Introduction:
Maya Angelou :
Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and actress whose several volumes of autobiography explore the themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression.
Maya Angelou, original name Marguerite Annie Johnson's,American poet, memoirist, and actress whose several volumes of autobiography explore the themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression.
Born: April 4, 1928 Saint Louis Missouri
Died: May 28, 2014 (aged 86) Winston-Salem North Carolina
Awards And Honors:
Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011) Grammy Award (2002)
Grammy Award (1995)(1993)
Grammy Award (2003): Best Spoken Word Album
Grammy Award (1996): Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album.
Grammy Award (1994): Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album National Medal of Arts (2000)
National Women's Hall of Fame (inducted 1928) Presidential Medal of Freedom (2011) Spingarn Medal (1994)
Notable Works:
“Down in the Delta”
“His Day Is Done”
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
“On the Pulse of Morning”
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 backyard.
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.
Still I Rise” Summary :
You have the ability to shape how history remembers me with your hurtful, warped lies. You have the power to walk all over me, crushing me into the dirt itself. But even so, I will rise up from the ground just as dust rises from the earth.
Does my bold and cheeky attitude offend you? Why are you so miserable? Maybe it's because of the confident way I walk, as if I had oil wells right in my living room. I am like the moon and the sun, the rises of which are as inevitable as the rise of ocean tides. Just like high hopes, I will keep rising.
Were you hoping to see me looking sad and defeated? Did you want to see me in a submissive posture, with my head bent and eyes looking down rather than up at you? Did you want to see my shoulders slouching down in the same way that tears fall down, my body having been weakened by all my intense sobbing?
Is my pride making you mad? Are you so upset because I am so happy and joyful that it seems as though I must have gold mines in my own backyard? You have the ability to shoot at me with your words, which are like bullets. You have the ability to cut me with your sharp glare. You may even kill me with your hatred. Nevertheless, just as the air keeps rising, I will keep rising.
Does my sex appeal make you upset? Are you taken aback by the fact that I dance as though I have precious gems between my legs? I rise up out of history's shameful act of slavery. I rise up from this deeply painful past. I am as vast and full of power as a dark ocean that rises and swells and carries in the tide.
I rise up, and in doing so leave behind all the darkness of terror and fear. I rise up, and in doing so enter a bright morning that is full of joyful wonder. With the personal qualities and grace I inherited from my ancestors, I embody the dreams and hopes of past enslaved peoples. I will rise, and rise, and rise.
I know why the caged Bird sing :
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 hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing 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.
“ I know why Caged Bird sing” Summary :
A free bird flies on the wind, as if floating downstream until the wind current shifts, and the bird dips its wings in the orange sunlight, and he dares to call the sky his own.But a bird that moves angrily and silently in a small cage can barely see through either the cage bars or his own anger His wings are cut so he cannot fly and his feet are tied together, so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings fearfully of things he does not know, but still wants, and his song can be heard from as far away as distant hills, because the caged bird sings about freedom.The free bird thinks about another breeze, and about the global winds that blow from east to west and make the trees sound as if they are sighing, and he thinks of the fat worms waiting to be eaten on the lawn in the early morning light, and he says he owns the sky.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of his own dead dreams, and his dream-self screams from the nightmares he has. His wings are trimmed down and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing.The caged bird sings fearfully of things he does not know, but still wants, and his song can be heard from as far away as distant hills, because the caged bird sings about freedom.
Equality:
You declare you see me dimly
through a glass which will not shine,
though I stand before you boldly,
trim in rank and marking time.
You do own to hear me faintly
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.
You announce my ways are wanton,
that I fly from man to man,
but if I'm just a shadow to you,
could you ever understand ?
We have lived a painful history,
we know the shameful past,
but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.
Take the blinders from your vision,
take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears.
Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb in my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality, and I will be free.
