Analysis Of Alone By Maya Angelou

Throughout life we go through many stepping stones, Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay "Graduation", was about more than just moving on to another grade. The unexpected events that occurred during the ceremony enabled her to graduate from the views of a child to the more experienced and sometimes disenchanting views of an adult. Upon reading the story there is an initial feeling of excitement and hope which was quickly tarnished with the abrupt awareness of human prejudices. The author vividly illustrates a rainbow of significant mood changes she undergoes throughout the story.

Maya Angelou is a leader by example, she sets the standard by her actions and the stories she tells teaches the audience a lesson. Majority of her work is to inform us of the past and she wants us to learn from her experiences in life; she is a life teacher. The purpose of this poem was to inform us of the history of our country. The poem is titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and her purpose of writing this is to teach the reader why the caged bird sings. Maya Angelou wants to put the reader in her shoes to get the ultimate experience of racial inequality but instead by taking the role of a caged bird or a free bird.

n American history, racial inequality has been a prevalent issue for many decades. Slavery is America's original sin. In the 1930s, racial inequality and segregation lived and breathed well. At this point in time, segregation in schools and other public places was still present. For preposterous reasons, white and black people had separate water fountains, restaurants, rest rooms, and areas on the bus. During this time full of racism and racial inequality, Maya Angelou was just a little girl growing up in St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis is a town in the South, like many others, had inequalities at the time. In 1938 Maya Angelou was only ten years old. At this age, she worked for a lady named Mrs. Viola Cullinan. Maya Angelou wrote briefly about her time spent working for Mrs. Cullinan in her short story “Mary.” Maya Angelou's’ use of vivid, direct characterization and alternating childish voice to mature adult narrative diction filtered through her authentic first person point of view helps to prominently establish the theme of Angelou’s distaste for racial inequality throughout the short story.

In “My First Lifeline” written by Maya Angelou, the author vividly explains a lifeline thrown to her in a time of need. The essay became a reflection of Angelou’s childhood and presented the reasoning behind some of the traits she acquired. Angelou utilizes vernacular speech, figurative language, and sensory details to aid in expressing the first lifeline thrown at her.

I'm going to be analyzing the short story, New Directions, By Maya Angelou. It's a story with a strong theme of courage. A book that reminds us that we can still make a name for ourselves, even if we have to do it alone. I'll be discussing a few of the key elements of the story such as the plot, setting, and mood in this analysis.

Maya Angelou’s poetry occupies a very special position in her development as a writer (Chow 1). As a child, Angelou went through five years of complete silence after she was raped at the age of seven years old, by a man named, Mr. Freeman. As a result of telling about her traumatic experience, her uncle’s literally kicked the man that raped her to death. Beings she spoke of her traumatic experience and the result of the man dying, she then imagined that her voice had the potential to kill. Thanks to her teacher, Bertha Flowers, at school Angelou started writing poetry as a means of expression of her life events through her poetry (Chow 1). Poetry thus played an essential part in the recovery of her voice, which in

I am Brittany Humes –Cox and I was born and raised in a small town in Illinois, known as Carbondale. My biological mother suffers from a drug addiction and my father made other choices aside from being a part of my childhood. As a result, my two older brothers and I were raised by my maternal grandmother. As a young child, I would always question why me however, I became adamant not allow my circumstance to detour my success. I found peace in playing basketball along with writing poems to mend my broken

Maya Angelou’s “Alone” is an incredible narrative poem that readers can relate to. This poem is about realizing that no matter who you are, or where you come from, or how much money you have, you need other human beings to survive in this world. In life you need people who love you and help you through hardships. The poem is easy to read and understand because of the simplicity of the diction. Angelou uses the phrase, “That nobody, / But nobody / Can make it out here alone,” to get her point across. The fact that she uses the phrase to make a point allows the reader to look past the trite. The tone of the poem is yearning. Angelou brilliantly uses assonance, alliteration, figurative language, and AB, AB rhyme. The meaning of this poem is one of great importance.

In stanza four Maya Angelou asks a series of rhetorical questions in lines thirteen and fourteen. She knows that people want to see her broken, weak and crying from the criticism and hateful words that have been said to her. She not only had to deal with criticism from being an African-American in a time when whites did not accept them into their society but also dealing with the fact that she was an African-American woman. During the fifties women were expected to marry and be a helping hand around the house. They were not expected to be in the working field. Just imagine how hard it had to be to make as an African-American women trying to achieve her goals. But she refuses to show how difficult it was through her emotion she just rises above it.

