Maya Angelo - Phenomenal Woman

In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Angelou uses various stylistic devices and rhetorical strategies such as similes and metaphors. Angelou’s use of similes are used in order to describe her own character. In this, Angelou remarks “For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible” showing that Angelou's inner feelings of not being good enough to be picked or loved. Correspondingly Angelou felt her skin looked “dirty like mud” showing her inner insecurities of her skin colour being unattractive. The sense of Angelou’s insecurities can also be seen with the use of metaphors regarding Angelou's skin as she remarked “I was described by our playmates

The life experiences of the late Maya Angelou —author, poet, actress, singer, dancer, playwright, director, producer — became the key element of her most prominent work, a lyrical poet telling the stories of what it means to be an African American; having a wide range, multi-series autobiographies that lays the foundation of her identity as a American black woman. The acclaimed Maya Angelou’s legacy not only impacted American culture that will resonate with people through history, but create insight to a whole new world.

“I’m a woman…Phenomenal woman, that’s me.” This quote from Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” characterizes the common theme between the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, the speech, “Ain’t I a Woman”, by Sojourner Truth, and “Phenomenal Woman”. The common theme between these three different pieces is the idea of a strong, independent woman, which ties into feminism and the concept of being equal to men. Even though these three pieces are each diverse genres, they are all conveying the same general theme in their own way. Throughout any of these texts, it is evident that the authors are pushing the idea that a female is not inferior to any man just because they have a different body structure or a different gender.

Maya Angelo was a special woman. Maya was a woman with many characteristics. She was an American writer, poet, and civil rights activist, actress, and dancer. She is known for her acclaimed memoir.

Regardless of the fact that Maya Angelou´s life was full of troubles and pain, she still arose from all and became one of the strongest writers and African American Activists. ¨ Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis Missouri on April 4th , 1928 . When her parents separated , her and her brother went off to live with their grandma in Stamps, Arkansas . Her grandmother was one of the very few African American who had own her own general store. Although her grandmother was a big part of her life especially when it came to self- confidence , unfortunately Maya had went to visit in St. Louis and happened to be raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of eight. This made Maya Angelou feel completely worthless. When her uncles founded out that this happened, they went and beaten him to death . Although the man could never touch her again , Maya Angelou felt that it was her fault of his death due to telling his name . This made Angelou not speak for around 5 years. ¨

Rumi described poetry as being dangerous, “especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.” I for one can certainly grasp this concept. Poetry I enjoy tends to be about a different world than mine. However, if I close my eyes I can see the story unfolding before me. Perhaps the characteristic most fundamental to the meaning of poetry is its unwillingness to be defined, labelled, or nailed down. This is what makes Maya Angelou’s poetry so effective. Her work challenged the status quo and improved the human condition of all people. She fought for equality and for humanity. In her body of work, we see the plights and triumphs of marginalized people. Angelou, like many other poets, used words to tell her story of struggle, and allowed the readers to experience her people’s pain. Alright, I’ll stop teasing you now. Let’s take a look at our first of Angelou’s masterpieces – “Equality”.

Maya Angelou is a phenomenal woman. She was born into a devastating decade, that suffered numerous tragedies. Not only had society shaped her as a woman, she has also shaped our society and influenced many lives. She is still living today, yet I believe her legend will never die. Furthermore I will share with you what motivated her and some of her gratifying experiences. How she was effected by society, and what she did about it. Also how the time period she was born into made her the extraordinary woman she is today.

Maya Angelou is known as the “most visible black female autobiographer/poet.” She was born, Marguerite Ann Johnson, on April fourth, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Seeing all the racial discrimination in the American south strengthened her passion for poetry, music, dance and performance. Maya writes about the struggles people face, racism and freedom. At age eight, Angelou went mute for five years when she believed that her words killed a man. These years of silence helped develop her extraordinary memory, love for books and literature, and her ability to listen and observe the world around her. At

Maya Angelou's poetry challenges how media influences the perception of black women. She debunks the assumption that black women should behave and look a certain way in order to be treated with humanity. The issues of the expectations of black women in society, Maya Angelou’s, Poems, channels the expression of the free spirit of African-American women within societal influences, conveyed through metaphor, repetition, and imagery, revealing black empowerment. Angelou uses metaphor to describe her inner-strength to survive the battles against criticism. Angelou compares men to “a hive of honey bees [that] swarm around [her]” (Angelou 122).

Arguably one of the most famous American poets, Maya Angelou “uses poetic devices that span language from the beautiful and sublime to vulgar and even scatological.” Due to the uplifting tone of many of her poems, they are extremely popular (Thursby 169). In “Still I Rise” she beautifully uses metaphors and similes, in “Caged Bird” she painstakingly reveals the hope in all things, and lastly in “Phenomenal Woman” Angelou shows the world that women are a powerful and hopeful force to be reckoned with. Maya Angelou’s bold and expressive poetry utilizes metaphors and repetition to explore the underlying theme of hope in the face of adversity. “Still I Rise” is a poem with a narrator confronting their oppressor, who “asserts her confidence

The common themes and beliefs of differences and similarities are upheld throughout the texts are presented differently but founded on similar thinking in several ways. The author of the poem, Maya Angelou, presents her thinking with the use of repetition and comparison while the author of the speech, Barack Obama, presents his thoughts with the use of an anecdote or short story. These authors use different techniques to identify themes of equality and similarities despite our differences, but have similar thinking.

"There's a tremendous difference between alone and lonely. You could be lonely in a group of people" (Drew Barrymore). Rilke's poem is written with only one major shift, compared to Angelou's poem which is written with three shifts. His poem's attitude is lonely in the beginning, but then the attitude is happy by the end of the poem and the theme can be explained as: once one begins to appreciate someone or something, one can experience true happiness. Angelou's poem is written in a religious standpoint and the attitude of her poem is a warning towards the consequences of putting possessions before people.

Maya Angelou's parental grandmother, Annie Henderson, is one of the major female figures who sweep away rigid gender restrictions and the wrong impression of women within a male-dominated society. Mrs. Henderson goes against the stereotypical woman characteristics both physically and mentally. In the America male-dominated society during the 1930's, the beauty standard created by men idealized women to have a petite, slim figure and a soft voice. However, Mrs. Henderson goes against this gender stereotype. She is a tall woman who has a deep voice, and large, rough hands. On the other hand, women during this time period were arbitrarily assigned characteristics to be weak, over-emotional, and submissive. Mrs. Henderson is opposed to all of these

Maya Angelou describes what her life with her grandmother is like while constantly being discriminated against her race. She then found her father, and he leaves Maya and Bailey off to their mother’s house. There, the mother’s boyfriend rapes Maya. After suffering from psychological shock, Maya then moves back to her grandmother’s. As a teenager Maya gets nervous about her sexual identity and tries to discover it. Through these harsh times, the naïve and softhearted Maya grows to become a strong, independent woman.

In “The Story of an Hour” and the poem “Still I Rise” Kate Chopin and Maya Angelou have explored the theme of oppression in a variety of different ways. “The Story of an Hour” is a short story based around how dramatically things can change within the space of an hour and how this can affect your life in the short period of time. Within the hour Mr Mallard is presumed dead in a railroad disaster, resulting in Mrs Mallard short lived ‘freedom’ after years of being oppressed, before soon learning that her husband is not dead as she encounters him. This shock triggers an ongoing heart problem and Mrs Mallard is soon confirmed dead. “Still I Rise” is a poem based around Maya Angelou and how she will overcome challenges that are thrown at her.