Poem For A Lady Whose Voice I Like

Giovanni typically writes in free verse, a style of poetry that does not adhere to rules of meter or rhyme. It’s meant to mimic modern speech and make poetry more accessible to a wider audience. “Poem for a Lady Whose Voice I Like” appears like the dialogue of a script, using colons to distinguish who is speaking. This allows the reader to feel that they are directly overhearing a conversation, without it being filtered by the voice of a narrator or speaker. It makes the creator of the poem seem more impartial, allowing the reader to interpret the dialogue and its meaning for themselves.

The poem relies on juxtaposition to make a comparison between the two speakers. Each speaker’s voice is distinct from the other’s, and the two voices next to one another create a strong contrast. Not only is the content of their speech distinct, but their attitudes toward the world are different. The woman’s attitude is decidedly positive, the man’s decidedly negative as he tries to harm the woman’s self-esteem.