Under a Soprano Sky is a collection of poetry that explores themes of racial identity and empowerment. These themes are also handled in “An Anthem.” Sanchez also muses on the troubles of modern life, including the loss of her brother from AIDS and the young generations’ ignorance of their heritage as a source of pride and identity. In response to Under a Soprano Sky, Kamili Anderson of Belles Lettres comments that Sanchez “may be the most undeservedly underspoken of contemporary women poets in America.” Anderson calls the collection “hot enough to melt rock” yet “introspective and intricate.” Contrasting Sanchez’s work to that of her peers, Anderson notes, “Few poets write with more succinctness or intensity.” Echoing Anderson’s sentiments is Joanne Veal Gabbin, contributor of a chapter about Sanchez in Southern Women Writers: The New Generation. Gabbin finds that in Under a Soprano Sky,

the mature voice of the poet is giving expression to the sources of her spiritual strength, establishing and reestablishing connections that recognize the family-hood of man/womankind, and singing . . . of society’s strange fruit sacrificed on the altars of political megalomania, economic greed, and social misunderstanding.

Author and interviewer, Joyce A. Joyce has spent considerable time with Sanchez. In Ijala: Sonia Sanchez and the African Poetic Tradition, Joyce assesses the poet’s various collections. She remarks that Under a Soprano Sky shows growth, as it brings “to maturity the poet’s skillful use of lyricism and images that first became apparent in the new poems collected in I’ve Been a Woman (1978).” Joyce explains that Under a Soprano Sky is less confrontational and aggressive than Sanchez’s earlier work. This book, Joyce states, “is a revolutionary collection in which the poems reflect the poet’s inward movement and a desire . . . to strengthen and change herself in order to continue her struggle to change the world.”

Regarding 1999’s Shake Loose My Skin appeared (in which “An Anthem” appeared for a second time), Sanchez’s readers and critics were enthusiastic. Because this book contains selections from six prior collections along with a handful of new poems, it offers a record of Sanchez’s growth as a writer and philosopher. In Booklist, Donna Seaman characterizes Sanchez as an “outspoken and unflinching poet, innovative in her improvisation on meter and form.” Seaman adds that Sanchez has the ability to give “shape and sound to every shade of mood.” Jabari Asim of American Visions calls Sanchez “one of the most admired poets of her generation” and applauds “the depth and passion Sanchez brings to her life and her work.” Library Journal’s Ron Antonucci boldly states that the “indomitable Sanchez is on fire” in Shake Loose My Skin. Ann K. van Buren points out Sanchez’s success in showing that topics such as drug abuse, racism, and poverty are appropriate for poetry. They write that Shake Loose My Skin “leaves one in awe of the stretches of language Sanchez has helped to legitimize throughout her career.”

Critics frequently evaluate Sanchez’s poetry from the perspective of effective social activism. “An Anthem” fits neatly in this area. In Heart & Soul, Dahna Chandler notes that after decades of commitment, Sanchez is still writing her “unwavering call to arms.” A reviewer for Publishers Weekly finds “Sanchez is at her best when enacting power struggles rather than merely rallying political support in easy battle-cries.” Yusef Salaam of New York Amsterdam News reported about Sanchez’s being honored at the Langston Hughes Festival in New York. He quotes Joyce as stating that “Sanchez’s primary focus in her work is ‘group survival,’ the growth and development of African peoples and humanity.” Joyce also stated that Sanchez’s poems “are not emotional quick-fixes, but contain a power to propel the reader or listener ‘to action.’” This description perfectly describes “An Anthem” and many other poems of hers about social injustice.