The Lesson

I keep on dying again.

Veins collapse, opening like the
Small fists of sleeping
Children.
Memory of old tombs,
Rotting flesh and worms do
Not convince me against
The challenge. The years
And cold defeat live deep in
Lines along my face.
They dull my eyes, yet
I keep on dying,
Because I love to live.

Maya Angelou writes if death and life exist as one, rather than the usual thought that death and life are opposite aspects of living. To Angelou, in order to live you must face multiple deaths as a part of the experience. Pain and death are coexisting with life. Rather than pain and death being a reason to avoid death, Angelou creates an image that they are simply aspects of life, and a reason to keep living. Death is a part of the journey of life.

Literary Devices:

1. Hyperbole: "I keep on dying again"

2. Imagery: "Veins collapse, opening like the small fists of sleeping children"

3. Metaphore: "The years and cold defeat live deep in lines along my face"

Alone

Well I was lying, thinking, last night,

How to find my soul a home

Where water is not thirsty,

and bread loaf is not stone

Well, I came up with one thing,

and I don't believe that I'm wrong:

 

Alone, all alone,

Nobody can make it out here alone

Nobody can make it out here alone

 

Well, there are some millionaires

With money they can't use,

Their wives run around like banshees,

And their children, they're singing the blues

They've got expensive doctors

To cure they're hearts of stone,

But nobody, no nobody, can make it alone

 

Alone, all alone,

Nobody can make it out here alone

Nobody can make it out here alone

 

Now if you listen closely, I'll tell you what I know,

Storm clouds are gathering,the wind is gonna blow.

The race of man is suffering, and I can hear the moan,

But nobody, no nobody, can make it alone.

 

Alone, all alone,

Nobody can make it out here alone

Nobody can make it out here alone

What I took from this poem is that we as a society need to live as a whole, rather than separated by class, color, ect. We can have the most money, and a perfect family, but at the end of the day, we are not anyone if we are not one aspect of a whole. "The race of men is suffering" alludes to the fact that despite any differences between two people, we are all intertwined and without each other, we are no one. 

Literary Devices: 

1. Bibliomancy: "Where water is not thirsty, and bread loaf is not stone"

2. Simile: "Their wives run around like banshees"

3. Repetition: "Alone, all alone"

Caged Bird

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.

 

But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

 

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hills

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

 

The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through singing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

 

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.

 

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

This poem is a reflection of the times in which Maya Angelou grew up. The free bird is a representation of the white individuals flying free, while the caged bird represents the African Americans who were left struggling without any freedom. Despite the birds entrapment, the bird believes that one day things will change and it will someday be flying with the other birds.

Literary Devices: 

1. Personification: "The caged bird sings"

2. Denotation: "The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard"

3. Epithet: "The caged bird"

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty woman wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to fit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

 

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

They swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

 

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's the arch of my back

The sun in my smile,

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

 

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

I ought to make you proud

I say,

It's the click of my heals,

The bend of my hair,

The need for my care.

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

To me, this is the poem for every woman. Maya Angelou confronts the double standards of society, allowing herself to look different from the normal perceived "beautiful" and still be the object of a man's desire. Angelou emphasizes her inner beauty and addresses it as the reason for her "phenomenal" overall beauty. She illustrates that although one may not be society's idea of beautiful, believing that you're beautiful is all you need to be beautiful. 

Literary Devices:

1. Alliteration: "Pretty woman wonder where"

2. Rhyme: "The bend of my hair, the need for my care"

3. Assonance: "Just why my head's not bowed"

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 haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. 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. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. I like this poem because it emphasizes the importance of strength within one's self. We all have our moment when everything seems like it's going wrong and that there's nothing we can do to get past the hardship, but within each one of us is the strength to persevere and make it through. We can all rise through the darkness.

Literary Devices:

1. simile- comparisons using "like" or "as":

"like dust, I'll rise"

2. apostrophe - addressing a "you" in the poem:

"does my sassiness upset you?"

3. motif- repetition of a phrase, image, etc:

"I'll rise" and "I rise..."

The Power of Words

Maya Angelou

I decided to choose Maya Angelou because after reading her biographical novel I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, in the ninth grade, I fell in love with the strength of her words. Maya Angelou is a woman with a haunting past, who uses her experiences to touch the lives of her readers and shed light on important issues in society. Any work of art by Angelou is worth reading, in my opinion.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4^th, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou has endeavored numerous careers, varying from dancer, actress, composer, as well as being the first black female director. Angelou is most known for her works as a poet, playwright, and writer. She is known as the spokeswoman for African Americans, and for women all around the country, but mostly for those who faced struggles growing up. Maya Angelou’s noteworthy biography series, beginning with I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is a tell-all story of the writer’s struggles growing up in Missouri and Arkansas, facing rape, poverty, abuse, and self-discovery. Angelou was traumatized by the murder of her rapist by her uncles, becoming mute for five years. While not speaking, Angelou read the works of black authors such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. She also read the well-known works of those such as Edgar Allen Poe, Charles Dickens, and William Shakespeare. Mrs. Flowers, a black woman, helped Maya Angelou to find her voice again, which is when she began her journey into poetry. Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, working with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and worked as a professor at the Wake Forest University. 

Sources:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maya-angelou

http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388

This is a truly amazing short video of Maya Angelou's thoughts on The Power Of Words:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vIXgBJuphw&feature=related