Maya Angelou Poetry - 942 Words

Maya Angelou is considered by many to be the foremost poet of her age. While the themes of her literature are largely connected, her delivery is varied. In her poetry, she has used wit, sarcasm, imagery, and diverse rhythm. Angelou has used these techniques and the recognition it has provided for her, to fight for the civil rights of African Americans and women. After examining the life of Maya Angelou, it is easy to see that much of her work focuses on the significance of African Americans and women. Poems written by Maya Angelou, including Phenomenal Woman, Million Man March Poem, and Still I Rise, evidently support this theme. Phenomenal Woman primarily focuses on the significance of women as Million Man March Poem does to the significance of African Americans. One of Maya Angelou’s most famous poems, Still I Rise, brings together both ideas by expressing the significance of African Americans and women. Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. During her childhood, her and her brother went to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas after her parents divorced. In Arkansas, Maya suffered through several hardships that led to the theme of her poetry. This being significance of African Americans and women. Being an African American, she experienced the racial discriminatory lifestyle that many supported in the south. What had an even larger impact on her, was being sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend during a visit when she was only 7Show MoreRelatedEssay on The Interpretation of None the Other, Maya Angelou1508 Words   |  7 Pagesworld holds. Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. As a strong African-American woman, she has experi enced the brutality of racial discrimination, yet also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture. Dr. Maya Angelou’s notoriousRead MoreMaya Angelous Influences Essay1236 Words   |  5 PagesMaya Angelou’s Influence Maya Angelou is terrific performer, singer, filmmaker, and civil-rights activist. She is a phenomenal woman, one thing that she does best is writing. She is still living today, I believe her legend will never die. If one would talk to her, he or she would think she has lead a normal, happy life. Her life is blissful now, it was not always perfect. Maya beard enough emotional stress in a time frame that most people do not experience in a lifetime. Her experiences and theRead More Maya Angelou: A Source of Humanity Essay1329 Words   |  6 PagesMaya Angelou: A Source of Humanity I am human, Angelou said, and nothing human can be alien to me (Shafer). Maya Angelou just may be the most human person in the world. Indeed, with all of the struggles she went through in her early life, her humanness increasingly deepened. Her life was characterized by the instability of her childhood and her family, along with the challenge of being a black woman growing up in 19th century America. The deepness of her humanness is evident in allRead MoreMaya Angelous Poems Essay1288 Words   |  6 PagesMaya Angelou’s Poems Maya Angelou’s poetry occupies a very special position in her development as a writer (Chow 1). As a child, Angelou went through five years of complete silence after she was raped at the age of seven years old, by a man named, Mr. Freeman. As a result of telling about her traumatic experience, her uncle’s literally kicked the man that raped her to death. Beings she spoke of her traumatic experience and the result of the man dying, she then imagined that her voice had the potentialRead MoreMaya Angelou: Speak Up Essay example1127 Words   |  5 PagesMaya Angelou experienced a life-changing event at the vulnerable age of eight: her mother’s boyfriend raped her. As a result, she chose to be mute for five years due to the emotional trauma this caused. Soon, a family friend named Mrs. Flowers, a wealthy and intellectual woman from Stamps, Arkansas where her grandmother resided, read with Angelou and helped Maya to express herself through writing. Mrs. Flowers ta ught Maya â€Å"words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voiceRead MoreUxt Task 1945 Words   |  4 Pagesreading, â€Å"Still I Rise†, by Maya Angelou, I immediately get a sense of perseverance and pride. The author seems to be addressing her adversaries directly through her words. I love the imagery used in this poem. I can almost see the dust rising and can feel the swelling of the black ocean that the author mentions. â€Å"Cause I walk like I got oil wells pumping in my living room†(Angelou, 1978), and, â€Å"Laugh like I’ve got gold mines diggin’ in my own back yard† (Angelou, 1978), tells me that the authorRead MoreMaya Angelou : An Influential Voices Of Modern Society Essay1386 Words   |  6 PagesMaya Angelou, born Marguerite Ann Johnson on the 4th of April 1928, was born in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou is regarded as one of the most noteworthy, influential voices of m odern society with over 50 doctorate degrees. She became a distinguished poet, educator, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, memoirist, and civil rights activist throughout her life. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, Stamps, Arkansas was the embodiment of brutality and racial discriminationRead MoreEssay about Girl/Woman Work Socio-Historical Critique1439 Words   |  6 Pagesassumed that an interesting life may produce interesting poetry or stories. Two phenomenal women, Maya Angelou and Jamaica Kincaid portray two different points of view in their works of literature. A lot of things can contribute to their differences, but in particularly their upbringing is a major cause of their variances. In Jamaica Kincaid’s â€Å"Girl,† a young girl has the â€Å"rules of the world† drilled into her head by her scolding mother while in Maya Angelou’s â€Å"Woman Work† a mother faces the adversitiesRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem I Know Why The Ca ged Bird Sings 934 Words   |  4 Pagessimply very simply with hope good morning†. Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was a writer and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou was well known for her memoir in 1969, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya Angelou made literary history being the very first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. In 1971, Angelou published Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water Fore I Die that won the Pulitzer Prize-nominated poetry collection. Later, she wrote the poem OnRead MoreAnalysis Of Maya Angelou s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings Essay1484 Words   |  6 Pages â€Å"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.† By Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This is the quote my mom has been telling me every day since I was 13 and able to understand it. Maya Angelou wrote this poem in 1969 and it still speaks to millions of people today. Millions of people who have everything to say but never speak. This is just one example, my example on how relatable poems are even if they are hundreds of years old. Being able to relate to a poem