Using elements in a piece of text often creates depth and a deeper meaning using a simple word or phrase. “forgiving my father”, written by Lucille Clifton, is a complex poem with a reoccurring theme of revenge and vengeance on someone who wronged the character’s family, more specifically the mother. The writer accomplishes producing meaning from a straightforward phrase with many elements, including lowercase lettering, symbolism, and diction. Clifton does this with hopes that the reader will relate to the piece in some way. She gives the audience an emotional-packed poem in a simplified version to accomplish contradicting her own title, “forgiving my father”, with the actual text; throughout the poem, Clifton points out all the wrong that the character’s father did, and by the concluding lines of the piece, makes the audience feel the irony when the character seems like they’re seeking vengeance more than being willing to give forgiveness by using an informal tone, symbolizing negative elements that represented her father, and a strong use of diction.

Any formal piece of writing contains correctly punctuated words, adding to the professionalism and the overall tone of the piece; a clean-written paper, most of the time, contains uppercased lettering. In “forgiving my father”, Clifton purposely avoids uppercase letters. By doing so, she creates a sense of personalization and informality, to better express the theme of reprisal to the audience. With the use of this element, the reader can scan the text easier and quicker, and is left with a feeling of personal connection to the poem, in regards to the audience feeling as if they are the subject being criticized, just by the way the poem is set up and how the author is speaking to her father. By using only lowercase letters, the poem adopts a certain simplicity; even though the overall themes are more negative in connotation by using phrases such as “old lecher”, “liar”, “old pauper”, “old dead man”, and the poem contains snarky comments towards the character’s father, like “you gave her all you had which was nothing”, the piece of writing is easily comprehended and evaluated. The audience is more susceptible to vibe with the writer, and gains a better grip on the theme of revenge and vengeance because the piece is not formal, but instead more laid-back and casual. By use of uncomplicated words and phrases, and the simplicity of the lettering in the poem, the theme is made known and continues to be present throughout the rest of the piece.

In addition, symbolism refers to the replacement of one object or idea with another. Clifton uses this method several times throughout “forgiving my father” to assist the audience in empathizing with the theme. One of the most obvious forms of symbolism is payment. Clifton refers multiple times to means of payments, “we have come / to the paying of the bills” (2) and “…asking for more time / but today is payday, payday old man” (5), but the intent is not physical, tangible money; Clifton is referring to the character’s sanity. The “paying of the bills” does not mean taking out a check book and writing an amount of money onto a piece of paper, but rather for the father to find a way to make up to his daughter and wife, emotionally, what he did to their family. When read in context with the rest of the sonnet, “the paying of bills” (2) comes on a Friday after a long week of the father asking for “more time”, as if he didn’t have the payment ready yet. This contributes to the theme of vengeance in the sense that the mother of the character had to pay those bills, or burdens, herself, leaving the character watching aimlessly as her mother suffered, and her father stood by not empathizing and not assisting, leading the character to learn to hate her dead-beat dad. Once “payday” (5) arrives, and he doesn’t have the “money”, the writer refers to the character’s mother’s hand opened in the grave, and the character holding it out as if trying to accept the payment that the father did not have. The symbolism used here relates the payday to the realization that the mother is gone for good and still wasn’t given what was owed, leading the character to grow vengeful, “and there is no more time for you” (8). The diction that is incorporated in the means of relating symbolism back to the theme of this poem, leads to the final element Clifton expresses in this piece of writing. 

“forgiving my father” is full of many different elements, but one most strongly used revolves around the writer’s diction. Throughout the poem, Clifton uses strong language in phrases to connect the character’s words to the theme of vengeance; “you were each other’s bad bargains, not mine,” (19) being one of the most memorable of the piece. This phrase forces the reader to identify the character as upset, vengeful, and seeking revenge. The character speaks these words towards her father with the intent to almost wash her hands clean of her parent’s unhealthy relationship. Earlier on in the piece, the character refers to her father as an “old lecher, old liar” (9-10) and an “old pauper old prisoner, old dead man” (20); these two phrases embody how the character feels about her father due to the negative connotations of the words in the phrases, and in the context of their use. Finally, the writer concludes the piece by stating “what am i doing here collecting?” (21). This phrase is the volta; at this point, the audience feels the regret that the character has felt throughout the duration of her parent’s relationship, and senses a sign of relief, as if the character has had a weight lifted off of her shoulders by writing this piece to her father. While Clifton’s use of diction is heavily displayed in “forgiving my father”, many of these strongly worded phrases stick out as signs of seeking revenge, or being vengeful. The way the character speaks to her father and addresses him is demeaning and derogatory, which just adds to the theme of revenge addressed through more of Clifton’s elements.

“forgiving my father” is a piece of writing that is full of figurative elements that contribute to the writer’s theme of revenge. By using lower case lettering, Clifton achieves an intimate, more sarcastic, personal tone for the audience. Symbolism illustrates, through other ideas and objects, that the character had no respect for her irresponsible father, and expects a form of “payback” for what he put his spouse and daughter through. The author’s diction helps relate revenge back into the poem by revealing how the character talks to her “old lecher, old liar” (9-10) of a dad. Overall, the piece’s theme is obvious through the specific elements used by the writer. The character felt vengeful towards her father for wronging her mother and herself, and had the expectation back of receiving a “payment” for the way he treated them. By the conclusion of the poem, the character finally realizes that what her father did was unforgivable, and leaves the audience with the feeling that her poor father was going to die unforgiven.