Maya Angelou

Marguerite Johnson, known as Maya Angelou, was not only famous for writing poetry but she also served as a Civil Rights Activist. Her other occupations were being an actress, dancer, including an exotic dancing (Maya Angelou Is Born), and an author. When she was working at the strip club a theatre group which help her with her acting career. They helped her get a role in the infamous Porgy and Bess and Calypso Heat Wave (Maya Angelou Biography). Around that time, she started producing albums, which later got her a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Audio version, writing biographies, poetry. Later, in her adult life, she won two NAACP image awards, Emmy award, for the mini-series Roots, and three Grammy’s (Maya Angelou Biography). Unfortunately, She

Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, author, and poet. She wrote many books and poems that conveyed the vivid experiences in her life. Maya Angelou’s works are well known and she is an eminent writer. One poem in particular that is well known is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” written in 1969. In this work she described racial inequality, and the lack of freedom African Americans experienced in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maya Angelou uses many Rhetorical strategies and literary devices to describe the lack of racial freedom in the world at this time.

Maya Angelou is a woman that has done so much in her life time I would not know where to begin. There is always one poem that she published that will stick in my heart forever. The poem “Still I Rise” is a phenomenal poem that I think everyone of every race should have the pleasure of being a part of. "Still I Rise" You may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my

Joanne M. Braxton described her and her literature as "America's most visible black woman autobiographer. While black women writers might share traditional motivations for writing autobiography, other motives derive from their unique experiences. And yet, against all odds, she comes to self-awareness and finds herself at the center of her own experience. Maya Angelou has tempered her own anger and put it to a constructive purpose; her work specks to the necessity of reflecting, remembering, opening, healing, and, at times, issuing a warning. In I know Why the Caged Birds Sings, she focuses almost entirely on the inner spaces of her emotional and personal life, crafting a "literary" autobiography that becomes not merely a personal record but also a stage on which the sins of the past can be recalled and rituals of healing and reconciliation enacted." (Braxton, Joann, page 4)

Maya Angelou is a phenomenal woman. She was born into a devastating decade, that suffered numerous tragedies. Not only had society shaped her as a woman, she has also shaped our society and influenced many lives. She is still living today, yet I believe her legend will never die. Furthermore I will share with you what motivated her and some of her gratifying experiences. How she was effected by society, and what she did about it. Also how the time period she was born into made her the extraordinary woman she is today.

Maya Angelou’s poetry challenges the reader to take ownership of the issues they face by changing their perspective. Angelou uses figurative poetic form combined with accessible language to allow an immersive interpretive reading of her poetry. This enables the theme of individual empowerment in ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ and strength through unity utilised in ‘Alone’ to apply to a wider audience from a range of contexts. The emancipation Angelou offers in her poetry is heavily driven by the belief that an individual has the power to change their circumstances. Despite living in a 1950s America where she was subjugated for being part of the African American community, Maya Angelou’s poetry maintains its relevance today due to the focus she places on the emotional realm and its importance over the physical experience. Angelou uses widespread exposure by using her own experiences of racial oppression to relate to those who have felt any sort of inequality, which in turn intensifies the effect of her poetry on the target audience.

Maya Angelou is one out of the best known poets. She has written a lot of poems that inspires and assist people with their lives. She has a “desire humbleness to learn and experience all that life has to offer her” (gale biography in context, “Maya Angelou More than a Poet”) which makes her poems have a meaning to them. In addition, Maya Angelou got a lot of pieces of poems considered equality to her experience as a human of the United States during race times and her experience as a person who worked with other civil right activist. Maya Angelou uses deep themes that leaves the reader to think about the topic is being talked about. In her poem, “Still I Rise” she talks metaphorically about discrimination. In the poem, it states, “does my haughtiness offend you? ( the poetry foundation, “Maya Angelou”). This quote from the poem shows how the rest of the poem is about people believe they is better than other people and that the other people should suffer because they are inferior to the people, but the people being abused should not be embarrassed of who they are and be thankful for life(“Maya Angelou More than a Poet 1”).

Maya Angelou was an African American woman who wrote about standing up for oneself and the people who have been oppressed. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou talked about a free man and an oppressed man. She went into detail that the difficulties that the written about the oppressed man was forced to face. Two aspects was presented to the reader, Maya Angelou presented the success of a free man and obstacles and difficulties that the oppressed man. “A free bird leaps on the back of the wind and floats downstream till the current ends and dips his wing in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.”

Maya Angelou was an African American that grew up to be a well known poet. I chose to write an analysis on her because she was the main character in the book I know why a caged bird sings, and interested me the most. She grew up in the 1990s, when discrimination was still a problem. She has endured so much in her lifetime.

Maya Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise, showed her audience that any oppression could be oppressed with hard work. She showed that anyone could overcome any type of oppression by sustaining the strength to strive for the ultimate goal. Her words inspired the African American population. Still I Rise showed the African American people that nobody could stop her from rising to the top. “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise.”

In the first stanza, the speaker states that she is not cute according to society’s standards, and that women want to know what her secret is. She tells them that her physical aspects, such as the “curl of her lips” help make her into a phenomenal woman. Maya Angelou plays with the word “phenomenal”: it can mean something along the essence of phenomena, being perceived by the senses; or to mean remarkable or extraordinary (Bloom 44). The second stanza deals with how men react to her femininity. Angelou uses the only metaphor in the poem, “a hive of honey bees” to show how the speaker attracts men. In the third stanza, there is a slight change. Instead of expressing the speaker’s physical qualities, Angelou makes known the speaker’s inner mystery, which also resides in her physical traits. The last stanza has a definite change in direction. The “self-image, full of glory, inner pride, and innate individuality, asserts itself in the last stanza” (Bloom 45). The speaker affirms that she is proud of the fact that she is a phenomenal woman, and that it “ought to make you proud,” as

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.

In the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, the poet uses repetition, metaphors and similes to express to her audience about how she has overcome racism in her life through demonstrating a strong, proud and defiant attitude to inspire others.

Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” is a lyrical-feminist poem, which she uses vivid imagery, metaphors, and repetition to portray the essential message that, “No matter the mistreatment or negativity she receives from her oppressors, she will still stand.” Maya Angelou is an African- American author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, singer, and civil rights activist. Angelou’s writing centered on the reflections of the experiences of African American women, oppression, and the inequality of sexes. Even today, her poetry influences the African American community and is a common referenced poet.

In Maya Angelou’s empowering poem “Still I rise”, she introduces a different type of love and with the use of simile and imagery, she illustrates her views to the reader. Though similes are evident throughout this poem Angelou includes lines like "but still, like dust, I'll rise" and has a double meaning in that it is a simile but engages the reader with it’s imagery, by invoking the image of a rising cloud of dust giving the reader a tangible connection, with the deeper themes in the poem. Alongside simile Angelou uses imagery throughout the poem to create a contrast between the past and the present: "Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes?