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"