Every person have born, grow, do activities, married, have a child, become old and old following the time, and then die. It is a common life is everyone knows. We, however, have different ways to think of our life. Maya Angelo through her poem entitle “When I Think about Myself” has shared the voice of her people and result of the process of thinking or musing life. It is a very interesting poem because we need to read it twice or more to catch the real tone and story.
When the first you read the poem, you will not recognize the Maya’s mean and then be extremely curious to read it again carefully until you get the real story from the poem. The poem has contrasting word “laugh” with some words, which have an opposite meaning such as “death”, “choke”, “ache”, “died” and “crying”. The tone of the poem is a little sad and ironic. If you do not have the tone, do not worry. Maya is very good in camouflage the tone. That part which shows the tone? Why she used the word “laugh” if the tone is less sad and ironic? What is the complete story of the poem actually?
Maya Angelo through her poem, When I Think about Myself, has been sharing her think about the irony of the life. She makes the person who talk in the poem is as tough as her. It sounds like Maya, who think and tell about her life. Maya wrote her poem by first-person perspective, which it is seen from the first stanza of the poem that used the pronoun “I” and “Myself”.
When I think about myself,
I almost laugh myself to death,
My life has been one great big joke,
A dance that’s walked
A song that’s spoke,
I laughed so hard I almost choke
When I think about myself.
Moreover, the person or narrator is not always Maya itself. The used of the pronoun “I” and “my” which i...
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...he poem is telling a flashback story. Punctuation that puts at the end of the last line in each stanza make we can think and breathe toward the poem. The poem is not only several lines of sentences, furthermore, it is representative of thought, feel, hope and condition of a community, black people community. The most reason to choose this poem is the contra condition between the condition in the poem and our condition nowadays. From the poem we have learned that life is too worth to be wasted. Our life here is very lucky and we should be grateful because it.
Works Cited
Angelou, Maya. “When I Think about Myself”. The Poetry Reader’s Toolkit. Marc Polonsky, 1998.29.
Bloom, Harold. Maya Angelou Bloom’s Major Poets, 2001. 34-37.
------, ( ), Part Two: “Just Before the World Ends” Summary, Tersedia[online]
: http://www.bookrags.com/ [02 April 2014]
First of alll, the poem is divided into nine stanzas, where each one has four lines. In addition to that, one can spot a few enjambements for instance (l.9-10). This stylistic device has the function to support the flow of the poem. Furthermore, it is crucial to take a look at the choice of words, when analysing the language.
Angelou passed away on May 28, 2014, leaving us with the message of never give up. To keep living, keep striving to keep moving on. It appears as if some women are inspired by others, as evidence by a life well lived. Ms. Angelou’s message is echoed throughout her life as stated.
She gets to the point and proves that in our current world we tend to say more than we should, when just a couple of words can do the same. In her writing, it is evident that the little sentences and words are what make the poem overall that perfect dream she wishes she were part of.
This literary critique was found on the Bryant Library database. It talks about how well Maya conveys her message to her readers as well as portraying vivid scenes in her reader’s minds’. Maya’s sense of story and her passionate desire to overcome obstacles and strive for greatness and self-appreciation is what makes Maya an outlier. Living in America, Angelou believed that African American as a whole must find emotional, intellectual, and spiritual sustenance through reverting back to their “home” of Africa. According to Maya, “Home” was the best place to capture a sense of family, past, and tradition. When it comes to Maya’s works of literature, her novels seems to be more critically acclaimed then her poetry. With that being said, Angelou pursues harsh social and political issues involving African American in her poems. Some of these themes are the struggle for civil rights in America and Africa, the feminist movement, Maya’s relationship with her son, and her awareness of the difficulties of living in America's struggling classes. Nevertheless, in all of Maya’s works of literature she is able to “harness the power of the word” through an extraordinary understanding of the language and events she uses and went through. Reading this critique made me have a better understanding of the process Maya went through in order to illustrate her life to her readers. It was not just sitting down with a pen and paper and just writing thoughts down. It was really, Maya being able to perfect something that she c...
