Maya Angelou Research Paper

An author is able to have a reader view the world through her eyes, in her writing Angelou is able to write clear and comparable poems and autobiographies based off of real events in her life that have affected her style of writing, her perception of the world during the time that she lived and her philosophy.

There are events and past experiences in Angelou’s life that play a major role in her poems and writings. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri with divorced parents. At the age of three Angelou and her older brother Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas (“Maya,” Academy). At the age of seven, while visiting her mother young Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend: “Too ashamed to tell any adults she confided

After being sexually abused as a child to the constant pain caused by relationships and lost loved ones, family experiences. Angelou “writes giving out the message of hope, optimism and encouragement” (Weagel 162). Angelou’s second volume “reflects the dangers faced by a young black teenager who attempts to take care of a baby in an economy that honors neither poor blacks nor unmarried women” (Lupton) later Angelou’s son Guy, was kidnapped by a babysitter. During this period Angelou went through a “period of experimentations including brief forays into prostitution and hard drug use” (Hobley). Despite the obstacles Angelou faced “what sustained her was the support of the communities she lived in and her own faith that she could succeed” (Jeans 141), teaching young women who face the same problems to not give up. Maya Angelou also writes about her love for men in poems such as “Love letter”, an author mentions: “Her celebration of this couple’s connection is not meant to be voyeuristic, but it is simply the acknowledgement of a love affair between two consulting adults of color who appreciate and love each other” (Kich). Despite the past experiences she has had with men she understands that there are a good people out in the world and she agrees to forgive what happened in the past. Maya Angelou replies, “I Love Life” to an interviewer for The Black Scholar, “I love life and I live the art of

The Poetry of Maya Angelou. Quality Paperback Book Club, 1990.

Braxton, Joanne M. “Maya Angelou.” Modern American Women Writers, edited by Leah Baechler and A. Walton Litz, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991 pp. 1-19.

Hobley, Katherine E. “Maya Angelou.” Fembio, Fembio, 2017, http://www.fembio.org/english/biography.php/woman/biography/maya-angelou/.

Jeans Kelley, “Further Conversations with Maya Angelou: A Survey of Interviews from 1990 to 2014.” Maya Angelou, edited by Mildred R. Mickle, Salem Press, 2016, pp. 151.

Kich Martin, “Literature Review of the Secondary Sources on Maya Angelou’s Life and Work.” Maya Angelou, edited by Mildred R. Mickle, Salem Press, 2016, pp. 40.

Lupton, Mary Jane. “Maya Angelou.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, edited by A. Walton Litz and Molly Weigel, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996, pp. 1-19.

“Maya Angelou.” Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement, 2017, http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/.

“Maya Angelou.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2017,