Biography
It was a breezy Wednesday, on April 4, 1928, when Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the hometown for the first three years of her life, when living with her mother, prior to being sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas (“Angelou, Maya.” Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974)”). Growing up, Maya Angelou was faced with the predicament of living as a black woman in the segregated South, that was ridden with economic pressure and segregated existence during the Civil Rights Era (“Angelou, Maya.” Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974)”). As a young child, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, which resulted in his conviction and murder, as well as the inspiration for her writing of I Know Why …show more content…
After passing away on May 28, 2014, ("Maya Angelou." Contemporary Black Biography) at age sixty-eight, the president quoted her words to her memory by saying “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” ("Angelou, Maya." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974). One of the largest reasons that she is remembered is the fact that “Maya Angelou brought about a paradigm shift in American literature and culture so that the works, and the gifts, the talents of women writers, including women writers of color, could be brought to the foreground and appreciated” ("Maya Angelou, Poet, Activist And Singular Storyteller, Dies At 86."). During her lifetime, Angelou was credited as one of the most renowned voices of the 20th century, for her writing and her work in political movements of the time ("Successories Honors Maya Angelou with New Inspirational Art."). A legacy of “Angelou's writings, which attest to her gift for survival in the face of hardship and injustice, demonstrate her inexhaustible capacity for renewed hope, determination, and love” ("Angelou, Maya." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1994) allow Angelou to leave the legacy of emotion in her wake. Similar to many authors, Maya Angelou used her life story to write poetry that remains powerful to this …show more content…
In this poem, there is the rhyme scheme, figurative language, and Angelou’s style that contribute to the creation of the overall theme that is represented in the confidence in one’s self.
Firstly, the poetic form the Angelou used to portray herself through the writing is crucial to the meaning of the story. She uses variations of length in each of her stanzas, thus creating a flow to her writing. For example, between each large stanza, there is a break in which she writes “I’m a woman Phenomenally / Phenomenal woman, That’s me” (Angelou, 26-29). This allows the reader to change between the ideas of the poem, while still having the reminder of the overall message of the poem. By doing this, Angelou reiterates the idea of her confidence and the fact that she is a strong and self reliant woman. Although this is a free verse poem, the rhyme scheme follows some order throughout the first two stanzas. Many of the lines follow an ABAB rhyme scheme, however this varies throughout. This might also reflect upon the fact that Angelou was expressing her mind and the fact that she did not fit into the mold that society had created. In the first stanza, she writes “I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size” (Angelou, 2), which creates the idea that Maya
It was a breezy Wednesday, on April 4, 1928, when Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the hometown for the first three years of her life, when living with her mother, prior to being sent to live with her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas (“Angelou, Maya.” Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974)”). Growing up, Maya Angelou was faced with the predicament of living as a black woman in the segregated South, that was ridden with economic pressure and segregated existence during the Civil Rights Era (“Angelou, Maya.” Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974)”). As a young child, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, which resulted in his conviction and murder, as well as the inspiration for her writing of I Know Why …show more content…
After passing away on May 28, 2014, ("Maya Angelou." Contemporary Black Biography) at age sixty-eight, the president quoted her words to her memory by saying “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” ("Angelou, Maya." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1974). One of the largest reasons that she is remembered is the fact that “Maya Angelou brought about a paradigm shift in American literature and culture so that the works, and the gifts, the talents of women writers, including women writers of color, could be brought to the foreground and appreciated” ("Maya Angelou, Poet, Activist And Singular Storyteller, Dies At 86."). During her lifetime, Angelou was credited as one of the most renowned voices of the 20th century, for her writing and her work in political movements of the time ("Successories Honors Maya Angelou with New Inspirational Art."). A legacy of “Angelou's writings, which attest to her gift for survival in the face of hardship and injustice, demonstrate her inexhaustible capacity for renewed hope, determination, and love” ("Angelou, Maya." Current Biography (Bio Ref Bank) (1994) allow Angelou to leave the legacy of emotion in her wake. Similar to many authors, Maya Angelou used her life story to write poetry that remains powerful to this …show more content…
In this poem, there is the rhyme scheme, figurative language, and Angelou’s style that contribute to the creation of the overall theme that is represented in the confidence in one’s self.
Firstly, the poetic form the Angelou used to portray herself through the writing is crucial to the meaning of the story. She uses variations of length in each of her stanzas, thus creating a flow to her writing. For example, between each large stanza, there is a break in which she writes “I’m a woman Phenomenally / Phenomenal woman, That’s me” (Angelou, 26-29). This allows the reader to change between the ideas of the poem, while still having the reminder of the overall message of the poem. By doing this, Angelou reiterates the idea of her confidence and the fact that she is a strong and self reliant woman. Although this is a free verse poem, the rhyme scheme follows some order throughout the first two stanzas. Many of the lines follow an ABAB rhyme scheme, however this varies throughout. This might also reflect upon the fact that Angelou was expressing her mind and the fact that she did not fit into the mold that society had created. In the first stanza, she writes “I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size” (Angelou, 2), which creates the idea that Maya