“On the Pulse of Morning” by Maya Angelou. "On the Pulse of Morning," is a poem written by Maya Angelou. In this poem, Angelou depicts personification. Personification is an element of literature in which an object or animal is given human characteristics. Angelou uses personification to give the rock, the river, and the tree the ability to speak to the reader. In "On the Pulse of Morning", Angelou writes, "But today, the rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, Come, you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny, but seek no haven in my shadow.
Maya Angelou is one of most well-known poets ever. Her work is a reflection of her hardships during her childhood and her life as an adult. She expressed many of her opinions through her poetry and other writing. Many of her poems revolve around equality and freedom because she grew up in the segregated era and worked with civil right activist. The poems she writes are to inspire the lives of others. Till this day, Maya Angelou is still continuing to write inspiring poetry.
In “Song of Myself” Whitman attempts to speak on behalf of the entire American population. He tries to pull the reader into a world of many possibilities. Whitman makes a point of informing the reader that the “I” is not him, but everyone. The “self” is the reader, whoever the reader may be. The first few sections invite the reader in and encourage them to think for themselves, “You shall listen to all sides and filter them for your self” (Whitman 2211). Whitman wants people to throw off societal conventions and think for themselves about the issues at hand.
"Alone by Maya Angelou." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of poems and poets.. Poetry Search Engine. Web. 16 Feb. 2010. .
... Therefore, instead of losing mental stability because of old memories, one should try to embrace sanity and perpetuate it in life. Moreover, the poem emulates society because people fantasize about looking a certain way and feeling a certain way; however, they are meddling with their natural beauty and sometimes end up looking worse than before. For instance, old men and women inject their faces to resemble those in their youth, but they worsen their mental and physical state by executing such actions. To conclude, one should embrace her appearance because aging is inevitable.
"Maya Angelou." Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” (Maya Angelou “Quotes”). Maya Angelou is an African American author who wanted the whole world to know who she was. Even though Maya Angelou’s life was full of disappointments and miseries, she still managed to rise above them all to become a successful poet. Racism played a really big role in Maya Angelou’s life. Maya Angelou witnessed slavery when she was very young and wished that someday all men will be free. Maya Angelou had many difficulties, and her family was one of them. None of her marriages worked out, and had a son to raise on her own.
Throughout all works of literature, the daily events affecting the lives of the authors can be found in many different pieces of their work. Although it may not be a direct relation to what these authors experience, they often relate the themselves to their narrators through many different literary devices. However, these processes really stand out through the works of Maya Angelou. Through the use of metaphors and similes, Angelou relates her writings back to the harsh conditions of the socially unjustified period of the 1930’s onward; explaining the restraints placed upon both herself and her race by those who considered themselves to be her superiors.
Maya Angelou is an award winning American author and poet. Her writing was first published in the 1960’s, a time a racial tension and cry for civil rights. Also, at this time many women did not work outside of the home. However, Angelou’s work revealed the lives of black women who often were sole breadwinners in their households. Much of Maya Angelou’s work was that of autobiography. Many of her poems and books were influenced by her life and addressed the issues of racism, incest, family and identity that many Americans could relate to .
Maya Angelou is a very inspiring and courageous woman who says how she feels through her poems without coming off in a hateful manner, but rather a sophisticated and intelligent way. Her poems varies between subjects such as love, passion,racism and the way of life. However, in her poem “Phenomenal Woman” she speaks for all women around the world who doesn’t feel they fit in with today’s society.
Walt Whitman used free verse in “Song of Myself” in order to connect with the common man and his American readers. In this first person narrative, Whitman deconstructs the “self” into many different sections that all are a part of the celebration of the individual. Some of the topics he breaks the “self” into are self- identity, and human exploration (including the human body and sexuality). In the poem, Whitman uses a speaker to exclaim that for individuals to grow they must discover themselves spiritually, physically, and mentally. The speaker in the poem