Point of View

The majority of poems in Voyage of the Sable Venus are in the first person singular point of view, however, there are also examples of second person, first person direct address, first person plural, and third person omniscient. The varying points of view are due partly to the fact that Lewis uses different speakers, as well as different settings in the collection. "Beauty's Nest" is told in the second person, and tells the story of four Black men denied lodging due to segregation in 1951. "verga:" is in the third person omniscient, and deals with violence against Somali women. "From: To:" is also in the third person, and is about a group celebrating Hitler's fall in Harlem in 1945. These pieces are told in different points of view because they are separate from the main speaker. This separation is made more apparent by the use of different...