Comparative Essay- Still I Rise and Telephone Conversation
Maya Angelou and Wole Soyinka’s poems have often been described as a powerful and serious agent to social change. Their themes are primarily concerned with the promotion of human rights and African politics. At the same time, poems as "Telephone Conversation" and “Still I Rise” reveal a lyrical understanding of the same theme balanced with humour and a deeply felt concern for the human condition. Maya Angelo published her poem in 1978 and Wole Soyinka published his in 1963. The time where any resist act would be accountable to nothing. They both grew up in communities that abused them solely on their skin colour, because at their time everyone was suffering from harsh racial discrimination. Wole’s poem conducts the maddening catechize of racial prejudice, and of a …show more content…
In Still I Rise it is portrayed in a metaphorical manner, “You may trod me in the very dirt”. This line summarizes how blacks were treated back then. In Telephone Conversation, “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?”. “Revelation came”. This line also shows that no matter how nice a person may be they always are biased against other people. These two lines both convey the actions of whites. In Still I Rise, Maya explains that she feels as if the whites tread her and they try to make her feel worthless. And in Telephone Conversation, the white lady on the phone is labelling him and relating him to objects, which is not in a polite way. She is being straight up honest about how she feels about blacks and no matter how hard she tries to hide it, the truth will always come out, hence him saying, “Revelation came”. These two lines link together because no matter where you are in the world, whites will feel more superior to blacks and the two poets have both been victims of this. And so both of their poems are directed towards whites, to show the white people how they
Maya Angelou and Wole Soyinka’s poems have often been described as a powerful and serious agent to social change. Their themes are primarily concerned with the promotion of human rights and African politics. At the same time, poems as "Telephone Conversation" and “Still I Rise” reveal a lyrical understanding of the same theme balanced with humour and a deeply felt concern for the human condition. Maya Angelo published her poem in 1978 and Wole Soyinka published his in 1963. The time where any resist act would be accountable to nothing. They both grew up in communities that abused them solely on their skin colour, because at their time everyone was suffering from harsh racial discrimination. Wole’s poem conducts the maddening catechize of racial prejudice, and of a …show more content…
In Still I Rise it is portrayed in a metaphorical manner, “You may trod me in the very dirt”. This line summarizes how blacks were treated back then. In Telephone Conversation, “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?”. “Revelation came”. This line also shows that no matter how nice a person may be they always are biased against other people. These two lines both convey the actions of whites. In Still I Rise, Maya explains that she feels as if the whites tread her and they try to make her feel worthless. And in Telephone Conversation, the white lady on the phone is labelling him and relating him to objects, which is not in a polite way. She is being straight up honest about how she feels about blacks and no matter how hard she tries to hide it, the truth will always come out, hence him saying, “Revelation came”. These two lines link together because no matter where you are in the world, whites will feel more superior to blacks and the two poets have both been victims of this. And so both of their poems are directed towards whites, to show the white people how they