Equality summary :
In the poem ‘Equality’ by Maya Angelou the themes of equality, racism and discrimination are conveyed through the use of repetition and metaphors. The phrase ‘equality and I will be free’ is repeated throughout this poem six times. This emphasizes that all Angelou wants is to be free from racism and wants everyone to be equal. The poet refers to ‘I’ as herself representing the African-American race and ‘you’ representing the white people. When the poem says ‘Take the blinders from your vision, take the padding from your ears, and confess you’ve heard me crying, and admit you’ve seen my tears’, it is referring to the white people ‘blinding’ their vision and ‘padding’ their ears meaning that they are ignoring and blocking out the African-Americans. This is used as a metaphor to represent the white people being oblivious to the African-Americas and showing racism towards them. The poet keeps referring to ‘her drums’ as a sign that she is ‘beating out the message’ of equality for everyone. This shows that she is against racism and wants everyone to be treated the same and that she will continue to spread the message until it is resolved. When Angelou says ‘But if I’m just a shadow to you, could you ever understand?’ she is referring to the African-Americans as shadows to the white people. This conveys the message of racism and that Negros are treated of lesser value compared to white people and that they shadow on everyone because they are inferior. The effective use of metaphors and repetition in this poem creates a sense of drive for equality making a stronger message for equal rights between everyone.
Preacher , Don't send me:
Preacher, don't send me
when I die
to some big ghetto
in the sky
where rats eat cat
of the leopard type
and Sunday brunch
is grits and tripe
I've known those rats
I've seen them kill
and grits I've had
would make a hill
or maybe a mountain
so what I need
from you on Sunday
is a different creed
Preacher, please don't
promise me
streets of gold
and milk for free
I stopped all mil
at four years old
and once I'm dead
I won't need gold
I'd call a place
pure Paradise
where families are loyal
and strangers are nice
where the music is jazz
and the season is fall
Promise me that
or nothing at all.
"Preacher, don't send me" summary :
Preacher, Don’t Send Me” directly illustrates death and the heavens, so the audience will have a solid theme for the poem. Also in the first stanza, the speaker uses first person throughout the poem.Therefore the speaker is Maya Angelou. In the third stanza the poem makes the reader visualise how heaven looks. In the same stanza, the speaker conveys that the preacher is preaching to the congregation. Because the the author is disagreeing what the preacher is preaching. The reader can conclude that the setting is in some church are the environment is focusing on some biblical subject. The final stanza the speaker gives their opinion on how they think heaven looks.
Similarities in Maya's poems:
1. The Expression of Racism
According to the text of Maya Angelou’s poem, the researcher finds out that Angelou’s poem indicates racism as it is shows in few indicators such as diction, imagery and symbol. Diction or the choice of the words becomes one of the important indicators to decide that Angelou’s poems reflected racism.Diction can be dividing into four such as borrowing diction, this diction involving the use of different language words to reach particular meaning and effect of a literary work. Dialect is the second part of diction. It is also meant to make a literary work easy to judge based on the dialect.
The special expression is also one of the important parts in Angelou’s poem. It will give the particular information to the reader about certain condition. The last one is the special term; it is the chosen of words to make particular meaning as a symbol and image of the literary work meaning. In this part the researcher can be suspicious toward the text based on the words that remain racism because Angelou reflected racism in her poem based on the dialect and the special term she use.Imageryalso helps the researcher to figure that Angelou’s poem reflected racism.
As it is known that it is explain the mental picture that is picturing,portraying or painting of imagination as a reaction when the readers understand the poem. One of the most influence parts in Angelou’s poem is visual imagery.This image can be find in Riot:60’s poem which describe the situation when riot happened in 60s.
"Lighting: a hundred watts
Detroit, Newark and New York
Screening nerves, exploding minds
Lives tied to
A police man’s whistle
A walfare worker’s"
The verse above describes the haunt situation when riot happened in Detroit, Newark and New York. That people on that time felt so scary about the riot when fires can lights up the city and people have no other choice but only stay and hiding at home. In the 1960s Detroit known as the state where the riot happened toward the police officer fight the black African-American. This riot happened for five days and killed so many black lives.
