By utilizing the metaphor of a woman Angelou creates a greater sympathy for the deep and long-lasting plight of the African people. ‘Africa’ by Maya Angelou describes the plight of the African continent through the extended metaphor of a beautiful woman. The poem is written from the perspective of a child, contains a lot of figurative language and a simple rhyme scheme. This poem was published in 1993 and is about addressing one’s fears head-on, understanding them, and then keeping them at a distance so that they do not control one’s life. It might come slowly, but it brings comfort. The poem ends optimistically as the speaker refers to the passing of the worst of these emotions and the possibility of peace blooming in one’s body. Maya Angelou’s speaker makes sure to address the fact that it doesn’t matter how large one is, physically or mentally, everyone is impacted by loss. The lions “hunker down” and try to ride out the aftershocks. In this case, the impact of the tree on the ground is felt throughout the forest.
Through the metaphor of a falling tree, the speaker talks about important losses that shake one’s life. ‘ When Great Trees Fall’ is dedicated to loss and misery as integral parts of the human experience. Angelou juxtaposes these images of exhaustion and solitude with those of the dreams of children and how they are shared with “seraphim,” or multi-winged angels. They also briefly allude to the day to day mundanity of city life, using personification. The concise lines of this piece depict what it is like for one speaker to wake up in the city. One of Angelou’s shorter poems, ‘Awaking in New York’ uses imagery as its primary technique. She is headed into the light, bringing with her the “gifts that ancestors gave”. Towards the end, the speaker proudly states that she is leaving behind her own history and the “nights of terror and fear”. The refrain, “I rise” is used throughout, gaining intensity as the poem progresses. She determines that she is valuable and deserving of respect.
The speaker stands up to prejudice and preconceived notions of who she should be. Maya Angelou died in May of 2014 after a period of bad health.Īt its most basic level, ‘Still I Rise’ is a poem about confidence and empowerment. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw Angelou’s campaigning with democratic candidates such as Hilary Clinton, and directing her first film, Down in the Delta. She was one of the only full-time African American professors on staff at the university. In the last decades of her life, Angelou accepted the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies. It was the piece that brought her the recognition she had been searching for. Maya Angelou’s first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which became one of her most popular works, was published in 1969. Her essays were compiled in three books and she is credited in a number of plays and television shows throughout her long career. It is a slurred combination of “my-a” and “sister.” Throughout Angelou’s life, she published seven autobiographies as well as several books of poetry.
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Her full birth name was Marguerite Anne Johnson but she came to use, “Maya” because of her little brother, Bailey Jr. Maya Angelou was born in January of 1928 in St.