Maya Angelou: The Face of Resilience
The renowned Maya Angelou was a fantastic woman who inspired thousands of people with her outstanding work. Extremely multi-talented, Angelou was an actress, dancer, singer, screenwriter, poet, author, and civil rights activist. Though falling upon many hard times as a young women, she has used her experiences to write an abundance of acclaimed literature, most notably, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Photo courtesy of http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/05/29/maya-angelou-on-identity-and-the-meaning-of-life/
Early Life
Marguerite Annie Johnson, known to us as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Young Johnson dealt with innumerable difficulties as a child, beginning at age seven, when her parents separated and she was sent to live with her grandmother, Anne Henderson, in Arkansas. As an African American in the 1930s, Johnson dealt with racial prejudice for the entirety of her childhood. This, however, was far from the worst struggle she would face. Around the age of seven, Johnson was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. As vengeance for this disgusting act, Johnson’s uncles killed the boyfriend. Johnson was so immensely traumatized by this experience, she stopped talking for a period of time and became a virtual mute.
Years later, during World War II, Johnson won a scholarship to study theater and dance at the California Labor School in San Francisco. At the age of 16, however, she had a son, Guy, the result of a high school romance.
In 1952, she married a greek sailor, Anastasios Angelopulos. From his last name, she created the surname Angelou and used her childhood nickname, Maya, to form her professional name, Maya Angelou.
Career and Works
Her career began in the 1950s, when she took on roles in the off-Broadway productions of Porgy and Bess, Calypso Heat Wave, and The Blacks. In the late 1960s, she traveled to Egypt and Ghana as an independent writer and editor, and took a job at the University of Ghana. Upon her return to the States, Angelou was encouraged by her personal friend and literary icon, James Baldwin, to write about her life experiences. This is resulted in “the enormously successful 1969 memoir about her childhood and young adult years, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman" (Bio.com).
In addition to Caged Birds, Angelou wrote many more inspirational works. These include the 1972 drama, Georgia, Georgia, which became the first screenplay produced by an African American woman. Angelou also wrote two more wonderful autobiographies, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes and A Song Flung Up to Heaven. She produced many acclaimed poetry collections, the most famous being Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Diiie, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. This collection contained many famous poems, including “On the Pulse of Morning”, which she read at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 Inauguration, and “Still I Rise”. Some of Angelou’s most inspirational works were her essay collections, 1994’s Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now and her 2008 essay on advice for young women, Letter to My Daughter. For these works and more, Angelou won multiple awards, including Tony and Emmy nominations, and a Grammy for best spoken word album for the audio version of “On the Pulse of Morning”. Additionally, she has won two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work category for her 2005 cookbook and Letter to My Daughter.
Angelou’s work was influenced by the challenges she dealt with in her early life, from racism to raising a child. Her work was also influenced by other famous authors and poets, including William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Zora Neale Hurston, and Charles Dickens. In addition, she was close personal friends with fellow activist, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
The lovely Maya Angelou died on May 28, 2014, but her spirit lives on in all the lives of those she has touched. Angelou not only influenced young African American women everywhere with the powerful message of her work, but also left a lasting impression on anyone who read her beautiful literature. She inspired many prominent members of society, including Mary J. Blige, Cory Booker, President Bill Clinton, and President Barack Obama. She was, as President Obama eloquently stated, “a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman...[who] had the ability to remind us that we are all God's children; that we all have something to offer”.
Video about the life of Angelou: http://myfox8.com/2014/05/28/maya-angelou-dead-at-86/
Still I Rise
By Maya Angelou
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Audio Recording of Angelou reciting this wonderful poem:
If you want to know even more about Maya Angelou, here are some links for further reading:
http://www.poemhunter.com/maya-angelou/
And, if you liked what you've read so far, check out my analysis of "Still I Rise", embedded below and in the comments!
And, if you liked what you've read so far, check out my analysis of "Still I Rise", embedded below and in the comments!
Works Cited
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." 60 Second Recap. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.60secondrecap.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings1.jpg>.
"Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diie Cover." Wikimedia.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/Wikipedia/en/9/9e/Just_Give_Me_a_Cool_Drink_of_Water_'Fore_I_Diiie_cover.jpg>.
A Letter To My Daughter Cover. Amazon.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Tz2Q7PHlL.jpg>.
Maya Angelou. Academy of Achievement. Academy of Achievement, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pagegen/citation.html>.
"Maya Angelou." Bio. A&E, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388>.
Maya Angelou. Women's Council. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.womenscouncil.org/cd_web/images/Angelou.jpg>.
Maya Angelou quote. Oprah.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://static.oprah.com/images/201303/orig/quotes-maya-angelou-1-600x411.jpg>.
Quote. Tumblr. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://37.media.tumblr.com/04dad78e4907bdfc39bab304c18834ba/tumblr_mo0i0xQQ2q1qaobbko1_400.jpg>.