Symbol becomes the last language style the researcher use to decide that Angelou’s poem reflected racism. It is also become one of the most important indicators since symbol define the other meaning then the literally meaning of a words. One of them is the use of black and white words. These words not literally meaning as colors but the different race which later become the long history of racism from slavery, discrimination, hegemony, stereotype and prejudice, and class struggle. We find the words in Harlem Hopscotch poem below: In the air, now both feet down.Since you are black, don’t stick around.
" Food is gone, the rent is due,
Curse and cry then jump two."
From the verse above the speaker of the poem straightly put black words as the determiner of the verse. It is the center of all verse. It is not only refers to the color of black. Black means African-American. The words deliver the meaning that since you are an African-American you cannot socialize as free as you want it. It is related to segregation, discrimination, stereotype and all those racism idea.
2. Criticism against type of Racism
Angelou’s poem becomes one of the most useful literature works to track the trace of racism in America which happened in sixteenth until nineteenth century. The poem also reflected the sentimental feeling as she is an African-American she seriously describe the ignorance of white people toward her race.In her poem Angelou try to describe racism and kind of it is institution toward Black African-American as slavery, discrimination, segregation, hegemony and prejudice and stereotype.
From the explanation above Angelou prove her capability as a poet that even she was born in 1928, where on that time slavery is no longer exist she built the perfect imagery to the reader to understand the history of racism from her poems. In her era, 1960s is the new movement against segregation toward black and white just expanded. Angelou was one of those activists who fight for it after Martin Luther King jr. the new civil right is one of the turning point for black movement. In 1960s is also about the movement to fight the right of the African-American as civilian of America and their right to vote. Angelou and her work cannot be separate from this even she involved and quite close to Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. her representation of the movement spirit.
Although Angelou's prose writing received much more acclaim and attention, she also wrote several collections of poetry. Her collection Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die was published in 1971 and nominated for the highly regarded Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.
Her style with poetry shows Angelou's command of both Standardized English and African American English. Standard, or Standardized, English is the common accepted form of written and spoken English, both formal and informal. African American English is a dialect of English spoken in the African American community.
Difference In poetry :
In “Still I rise” Maya Angelou who is the speaker is telling her readers about the discrimination she has overcome and how these obstacles have made her the person she is today and in “Caged bird” she is showing how black people are trapped and limited because of the colour of their skin.
Still I Rise” is primarily about self-respect and confidence. In the poem, Angelou reveals how she will overcome anything through her self-esteem. She shows how nothing can get her down. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin color, will hold her back. on other hand Maya Angelou's 'Caged Bird' strongly evokes the message of protest about the inequality between Blacks and Whites during Segregation in American history. It echoes the emotion within such a horrible experience, and it illustrates the oppression of the Blacks in contrast with the freedom of the Whites.
In the poem 'Equality' by Maya Angelou the themes of equality, racism and discrimination are conveyed through the use of repetition and metaphors. ... This shows that she is against racism and wants everyone to be treated the same and that she will continue to spread the message until it is resolved. In contrast Angelou's poem presents a speaker who takes pride in her identity. She is courageous enough to talk about her body and her inherent qualities. Besides, she is an embodiment of the indomitable courage of black people.
'Why the Caged Bird Sing' is filled with powerful themes. These include racial oppression, freedom/captivity, and happiness/sorrow. These themes are all wrapped together in 'Caged Bird' through Angelou's depiction of the two birds, one free and one caged.
In the second poem The bird represents freedom or desire to be free, while the cage symbolises confinement or oppression. In the first poem dust and the ocean is symbol. In third poem shadow and drums is symbol.
Conclusion:
Maya Angelou says that,
“You will never love poetry until you actually feel it come across your tongue, through your teeth, over your lips.”
Maya was loved because her way of writing not only makes the readers more critical, but they are also touched in one way or the other. Angelou passionately defended the rights of women, young people and the ignored. She effortlessly traversed the worlds of literature and activism, becoming a confidante to the original civil rights leaders, their successors and the current generation.
Work Cited :
1. All poems
2. Maya Angelou as a poet
3. Maya Angelou Wikipedia page
4. Poem analysis
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