Maya Angelou

Society places values to outward presence of beauty. Maya Angelou, who is the author of the poem “Phenomenal Woman,” explains that inner beauty is her strength. This work not only celebrates women of any shape and size, but also the power and strength women have within themselves. Angelou wrote this in the 1970’s towards the end of the Black Arts Movement. Women of color began taking the place of what society had traditionally set in the public eye, which was the white woman with a fashion…

taken away it serves as a conflict and it makes one feel as if they are worthless.In “Sympathy” Paul Laurence Dunbar talks about a bird that is isolated in a cage from its habitat and makes an effort in trying to escape the cage. In “Caged Bird” Maya Angelou compares a free bird to a caged bird and their how different their lives can be when in two different scenarios. In both of these poems the birds are alike in many ways and also very different. In “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird” both of the…

“I’ve learned that people will forget what , people will forget what you did, but people will forget how you made them feel” from Maya Angelou. Made me realize that it is truly correct because some people forget what they say, but sometimes they don’t forget their actions how they treat you or how you feel about their actions. I really agree with the quote from Maya Angelou because some people said that they are going to do something and they don’t do it because you forget that what that…

In her short story “New Directions.” Maya Angelou uses an extended analogy to explain the choices we have to make in life. The story is about a woman, who separates from her husband and has to figure out a way to support her two small children. Instead of going back to what she was doing Annie decides to take a new way and sell meat pies she cooks to the workers at the gin and the mill in her hometown in Arkansas. Throughout the story, Angelou uses a metaphor, comparing to a path or a journey,…

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…

The most fascinating thing about the word “courage” is the diversely different meaning it gives to different people. Courage has been interpreted through the years on many different avenues. Anyone who has ever dreamed, or strived to be something, could not achieve the end result without courage. Everyone is where they are in this world, because they had the courage to do so. The oxford english dictionary defines courage as “confidence, boldness” (OED.com), while Merriam webster's dictionary…

Both Maya Angelou of "Champion of the World", and Amy Tan of "Fish Cheeks" write short stories which express their isolation from the dominant Anglo culture, and delve into deeper detail as to why they feel alienated. Although these stories take place in different time periods and the settings are drastically different, they both share a commonality within the isolation they feel as minorities within the larger communities. While both authors expertly import literary devices such as narration…

common? While the poems “Still I Rise” and “Unwelcome” contain noticeable differences in style and tone, they share similarities in them and sound. In literature, writers tend to use tone to paint a picture of what their writing is about. Throughout Maya Angelou's poem “Still I Rise” she uses a writing style that helps achieve a tone of empowerment. Over the course of Angelou’s life she was belittled and a victim of oppression. As the poem nears the end she states, “Leaving behind nights of…

I Learned I was a Phenomenal Woman Marguerite Johnson later known as Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Marguerite Johnson was raised in St. Louis, Missouri as well as Stamps, Arkansas. According to her website, Stamps at the time that she was raised, was the frontier of the South during the 1930s and 1940s when Johnson was growing up, Stamps ran rampant with racial discrimination and physical brutality. Her grandmother from age 4 years old to 8 years old raised…

“Blacks only” elementary school in Stamps, Arkansas during the “Jim Crow”, racially segregated South in 1940. She tells the story of the excitement she felt on her graduation day. Maya Angelou described the moments leading up to graduation, the nervousness of the faculty, the proud parents, and the overjoyed classmates. Angelou received gifts of a Mickey Mouse watch, embroidered handkerchiefs, and a collection of Edgar Allen Poe poems from her family. The graduation band played and the students…