Is Claudia Rankine’s Citizen actually a lyric?-Argumentative essay
Claudia Rankine’s Citizen is subtitled An American Lyric. Would you agree or disagree that Rankine’s work should be classified as a lyric? Why? Analyze at least one of the following longer poems from Citizen in your argument: “February 26, 2012 / In Memory of Trayvon Martin,” “Stop-and-Frisk,” or “July 29–August 18, 2014 / Making Room.” You may use others.
Consider the text against the backdrop of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) definition of “lyric,” which we discussed in class: “Of or pertaining to the lyre; adapted to the lyre, meant to be sung; pertaining to or characteristic of song. Now used as the name for short poems (whether or not intended to be sung), usually divided into stanzas or strophes, and directly expressing the poet’s own thoughts and sentiments” (“lyric, adj. and n.”). Now consider the following questions to help you develop your argument: In what ways does Rankine’s Citizen conform to the conventions of lyric? In what ways does it not? Is it a poem? Is it short? Is it always divided into stanzas or strophes—i.e., clusters of lines? Does it directly express “the poet’s own thoughts or sentiments”? Does it express only “the poet’s own thoughts or sentiments,” or those of others, or those of a collective? Is the voice of Rankine’s text that of one person (an “I”) or many (multiple “Is”), a single addressee (“you” singular) or many (“you” plural)? When the “you” is singular, is it equivalent to the “I” of the poet? Why or why not? Finally, how does the text’s classification as lyric invite us to reinterpret the title, Citizen? Notice that the noun Citizen is singular, not plural. Does our understanding of the noun Citizen change when Rankine’s title surprises us by redefining Citizen as Lyric: a poem, a song?
