![]() ![]() Angelou herself was involved in social activism at that time and was asserting the rights of her community. It was written in 1978 during the social activism, in a first-person narrative tone. One of the best by Maya Angelou, ‘ Still I Rise’ is included here for its powerful theme. The race of man is suffering / And I can hear the moan.Nobody, but nobody / Can make it out here alone.How to find my soul a home / Where water is not thirsty.Some of the best verses of this poem are as follows. Lyrical quality has not lost even in the end when the poem presents its final thesis that nobody alone can do everything as people are around you. These devices have made the poem highly interesting and beautiful. The poem, though, presents the poet as being alone, it shows her weaving certain literary devices such as anaphora, repetition, consonants, and assonances into the structure of the poem. This lyrical poem first appeared in 1975 and set the stage for Angelou’s upcoming poems. We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world.We, this people, on this small and drifting planet.When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders / And children dress their dolls in flags of truce.It is possible and imperative that we learn / A brave and startling truth.Some of the memorable lines of this poem are as follows. She is of the view that as a crown of the creation, man must strive for peace and when we come to this point, it is all wonderful here on this planet. ![]() She recounts popular places of Europe to convey her message of peace using different similes, metaphors, and forceful collective voice. The inclusive start of the poem with first-person plural comes with a message of the end of social hostilities and longing for peace. It comprises twelve stanzas of varying lines with varying lengths. It was later included in her collection of poetry. The poem was published in 1995 in a small booklet. Fall gently, snowflakes / Cover me with white.Then see about the sick / And the cotton to pick.I have floor to mop / The food to shop.Some of the best simple verses of this poem are as follows. Mana Angelou rather eulogizes these small tasks of domestic chores saying that she has still several things to do. The first-person poetic narrative of the poet recounts all the small tasks that a woman does at home for which she does not win the appreciation of the family members. The poem has a beautiful rhyme scheme of tending, men, mop and shop, try and dry, feed and weed, and so on. This short but very precise and forceful poem first appeared in 1978 but set the stage for the forcefulness of femininity. Then they swarm around me / A hive of honeybees.The span of my hips / The stride of my step.Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.The repetition of “phenomenal” and its anaphoric use at the end of each stanza makes the poem a powerful poetic piece. However, she lays bare all of her secrets saying that her physical shape is phenomenal which has made her a phenomenal woman. In first-person narrative written in free verse, this poem presents her, the poet, as a wonderful woman who has various secrets which the women of the other races wonder. This short poem of Maya Angelou, originally published in 1995, is included here for its tremendous seductive poetic power and the voice of femininity crossing the boundaries of social conventions and stereotyping. The caged bird sings / with fearful trill.But a bird that stalks / down his narrow cage / can seldom see through / his bars of rage.The free bird leaps / on the back of the wind. ![]() Although both birds are living in separate situations, both depict the situation of two races locking horns with each other. She has packed the whole theme in six stanzas using a good rhyme scheme as well as free verse. ![]() This extended metaphor is a voice of her community and its longing for freedom. Using the metaphors of birds and putting two birds in parallel, she demonstrates the suffering of the African Americans and the privileges of the elite white class to show how they suffer in comparison to the white class. Originally published in 1983, this short poem of Maya Angelou is known for its theme of freedom and beautiful free verse. ![]()
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