18 pages 36 minutes read

Nikki Giovanni

Ego Tripping

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1968

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes (1921)

This poem by American poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) contains images and allusions that are similar to the ones present in “Ego Tripping.” Hughes was a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, during which Black artists in major cities in America gathered together to make art and write literature.

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (1978)

American poet Maya Angelou (1951-2014) wrote this poem in 1978, four years after the publication of “Ego Tripping,” and the musical rhythms and bold tone of the speaker resemble those of Giovanni’s poem. Angelou and Giovanni were friends, fellow activists, and educators.

The Crazy Woman by Gwendolyn Brooks (1960)

American poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was the first Black writer to win the Pulitzer Prize. Giovanni’s publishing cooperative, NikTom, Ltd., helped Brooks’s voice to become known in the 1970s. This brief orderly poem about a woman who refuses to sing in the month of May contrasts with the effusive female voice of Giovanni’s speaker.

Further Literary Resources

“Ego Tripping” continues to inspire Black artists, and this article in British music and fashion magazine Clash about Jamila Woods, an American singer, songwriter and poet, illustrates how Giovanni’s influential poem continues to make cultural waves around the world.

Related Titles

By Nikki Giovanni

SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image
SuperSummary Logo
Study Guide
Nikki Giovanni
Guide cover image