Quote. Tumblr. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://41.media.tumblr.com/52542cb210d59f9a12deb643b8728298/tumblr_n1b96jNN6p1sjap36o1_500.jpg>.
"Still I Rise." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/still-i-rise>.
Young Maya Angelou. The Empower Magazine. Empower Magazine, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015. <http://www.theempowermag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/article-2337037-1A2F6055000005DC-844_306x620.jpg>.
Still I Rise is a triumphant poem, spoken from Angelou’s point of view: that of an African American woman who has had many hardships in her life, but has surpassed her obstacles and defeated her demons.
ReplyDeleteIn Still I Rise, Angelou is not speaking to her supporters; she is victoriously gloating to her enemies and oppressors. These enemies, in this sense, are the white and/or male oppressors of African Americans and/or women.
Angelou proudly displays herself as a strong, independent woman who has overcome a plethora of obstacles and now stands powerful and successful. She is slightly cocky in this poem, but it is well deserved, as it is stated that many evildoers have attempted to bring her down. Since it is quite clear that she has defeated her opponents and prosecutors, she has all the right to boast and tell all those who wished to see her fail that she proved them wrong.
The beginning lines, “You may write me down in history/ With your bitter, twisted lies” (Angelou, 1-2), suggest oppressive writing and slander that was committed by her white oppressors. In the following lines, “You may trod me in the very dirt/ But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”(3-4), she speaks to physical abuse, which was absolutely present in her ancestors’ time and her time. But, she counters the white man’s ‘attack’ by telling him that she will rise, that nothing can keep someone as powerful and resilient as her down. Angelou is the face of resilience, and she shows it throughout this wonderful poem
In the next stanza, Angelou refers to herself as sassy, and she is proud of that. This stanza takes a sarcastic tone, as she feigns sympathy toward the whites, asking “Does my sassiness upset you?/Why are you beset with gloom?” (5-6). She answers her own question, claiming that ‘they’ are upset due to her confidence and swagger. “‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room.” (7-8). These two lines display her confident nature, and speak slightly to the absurd belief that money is happiness. Obviously, Angelou does not have profitable oil wells at her disposal, but she is as happy, joyous, and carefree enough as if she did have an abundant supply of this expensive commodity
Succeeding this stanza, the tempo of the poem changes, as Angelou pauses from her confident, sassy boast to remind the white man that “...like moons and like suns,/ With the certainty of tides…” (9-10), she will certainly, undoubtedly rise from oppression and defeat.
Angelou goes on to, again, fake sympathy for her oppressors while, in addition, mocking them. She asks, “Did you want to see me broken?” (13), and continues to describe a ‘broken’ version of herself: “Bowed head and lowered eyes?/ Shoulders falling down like teardrops..?” (14-15).
The tempo immediately picks up again, when, in the following stanza, she asks, “Does my haughtiness offend you?” (17). At this point, it seems she is attempting, jokingly, to figure out why her oppressors are so upset and offended by her. This stanza is very similar to the ‘sassiness’ one, as she claims she “...laugh[s] like I’ve got gold mines/ Diggin’ in my own back yard.” (19-20). As previously stated, she hints towards the significance of money, and how she is perfectly jovial without an enormous cash flow.
The tempo is switched yet another time in the next stanza, as she reminds her opposition that regardless of whatever they do, whether they “shoot me with your words,/...cut me with your eyes,/... kill me with your hatefulness…” (21-23), she will rise above all of their abuse and brutality.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, in the next stanza, she attempts to guess why her enemies are so angry. This time, Angelou wonders if her “sexiness” upsets them. She is quick to condescend the men she targets this toward, by asking, “Does my sexiness upset you?/ Does it come as a surprise/ That I dance like I’ve got diamonds/ At the meeting of my thighs?” (25-28). With these four lines, Angelou is able to bring down her oppressors, proudly display her feminism, and once again hint toward the petty need for money, all in one fell swoop.
She quickly alters the tempo again in the subsequent lines, as she switches to discussing her resilience from all the torment her ancestors and she have suffered. Angelou boldly states that she will rise “Out of the huts of history’s shame” (29) and “Up from a past that’s rooted in pain” (31). Instantly following that, she uses beautiful imagery and symbolism, referring to herself as “a black ocean, leaping and wide…” (33). In stating this, she reminds us all of her power over oppression and her power over all those who have wronged her. Angelou then states, once again, the episodes in her past that she will throw away and rise above, claiming she is “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear…” (35).
Angelou finishes the poem on a fantastic, triumphant note, stating that she will rise “Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear/...Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,/ I am the dream and the hope of the slave./ I rise/ I rise/ I rise.” (37-43). Once more, Angelou proudly announces that she will make her ancestors proud by achieving vengeance for all their anguish, and will begin a bright future of triumph, success, and joy.