CULTURAL- AND SELF-IDENTIFICATION IN AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN’S POETRY: MAYA ANGELOU, SONIA SANCHEZ, AUDRE LORDE

The paper addresses the issue of cultural- and self-identification as constituted by African American women poets. The question of identification in the analyzed poems by Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez, and Audre Lorde is viewed mostly from a multicultural perspective, which includes ethnic, national, racial and genderawareness.The author also discusses linguistic and rhetorical means that secure the identification on the textual level. They include conceptual and linguistic oppositions and dichotomies, allusions to precedent names, usage of music and tale-telling patterns, lexical and syntactical repetitions, etc. A special emphasis is made on the dialogic nature of poetry that is viewed as a linking chord between generations or communitymembers in transmitting cultural codes. The theoretical framework of the paper is outlined by the ideas of women studies, US history and literature studies within the multiculturalist paradigm.