minute read
wishes for sons
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Literary Devices
Form and Meter
Lucille Clifton’s poem “wishes for sons” is an 18-line free verse poem, meaning that there are no consistent patterns of rhyme, rhythm, or meter throughout the entirety of the piece. The poem contains four concise stanzas, or groupings of lines, in which the speaker wishes the experiences of menstruation and menopause onto young men.
The most distinct element found within the form of Clifton’s “wishes for sons” is her avoidance of capitalization. The poem, already stark with 18, short lines of verse, lacks any type of traditional capitalization. Neither the word “i,” denoting that the speaker is talking in the first person, nor the title of the poem are capitalized. This move does not make the poem feel unfinished but rather strips away any distraction that might cause readers to stray from the poem’s deeper meaning. Clifton’s uncapitalized poem feels more casual and conversational as a result, creating a natural flow (not unlike that of a period) that leads readers quickly to the final stanza and Clifton’s interrogation of female healthcare and experiences with pain and bloodshed.
Anaphora
Anaphora, a figure of speech traditionally found in religious devotionals, occurs when the speaker or writer of a poem repeats a word or sequence of words at the beginning of a series of sentences or phrases. Clifton repeats the phrase “I wish them” (Line 1) six times throughout the poem, and the phrase “let the [blank] come” (Lines 10-11) three times. In Stanzas 1 and 2, Clifton uses the anaphora of the phrase “i wish them” quite methodically, starting five of the combined seven lines with the phrase. Stanza 3 deviates from this pattern. The transitional word “later” (Line 8) precedes the phrase “I wish them” (Line 8), and suddenly, Clifton abandons her precise use of anaphora, repeating the phrase, “let the […] come” sporadically throughout the poems’ final stanzas. This constant repetition emphasizes the cyclical nature of menstruation, connecting the form of the poem to the content. However, Clifton does not start every line with these repeated phrases, reminding readers that while periods are cyclical and ritualistic in nature, they are also extremely unpredictable, coming and going seemingly on the whims of the body.
Hyperbole
Clifton uses hyperbole, an extreme exaggeration used to make a point, in tandem with her use of anaphora to emphasize men’s ignorance to the true breadth of lived experience that exists in the day-to-day lives of women. Clifton is not exaggerating the symptoms of menstruation—anyone with a uterus experiences a cocktail of hormonal changes, “cramps” (Line 1), “hot flashes” (Line 8), and “clots” (Line 9) among other things when menstruating. However, her language throughout the poem is mostly figurative. Clifton exaggerates the physical plausibility of the male body experiencing a period in an attempt to create a mutual understanding of pain. The speaker wishes all of these things on the sons as a curse of empathy, so that young boys might understand and empathize instead of shaming or stigmatizing people for the completely natural process of a monthly period. There is also a small amount of humor in this exaggeration, connecting the poem to female readers specifically, laughing at the thought of a man feeling their pain for the first time.
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