On The Pulse Of Morning Analysis

'Harwood's poems explore the impact of time and change on the reassessment of one's identity.'

Over the past five weeks, my group and I read the novel, When Morning Comes written by Arushi Raina. This story takes place in 1976 during the Soweto Uprising in South Africa; a student-lead protest against the Baas Laws, which required subjects to be taught in Afrikaans. The protagonists: Jack, Zanele, Meena, and Thabo start out as strangers with different racial identities, but through a series of chance meetings, each of their lives change significantly. During our Booktalk meetings, I was able to greater discuss some of the challenges that the protagonists faced, gain knowledge and insight about the novel from my peers, compare and contrast the themes in When Morning Comes with those in other books, and connect the novel to concepts learned in class. Before reading When Morning Comes, I hoped that the book would offer me some insight into how much our education system has progressed and improved, but it made me think about so much more than that.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” written in 1978, acknowledges the racism and segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, although no longer slaves, the African Americans have been given little rights and opportunity in America. Maya Angelou wrote this poem to prove to other American citizens that she is unfazed by their hate, while she strengthens her people’s motive to reach equality. Angelou utilizes metaphor, imagery and repetition to reveal how proud she is of her minority’s strength.

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

Maya Angelou acclaimed poet and author wrote a poem entitled “America”. The poem offers words of truth of our country America. The poem begins, “ The gold of her promise, has never been mined.” America, promises us that all men are created equal. The first problem with the promise is we are not all men. The gold of her promise, address equality. Although it is promised to all in this country, its never delivered, when discrimination, of race and gender are still existent. “Her borders of justice, not clearly defined.” We all have our opinions on what justice is, because circumstances differ when we speak of justice in the terms of punishment, to make up for ones wrong doing. Yet, the borders of justice are not

Perhaps the reason that Maya’s poetry has had such a lasting impact on Americans is because of her poems such as ‘Caged Birds’ and ‘Still I Rise’ that demonstrate the issues that African – Americans faced, which she has done through the power of her words. She also challenges the readers with the theme of oppression that is carried out through her pomes as she felt very strongly about it by being surrounded by it her entire life. Maya Angelou has left an everlasting mark by influencing the society through her poems by inspiring others to persist towards their goals and dreams with strength and pride. Overall, Maya Angelou’s work can be attributed to the fact that her personal and cultural experiences of power have not been forgotten by overcoming adversity and oppression, which is clearly reflected in her inspiration body of work seen

Maya Angelou, an African-American woman, wrote the poem, “Still I Rise,” in 1978 when racism was still prominent. Maya Angelou was reaching out to a racist community to prove oppression will not bring her down. Angelou brings up topics of what she and every other African-American person has to endure when living in their communities, and how they feel. She also brings up topics of oppression and marginalization throughout this speech to state that she will continue to rise up above it. Maya Angelou utilizes rhetorical questions, hateful diction, as well as, similes and metaphors to prove to others that she, and other African-American’s will rise against the racism and oppression they face.

Sacrifices can define one’s character; the definition can either be the highest dignity or the lowest degradation of the value of one’s life. In The Awakening, Kate Chopin implicitly conveys the sacrifice Edna Pontellier makes in the life which provides insight of her character and attributions to her “awakening.” She sacrificed her past of a lively and youthful life and compressed it to a domestic and reserved lifestyle of housewife picturesque. However, she meets multiple acquaintances who help her express her dreams and true identity. Mrs. Pontellier’s sacrifice established her awakening to be defiant and drift away from the societal role of an obedient mother, as well as, highlighting the difference between society’s expectations of

“I tend to see the similarities in people and not the differences”, this was stated by Isabel Allende. Maya Angelou with her piece On the rise of morning and Cady Stanton with her piece Declaration of Sentiments prove this point greatly. While reading the paper, it will be seen the similarities they share in the topics of freedom and equality. It will also show the differences they share on achievement and success. Angelou and Stanton are not as different as some may think.

“A Rock, A River, [and] A Tree”(1) are three objects mentioned in Maya Angelou’s poem spoken at Bill Clinton’s inauguration ceremony, “On The Pulse Of Morning.” These objects remain through all of Earth’s history to represent our past and future. Sunlight is used to represent the unified future that is to come in this poem, and shadow is used to represent hatred, and ignorance. The title of the poem refers to this improved future, represented by a sunrise, which begins to portray the motif of light and shadow throughout the poem. When we are approached by this new beginning, we have the “space to place new steps of change”(98). She wants to eliminate all discrimination and ignorance in our future. Maya Angelou also wrote a memoir, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which carries out the theme of progress and advancement. Throughout her life you can see her rise through all of the hardships she faces, such as racism and rape. Rape is not discussed in the

“Every day brings new choices.” (Martha Beck), this quote sums up a core concept that Maya Angelou and Annie Dillard believe in, that every day comes a new beginning. This idea is shown in Angelou’s “On the Pulse of Morning” and Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels”. Angelou gave her speech “On the Pulse of Morning” for Bill Clinton’s Presidential in inauguration. She talks about four different people in one's life: the rock, the river, the tree, and the mastodon. While Dillard writes about the life lessons she learns during an encounter she has with a weasel, in her story “Living Like Weasels”. Dillard and Angelou both mention three different topics in there works, freedom, equality, and achievement and success. On the surface, Dillard’s and Angelou’s writings seem vastly different, but with a closer look their similarities in their views on equality and freedom shine through.

Though both poets were put down by society, neither let what people said get to them. Both instead wrote poems about how what people say doesn 't matter. Maya told those people that despite what you say, I will still rise.

The Jewish prisoners were woken up every morning by the kapo (an inmate in charge of a work team) barking at you. The prisoners were told to “arise, find their shoes, and start as soon as possible to make their bed. If they were unable to find their shoes, it was most likely that someone had stolen them, which often means death, because you were incapable of working without shoes.

The similar theme between the two poems, difficulties will not bring them down, is seen in this repetition. More evidence of this theme is found when Hughes says, “They send me to eat in the kitchen when company comes, but I laugh, and eat well, and grow strong.” By indicating that he laughs after being subjected to discrimination, he shows his tough skin in difficult times. In addition, Angelou once says, “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.” The author’s comparison of her rise to the rise of air shows how strong she is when it comes to hate. Although the two poems share similar themes, both of the authors’ focuses differ. Maya Angelou focuses on ignoring the hate and not letting it decrease her strength while Langston Hughes focuses on staying strong in hope for a better future. For instance, when Hughes states “Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table when company comes. Nobody’ll dare say to me, ‘Eat in the kitchen,’ then.” Hughes is showing hope for a future where he will sit

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”).