Both poems have the "I person narration as one of their stylistic devices". The poem Powwow is rich in rhythm and rhymes compared to 'mothers'. The sound system developed by all off them is not brought out well; however, Powwow has tried to show how sound a biggest role plays in poetry. The title Powwow represents a voice made by the water body. Towards the end the persona also brings out this sound. In the poem Mothers sound are only brought out in word structures.
Repetition is clearly brought out in the poem Powwow compared to Mothers. "I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall" is a sentence repeated from the first stanza to the last. The most interesting observable fact is that both poems address women. In Mothers, the persona is talking a bout the mother. The powwow shows us how the Indian woman topples the Grand Coulee Dam. Women are therefore having a platform of empowering themselves.
The main similarities in the two poems are all shown by the themes the poems are addressing, the stylistic devices and the setting in which both personas express themselves in. The Night is used by both poems to describe time lapse. In Mothers, the persona's mother is waiting for the persona's father to come from night job. The powwow on the other hand reports of the Indian who sit to have stories before the sun rise. The theme of loneliness and desertion is brought out in both poems. The persona's Mothers are lonely waiting for the persona's father to come from the night job, 'she was very deliberately waiting perhaps for my father to come home from his night job' stanza eight.
In Powwow, the persona shows some loneliness in the wait. 'Until it arrives in the shallows of a secret bay on the reservation where I wait alone. Imagery, personification and use of metaphors are clearly brought out by both poets. They describe situations well to give inner feelings when read out well. In the Mothers, the persona describes many events through some rhyming word patters such as thousands, landlords and windows. The Powwow uses imagery to describe the intensity of water, i.e., I shall after the floodwaters burst each successive dam downriver from the Grand Coulee.
The differences in this poem are fist brought out through the setting of the persona. In the Mothers by Nikki Giovanni, it shows an urban setup as the mother is seated in the kitchen bathed by moonlight. Use of words like landlords are mainly urbanized that general. The powwow on the other hand is a rural area near the ocean. Mostly in traditional rural setup stories were made at night and dancing just the way the persona is describing.
Even though liberation is one of the main themes brought out in the two poems, women in Powwow are more liberated than those in Mothers. In Powwow, the Indian woman topples Grand Coulee Dam which can be a show of women empowerment. On the other hand Mothers show luck of women empowerment. The mother simply sits at home waiting for the father to come home from the night job. By her simply waiting for her husband, it shows the luck of female empowerment. Luck of something to do always represent minimum role hence not liberated.
Rhythm can be created in both poems even though powwow can do better than Mothers. Repetition used in powwow makes it to have poetic rhythm than Mothers.
