Maya Angelou Alone

People talk behind the speaker’s back and spread whatever rumors they can conjure, even to the point of ramming her face in the mud and really making a picture of her as a dirty, good-for-nothing person. Yet despite that, she still walks with her head high, knowing they're not true. And when people can't seem to understand why she’s not upset, they'll continue putting her down. And she'll just laugh it off, not really caring about what they say or do. The last stanza shows that even if she had a checkered past and no matter what she may have done before, she can still rise, she can still stand up, she can still look the world in the eye and tell them, “I will rise.” In lines 21-24, Angelou states, “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.” This shows that no matter what came Angelou’s way, she still rose to the occasion and made a difference. Thus, the racism that Angelou went through left its footprints in the making of her poetic

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

“You may write me down in history….You may trod me in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I’ll rise.” This quote indicates Angelou’s thoughts and emotions of what she and other victims of oppression faced, and how she overcame this. This personal pronoun helps the listener recognise that this issue has affected Angelou and that it is personal to her, but she will continue to persevere.

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.

When I first read this poem, I was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Maya Angelou depicts herself as a fighter that will never give up, no matter the circumstances. She has obviously faced some difficult situations in her life that should have stopped her but she continues to triumph in the face of adversity. In this way, I am inspired to continue pursuing my goals. I also felt discouraged and disgusted, mostly because of the types of obstacles that are described in this poem. It is symbolizes the obstacles that many African Americans faced in the past as a result of the abolition of slavery, racism and inequality. The discouraging part of this poem is that some of these very inequalities and injustices still go on today. So, while this poem illustrates strength,

Marguerite Johnson, known as Maya Angelou, was not only famous for writing poetry but she also served as a Civil Rights Activist. Her other occupations were being an actress, dancer, including an exotic dancing (Maya Angelou Is Born), and an author. When she was working at the strip club a theatre group which help her with her acting career. They helped her get a role in the infamous Porgy and Bess and Calypso Heat Wave (Maya Angelou Biography). Around that time, she started producing albums, which later got her a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Audio version, writing biographies, poetry. Later, in her adult life, she won two NAACP image awards, Emmy award, for the mini-series Roots, and three Grammy’s (Maya Angelou Biography). Unfortunately, She

Shown in the phrase, “Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides...Still I'll rise.” Angelou compares herself and her unwavering willpower to the forces of nature. Evoking an image of something bigger than any single person. This is significant because it gives that audience of the attitude that she holds, her will is a force of nature, untouchable and certain, something that could not fall to a human. Diction plays another big part in her message as Angelou never explicitly mentions gender or women throughout her poem. Instead she uses words like “sassiness”, “hauntiness” and “sexiness” which society deems improper, holding negative connotation regarding femininity. By choosing these words, Angelou is reclaiming the meaning- that women can talk back and be proud. Through her choice of diction, the audience gains understanding that this is a personal battle, a defence of her identity. Furthermore, the repetition of “I

Leadership and Legacy Maya Angelou Tiavounta Hudson Thesis Even though Maya Angelou had several problems in her life she overcame them and became successful, she became a civil rights activist and she also wrote poems and books that inspired people to become writers and many more other things. Background In the late 1950's the civil rights movement begins,The civil rights movement was about racial discrimination and the segregation between African American people and white people. African American people didn't have much to do or an opportunity to do many things,like there wasn't a lot of African American women as writers.

Marguerite Ann Johnson, a southern African-American female, grew up in Stamps, Arkansas, later travelling to live with her biological parents in cities, vastly different communities for Maya. Throughout the novel, Maya feels trapped by predetermined categories that come with obstacles and discrimination in many shapes and forms. In Maya’s autobiography, she builds up and supports the idea that she is the bird in the cage mentioned by her title, held back by racism and sexism within her society. Growing up in a deeply Southern town, segregation was so prevalent, Maya was not even sure that white people existed. As she grew up, experiencing racism was a normal part of her life, as it was to many others as well.

Maya Angelou, creator of such poems as Still I Rise and Phenomenal Woman, stated that the Martin Luther King Jr’s works gave her the inspiration and instruction she needed to become the writer that she is, her work is filled with real life stories that influence the reader. Shane Koyczan’s work,similar to what has been said about Maya Angelou’s work, fills the reader's mind with real life stories of those who have fell into the hands of bullying. His use of vivid, real life examples of people, who he has personally known, gives his audience, those who have personally dealt with bullying and feel as if they are alone, a sense of reassurance. Koyczan’s poem " To This Day" is a story about three people, one being the author himself, another being

Angelou is stating that no one can take on all of the world’s weight without the help of others. Shmoop.com says: “When we get right down to it, this poem centers itself on an emotional landscape: the homelessness of the human soul. The roving, searching heart has no home- which is perhaps why we move from setting to setting in this poem as well (Shmoop Editorial Team).” There are a few possible themes to this poem, shmoop.com has four: isolation, suffering, spirituality, and society/class. The main theme of the poem, however, is needing someone to rely on when you can’t handle things on your own, as in lines twelve and thirteen, “Nobody, but nobody Can make it out here alone.”

The Reunion Synthesis Race, why are we so afraid to talk about it? “The Reunion” by Maya Angelou is a short story that deals with race. While Philomena, a black woman, is playing the piano with her band at a bar in south Chicago she sees a white woman on a black man’s arm. But not just any white woman, Beth Ann Baker of the Baker cotton gin. Philomena’s parents used to “work” in this cotton gin and in their home, so Philomena and Beth grew up together.

Angelou herself is talking to people who feel oppressed during the time of segregation. This poem takes place in an era in which there was a time of racial prejudice against the blacks. While white americans were being treated fairly, the blacks were not. In this poem, she describes that there are two birds. One that is free and one that is caged.

In I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou we see self-belief and overcoming adversity when Maya Angelou is talking about the caged bird being trapped in the cage with her wings clipped and her feet tied and the caged bird still tries to open his throat to sing, this can be referenced to the black people when Maya Angelou was growing up and the free bird could be referenced as the white people in this story because the free bird could do anything and fly free in the air as much as they want, but the caged bird is trapped in the caged with nothing they can do. This could all reference to the time when Maya Angelou was growing up because when she was growing up there was a lot of racism around the American people and also gender inequality.