Only an awe-inspiring poet evokes the deepest, darkest emotions in her audience. She entangles the reader to believe, imagine, and desire and feel whatsoever emotion and experience she chooses to portray. Maya Angelou does exactly that in her poem Phenomenal Woman. Angelou mocks the societal view of the ideal woman and drags many different types of audiences into her confident and majestic principles for being a woman, of being who she really is. Angelou uses various types of figurative language to express and illustrate her opinion of the phenomenal woman she is and of the phenomenal person anyone can be. By doing so, she “lampoons the conceived notions of beauty” and finds contentment in herself as the woman she is (source #1). Her use of metaphors, refrain, and alliteration to portray the “unflinching confidence about …show more content…
In the beginning of the poem, Angelou writes, “women wonder where my secret lies,” to emphases that she knows she isn’t the most beautiful woman. The poem starts of with an alliteration, which helps the poem built its’ theme. The “stride of my step, sun of my smile, hive of honey,” etc. (source#) are all short two word alliterations which she also uses line by line. The alliterations make her poem seem short to read and give a vibe of how a women sounds. Alliteration adds a voice to this poem which can be viewed differently from person to person. People who themselves are put into stereotypical chapter traits can interpret the poem in a whole another way than a person suffering from low-self esteem. Both men and women can be the voice of this poem. All Angelou is really trying to do is to use alliteration as a tool to add a relatable voice to the poem. She is keeping it simple to make her readers interpret the meaning in multiple
"Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.
In Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman”, audiences are drawn to the bold confidence and power of the female speaker. In this poem, Maya Angelou creates the image of a woman whose confidence is not hindered or threatened by imperfections and flaws. In many analyses of this work, audiences connect this poem to the expression of Maya Angelou’s individualism and self-love after having faced many personal struggles throughout her life. In a review found in the Virginia Quarterly Review, a critic states “Its theme [“Phenomenal Woman”]- the power and depth of women- echos her own personal history […]”. This theme of power is one that transcends this poem and is seen throughout many of Angelou’s works. Additionally, Angelou’s reflection on her own life through this poem is evident in the way in which she defines this power. Rather than emphasizing perfection and ideali...
In the perspective as an African American woman, Maya Angelou speaks of the issue of sexism in her poem. In this quote, “You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies…”, Angelou sheds light on the problems women faced during her time. Many had to also face the discrimination from men as men control them and put words in women’s mouths. This indicates the doubled amount of burden that African American women had to go through and it was important for Maya Angelou to speak of this issue through literature and give a voice to women who were struggling with the same conflicting situations. In contrast, Hughes’s, “I, Too,” poem states the African American inequality more generally than Angelou’s
This poem is Maya Angelou speaking to the audience as she explains the problems she has overcome such as; racism, sexism, bullying and other problems in her life that she has managed to move on from.This poem is set in a first person narrative, Angelou explains to the audience about the good and bad times within her life, presented in a graceful way. By the poem being set in first person narrative, this allows the audience to connect to the poet on a deeper level because the tone of the poem is more intense throughout, making it more real for the audience. This genre of poetry is lyric poetry, relating to Angelou’s feelings and thoughts throughout the poem, addressing the audience directly.
A long time ago I believe it was on April 4, 1928 when my best friend Maya was born. Maya and I lived in the town of Stamps, Arkansas with her grandmother due to the divorce of her parents. During these awful years at the age of 7 Maya went to visit her grandmother when she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. After this due to the hatred her uncle killed her mother’s boyfriend. She became so traumatized by all of this that she even stopped talking. During this time Maya and I became great friends for you see Maya loved to write and well I was her tool the one object that made her happy as you may already know I am a pencil her best friend. She had a tough childhood but she never gave up she had me. I remember on her most hard nights she would grasp me and write out all her feelings and emotions was her escape and it’s just amazing to know how much you have helped a person. Also where we lived in Stamps, Arkansas was hard because Stamps was a rural and segregated environment. It’s really tough living somewhere where you are not treated equally. She never let go of me I was that person that was there throughout all her struggles during some of the toughest years in her life. I still remember the day she started to write her autobiography with is really known now a days t is called “I know why the caged bird sings” which talks about how her life has been since she was small all the way to the age of 16.Also at the age of 16 I remember when this little boy arrived he just cried and cried I wish I could help him just as I helped Maya but well he was a baby boy Mayas baby boy named Guy. During these times “I know why the caged bird sings” became very popular actually one of the best sellers. Maya and I have ...
...sed society with religious overtones throughout the poem, as though religion and God are placing pressure on her. The is a very deep poem that can be taken in may ways depending on the readers stature yet one thing is certain; this poem speaks on Woman’s Identity.
