Seeking Truth In Nikky Finney’s Head Off&Split

Nikky Finney (1957-) is a new rising African American female poet. She has authored four books up to the present, including Rice(1995), The World is Round(2003), and other works. Her works have won the PEN American Open Book Award, Benjamin Franklin Award, and other awards. Head Off&Split (2011) is the fourth and also the latest book, and for which Finney has won the62nd National Book Award for Poetry in2011. The National Book Foundation comments this collection of poems as enjoying poetic pleasure and political imagination from daily life, common work and female body. This prize represents that Finney is gradually drawing more attention from the literary world at home and abroad. Considering the fact that systematic study on Finney’s writings has not appeared, so this thesis, to some degree, is a new attempt. This thesis will observe the literary values and realistic meanings of this award-winning book through studying its subjects, forms and ideologies, revolving around the word truthThe thesis starts with the discussion of this book’s creation background. Truth is the base of Finney’s creation, and also the base of this study. Growing up in the American South, and deeply influenced by her father, who is an attorney, Finney has determined to make contribution to the black community since childhood. And, seeing the blacks suffering from unfair treatments, she feels necessary to reveal their real living conditions through poetry. Then the thesis goes on to explore truth embodied in those poems classified into three kinds, namely, poems about history, women and daily life. Finney takes the way of recovering symbolic figures or events in the black history for readers to rediscover the hidden truth. Next, the thesis analyzes how Finney expresses her views on truth by discussing her writing characteristics. And last, the thesis concludes the ways by which Finney appeals to the readers to find truth. On the basis of all the above study, the thesis draws a conclusion that Finney is an honest, fearless and eloquent poet. The book is not only meaningful for the blacks; it is also a mirror for the whole Americans to review history and face up to the reality. Finney deserves the high comment of Nikki Giovanni’s,"we all need this book, especially this poet".