On The Pulse Of Morning By Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, author, and poet. She wrote many books and poems that conveyed the vivid experiences in her life. Maya Angelou’s works are well known and she is an eminent writer. One poem in particular that is well known is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” written in 1969. In this work she described racial inequality, and the lack of freedom African Americans experienced in the 1930’s and 40’s. Maya Angelou uses many Rhetorical strategies and literary devices to describe the lack of racial freedom in the world at this time.

Thesis: Maya Angelou’s experiences with racism, female subjection……are evident influences to her literature….such as “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

In an excerpt from her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings called “Graduation,” Maya Angelou narrates the anticipation surrounding graduation in her small town of Stamps, Alabama. Angelou effectively contrives noteworthy differences between paragraphs 1 through 5 and 6 through 10 through the use of emotional and descriptive diction, powerfully bold comparisons, and a shift in perspective in order to instill pride and dignity in Angelou and her race despite the era’s highlighted social injustices which she endures.

Angelou was born in Missouri in 1928. She spent most of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, pre Civil Rights Movement with her grandmother and her older brother. Angelou is most known for writing the poem Caged Bird. In the first stanza about the caged bird, Angelou declares that the bird, “can seldom see through/ his bars of rage/ his wings are clipped and/ his feet are tied/ so he opens his throat to sing”(Caged Bird). Angelou uses the bird as a metaphor for oppressed African Americans during this time period; the bird is held back by a barrier, just like African Americans were held back by unjust laws, a corrupt legal system, and their white peers who saw them as inferior. Similar to the bird, Angelou felt held back by others, but she did not let the “bars of rage” hold her back from her potential so, like the bird, she “opened her throat to sing” and used her voice to protest for herself and those who could not advocate for themselves.

When Maya was raped, she blamed herself for the death of her rapist, and became muted for 5 years. She used this story as a growth mechanism. She wrote a book titled, “I know why the caged bird sings” (Angelou), which is about the civil rights movement and a young lady struggling to make it through. The book reflects her life from when she was an insecure little girl to growing up and realizes people cannot be mad at the world forever. She learned that she can trust herself and be who she really is. This book is what got her noticed. She translated a message so clear throughout the book,that black girls can conquer independence and be great at it. New York Times Journalist Katherine Schulten says, “Maya Angelou’s often-taught “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” already know, for Ms. Angelou, “finding her voice” meant something much more than just learning to write well”(Schulten). What this quotes means is Maya Angelou purposely wrote this book to teach and become an inspiration to everyone. She found her voice and not its time for everyone else to find their voice ! She is such a great soul that blessed so many people's hearts with her inspirational teachings and poems. Ultimately, Maya Angelou defied expectations by finding her voice and becoming such a strong independent woman during rough times when everything seemed impossible. Her actions were worth every minute spend, til

Beginning during the birth of America, challenges had always risen that left our citizens in despair. Between the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the United States had become the victim of several issues. American people were faced with challenges that we still have yet to overcome. Government spending, debt, public education, immigration, war, and racial inequality are just a few of the many issues that challenged Americans during this time frame, and still stand in our country today. The poems “On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou and “One Today” by Richard Blanco both highlight some of the issues that had faced the nation.

Hillary R. Clinton once said that “There cannot be true democracy unless Women’s voices are heard” (conference in Vienna, Austria 1997). That very brilliant quote relates to a very strong woman by the name of Maya Angelou. Angelou is “America’s most visible black female autobiographer and speakers” (scholar Joanne M. Braxton). She is known for her speeches, poems, and books, but what stood out to me the most was her 1993 inauguration speech when Bill Clinton was sworn into the White House. Ironically, in her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” Maya Angelou uses clear rhetoric, prehistoric metaphoric images, and inspirational concepts to alert her audience to treat the world differently.

The world is a place of hope, of promise, a sanctuary for freedom. Our freedom was obtained because of people like Maya Angelou, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. This magnificent earth carries endless chances, buried deep beyond the crusts of existence. A mighty lion hunts the lone antelope, while the lucky giraffes chomp vines only five miles across the plane. We are a part of the circle of life so that we may “Give birth again to the dream.”(qtd.

"On the Pulse of Morning" was a sonnet composed and read by Maya Angelou at President Bill Clinton's introduction function in January, 1993. Conceived on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, poet and social equality extremist Maya Angelou is known for her 1969 diary, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Although that is what she was most famous for “on the Pulse of Morning” is now being analyzed. Firstly, Starting with the acknowledgment that rocks, river, and trees have seen the landing and takeoff of numerous eras, "On the Pulse of Morning" continues to have each of these witnesses address the future, start with the Rock, which in fact reports that individuals may remain upon its back however may not discover security in its shadow. Despite what might be expected, says the Rock, people must face the future, their "far off predetermination," strikingly and straightforwardly.

Maya Angelou was an African American woman who had many talents towards herself. Maya was face with obstacles in her life as an African American that lead her to experience racial prejudices and discrimination. This allowed her to recite her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration in 1993. Angelou’s purpose was a call for hope of equality amongst the nation explaining the beginnings of the world. She uses several rhetorical techniques such as symbolism, shift of tones, detail and parallelism. Combined, these devices helped convey a powerful speech towards the unity of humans.

Maya Angelou’s tumultuous childhood in the South and the struggles that come with being black are the basis for her autobiographies such as I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Through her rich, insightful literature she is able to record the black experience and ultimately the black struggle. She “[is] always talking about the human condition – about what we can endure, dream fail at and still survive.”(Matzu 23) Angelou’s early life was full of hardships; making her strong and ready to fight for her rights. As a young child she, along with her brother Bailey and their parents, moved from her birth place St. Louis to Long Beach. After her parents struggles there, she and Bailey were shipped off to Stamps, Arkansas; the starting point for

This poem was able to bring hope to Americans who were fighting for civil rights. She uses the caged bird in the poem to show the battle that many Americans faced during this time. In one stanza, Angelou states, “his wings are clipped and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing” (Angelou). Although the caged bird has obstacles, like his tied feet, he sings for freedom and to access

In lines 15 to 18, though the caged bird sings and longs for freedom, its notes are fearful and weak because it is unsure if it will ever be free. On lines 21 and 22, because of the caged bird’s singing, its only form of self-expression, is of freedom, Maya Angelou suggests that to exist outside of the repressive cage is the bird’s deepest desire. Caged and oppressed by racism, African Americans at the time dreamed of a freedom to exist without the judgements and stereotypes of racism and claim the sky.

The bird its really representing an African American and how unhuman they were treated. Personification an eminent way to create a stronger feeling and make the reader understand the horrors of life the bird faces daily. Angelou’s entire poem is centered around

In “Caged Bird” Maya Angelou uses the image of a caged bird and a free bird to represent how race divides a society and how people react to how society is divided. Angelou explains just how strong the divide in society is and how both sides feel.