Maya Angelou is an author and poet who has risen to fame for her emotionally filled novels and her deep, heartfelt poetry. Her novels mainly focus on her life and humanity with special emphasis on her ideas of what it means to live. The way she utilizes many different styles to grab and keep readers’ attention through something as simple as an autobiography is astounding. This command of the English language and the grace with which she writes allows for a pleasant reading experience. Her style is especially prominent in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where the early events of Angelou’s life are vividly described to the reader in the postmodern literary fashion.
The early 1930’s a time where segregation was still an issue in the United States it was especially hard for a young African American girl who is trying to grow and become an independent woman. At this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. That was just the start of Angelou's problems though. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou goes into great depth about her tragic childhood, from moving around to different houses, and running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles as a young girl.
Maya Angelou uses repetition, figurative language, and includes different examples of different people to convey and illustrate how a person needs someone. In this poem, repetition is continuously used throughout. One of the main characteristics that a reader will recognize about this poem, is that it contains large amounts of repetition of words and phrases. Throughout the poem, Angelou repeats the words "alone" and "nobody" numerous times. In fact, there is a three line stanza that repeats "alone" three times and "nobody" twice (11-13).
Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928 and passed away on March 28th, 2014. Maya Angelou was 86. She suffered a horrible childhood; filled with discrimination, her parents’ divorce, as well as being sexually assaulted. Despite her childhood, she achieved a lot during her lifetime. Her occupations included: an author, actress, screenwriter, dancer and poet. Of the many poems she wrote “Caged Bird”. The tone, mood, diction, as well as other literary elements are noticeable in the poem. Maya Angelou uses allusions, imagery, and symbolism in her poem to enhance the readers’ experience. In addition to literary elements, real world connections are used to tie her poem to historical content, such as slavery.
Maya Angelou, a poet and award-winning author, is highly known for her symbolic and life-experienced stories. In her poem Men, she shows the theme of men domination over women, through her personal struggle. She makes her writing appealing and direct to the reader. With the use of various literary devices (similes, metaphor, imagery, and symbolism), sentence length, and present to past tense it helps the readers understand the overall theme in Men.
Strength, power, and self-confidence are three meaningful words that the poem “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou illustrates. Angelou uses alliteration, rhythm scheme and her own personal style to convey the meaning of a “phenomenal woman,” which is what she considers all women to be. Angelou, as an example, enlightens readers that not all hardships and tribulations have to be known. One can interpret that every woman experiences a trial in their life that eventually makes them a stronger individual. Moreover, a “phenomenal woman” is different, but beautiful in their own unique way. She states at the end of each stanza, “I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me” (line 10-13). The word phenomenal has great significance, which is being extraordinary. Angelou enables women to believe that being their own individual makes them dissimilar to another woman. However, she expresses that one’s inner beauty also contributes to the way a person can differentiate themselves from one another.
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.
This poem, like “Caged Bird” is also unstructured verse, and sporadic rhyme; this is very common of Maya Angelou 's work. This poem is extremely blunt in it 's working making it very easy to understand. “Phenomenal Woman” is all about being proud of who you are. What makes you special and noticeable is not the world 's standards of what you should look like but the confidence that you live by. The poem is almost like a list of characteristics that make the speaker a real woman. Some of the things that make her a real woman is “the reach of my arms” “The stride of my step” “ The sun of my smile” just to name a few. The speaker is obviously extremely confident in herself. I believe that Angelou is trying to express that she is so phenomenally woman because of how she expresses and views herself and does not let other people define her. The poem expresses that you are beautiful based on how you see yourself, not how the world sees you, and that your success is all in your confidence. This is expressed in some of the language she uses. “Now you understand-Just why my head’s not bowed.” “When you see me passing-It ought to make you proud.” She is just being wholly herself and that greatly contributes to her amazing success. She says how the pretty people ask her why guys always fall over her and she even states that the guys themselves do not understand why they are so drawn to her. “Men themselves have wondered-What they see in me.” “When I try to
Society creates the thought of what makes an ideal woman; however, Maya Angelou shows us what truly makes an authentic woman in her poem, “Phenomenal Woman.” The word “Phenomenal” is defined as something that is magnificent, remarkable, breathtaking, as well as extraordinary. This poem illustrates confidence and beauty from within, instead of the conventional view that society tends to have, which only focuses on the appearance. She shows how to acknowledge womanhood. One is able to appreciate the poem, even further, by analyzing many of the poetry elements that Maya Angelou illustrates, such as imagery, tone, and diction.