The poem "Woman" by Nikki Giovanni tells a story of a female who straggles to fuse together her need for self actualization and empowerment, with the socially instilled in her notion about her role as a female, and with the notion that she needs to have a man in her life to achieve what she wants. At the end of her struggles she instead chooses to be a "Woman" - a separate entity who does not require a man, - and she discovers that that is "all / right"(22,23). Through the act of becoming a "Woman", a wholly independent opposite to a man, yet his equal, she relinquishes her notions regarding her role as a mare female, and empowers herself to achieve her goals without a man.

Except for the title the entire poem is written in lowercase letters, no single word is capitalized. Capital letters are used to...