Maya Angelou Tragedy to Triumph
Maya Angelou is a very triumphant woman. She has written many books and poems that have given her great success. If one would talk to her, he or she would think she has lead a normal, happy life. Her life is blissful now, but it wasn't always perfect. Maya Angelou's sorrowful life experiences inspired her to write autobiographical works of poetry. Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis. She was raised in segregated rural Arkansas. She came from a broken home. Angelou was raped at eight, and was an unwed mother at 16 years old (Williams 1). In spite of her tragic childhood, she still managed to become one of the greatest black poets of the twentieth century (Williams 1). Angelou is a poet, an author, a historian, an actress, a playwright, a civil-rights activist, a producer, and a director. Ms. Angelou began her career in drama and dance, and she married a South African freedom fighter and lived in Cairo. Later she also taught in Ghana. In the 1960's she said that being black, female, non-Muslim, non-Arab, six foot tall, and American made for some interesting experiences during her stay in Africa (Williams 1). Ms. Ang
This poem is one of Angelou's more difficult works to understand (Angelou 18). She first talks about her mother being this perfect beauty who was polite and adored. Also, she is very honest, open, and she shows her emotions. She is not very wordy and does not complete her thoughts sometimes. There are a lot of literary devices used in this poem. Maya Angelou has survived many hardships. This poem is written in blank verse. All types of emotions are portrayed in her work. Also, the idea's in her poetry can be boring and might not hold the readers attention. She remembers the good times and the bad and wrote about them both. She can speak English, French, Spanish, Italian, and West African Fanti. The two most obvious ones are slang and repetition. She was the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at the request of Dr. Shaker, Why Don't You Sing? New York: Random House 1983.
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