Her poems speak about the turmoil our world is in. She encourages us to love, love, and love. (Source card #4)      In her poem "Human Family", Angelou says, "We are more alike, my friends, then we are unlike." Maya's poems, which include "Equality" and "These yet to be United States", show the pain of humanity and the ignorance of the world. My favorite poem "Phenomenal Woman" shows what it's like to be a woman now a days. "I think the most impressive thing about Maya Angelou's poetry is that it is purely honest.

Lastly, the use of similes in the poem effectively conveys the key idea further. In the simile, ‘Just like moons and like suns…still I’ll rise’, the poet is comparing herself to the moon and the sun, which are two very powerful things. The common phrase, ‘the sun will always rise tomorrow’ directly connects to this simile because by comparing herself to the sun, Angelou connotes to the reader she is certain that she will always ‘rise’ again tomorrow just like the sun, no matter what happens to her. By showing her determined and resilient attitude to not give in to oppressors through this simile, it strengthens the key idea of this poem. Further use of similes also helps to reveal Maya Angelou’s bold and powerful attitude, for example, when she says, “‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room.’ By using this

“You have tried to destroy me and although I perish daily I shall not be moved,” (Angelou, 2014), says Maya Angelou in her Commencement speech to the 1992 Spelman College graduates. Poet and award-winning author, Maya Angelou, is most well known for her poetry, essay collection, and memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou happened to be the first black female cable car conductor who later started a career in theatre and music (Maya Angelou: Poet and Historian, n.d.). Once her acting and musical career began to take off, Angelou began touring with productions and released her first album Miss Calypso (Maya Angelou Fast Facts, 2017). Later, Angelou earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away and an Emmy Award nomination for the work she performed in the television mini-series Roots (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Angelou was also the first African American woman to have her screenplay produced (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Out of the number of poetry collections Angelou published, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die happened to be her most famous collection that was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). The focus of this paper is to critique Angelou’s credibility, sincerity, and appeal to her whole audience in her delivery during the Spelman Commencement Address in 1992.

Throughout the years, sports have become a major part of society. Sports, a large percentage of the time, are a part of peoples’ lives in one way or another. Whether they participate in them or just enjoy watching them, sports are a big deal to the majority of people. There are also some individuals who have redefined the expectations when it comes to certain sports. For instance, Babe Ruth redefined the way people think about baseball, or Michael Jordan completely changing the game of basketball. But Joe Louis and Venus and Serena Williams have changed their games in a way no one could have imagined. Although “Champion of the World” by Maya Angelou and “Woman Who Hit Very Hard and How They’ve Changed Tennis” by Michael Kimmelman are different, they are similar in the ways they show how the respected athletes, Joe Louis and the Williams sisters, changed the game and were seen using symbolism in racial and sexual progression.

Maya Angelou is one out of the best known poets. She has written a lot of poems that inspires and assist people with their lives. She has a “desire humbleness to learn and experience all that life has to offer her” (gale biography in context, “Maya Angelou More than a Poet”) which makes her poems have a meaning to them. In addition, Maya Angelou got a lot of pieces of poems considered equality to her experience as a human of the United States during race times and her experience as a person who worked with other civil right activist. Maya Angelou uses deep themes that leaves the reader to think about the topic is being talked about. In her poem, “Still I Rise” she talks metaphorically about discrimination. In the poem, it states, “does my haughtiness offend you? ( the poetry foundation, “Maya Angelou”). This quote from the poem shows how the rest of the poem is about people believe they is better than other people and that the other people should suffer because they are inferior to the people, but the people being abused should not be embarrassed of who they are and be thankful for life(“Maya Angelou More than a Poet 1”).

Maya Angelou narrates her account in a conversational tone.  She uses the past tense which tells her audience "it's over" for her.  Her words are free from severity.  They encourage the reader to see hope in the midst of sadness.  Instead of trying to elicit a particular emotional response, Angelou invites her audience to share in her thoughts and feelings.  For instance, having given an account of the rape, she writes, "I thought I had died--I woke up in a white-walled world, and it had to be heaven."  The reader feels a connection with her pain, yet realizes redemption lies close at hand.  Whereas Walker tells how she was confronted by her parents, Angelou explains,"she [mother] picked me up in her arms and the terror abated for a while."  There is no impression of combativeness.  There is only tenderness and care.  Once again, she invites the reader in.  Walker wants the reader to feel for her; Angelou wants her audience to feel with her.  They achieve their objectives by directing the reader's attention to specific emotions.