A Basic Understanding of Angelous Life - Essay Example

Angelou’s Style of Writing Maya Angelou is a poet of African-American descent with a remarkable impact on global literature. Her literary works have exhibited a unique style of writing attracting attention from many literature fans and critics. Moreover, Angelou has published autobiographies that have helped readers understand her world, affecting people’s perception of her works. In a sense, writing about her life has enhanced the understanding of her works. Angelou has risen to gain recognition because of her rich poetry. Her works reveals that she faced numerous challenges but describes how she coped and managed to become an assertive individual. This paper will discuss her style of writing and highlight how she manages to inspire people with her works. Getting a basic understanding of Angelou’s life is essential in order to understand her poetry. She has explored the world of literature widely and is a writer, poet, actress, dancer, and producer. Due to her insurmountable experience in literature of different genres, she excels in presenting unique poetry (Kuhlman 12). From her autobiography, it is evident that Angelou managed to exhibit resilience despite the challenges she faced as a black woman. Her poetry highlights some aspects of her life. Background information on her life indicates that she spent her early childhood with her grandmother after her parents divorced. In her teen age, she lived with her mother. Other challenges in her life included rape and teenage pregnancy. Her life experiences ands the strength she manages to gather from the circumstances in her life inspire her poetry. Style of Writing Maya Angelou has an incredible style of writing that makes her stand out among many poets. Her poetry exhibits a constant use of strong language. She brings out power in her arrangement of power and ideas making her poetry highly inspirational. Angelou explores several themes in poetry, and manages to utilize the power of language in communicating with her audience. It is evident that her good command and use of language makes her poetry much more interesting. For example, in her poem ‘still rise’, there is evidence of her expertise in language use. An analysis of Angelou’s style in this poem will serve as a benchmark in getting highlights about its uniqueness. In this poem, she makes use of the usual English words to bring out an intense theme. In addition, she augments her good command of language with numerous literary devices. Angelou uses both short and long lines in her stanzas. However, she creates a rhythmic version in her poetry by blending both short and long lines (Hunt et al 20). Angelou exhibits her expertise in the use of literary devices such as similes, personification, symbolism, rhetoric questions, repetition, and hyperbole. In the poem mentioned above ‘still rise’ Angelou uses multiple literary devices to emphasize her resilience in life. There are rhetorical questions such as ‘does my sassiness upset you?’, ‘did u want to see me broken?’ and ‘does my haughtiness offend you?’ serve as a form of emphasis to the audience she addresses. The use of these questions provokes thought from the reader. Rhetorical questions do not require answers, but they have the potential of initiating the cognitive processes of the reader concerning the issue under discussion (Sova 6). In addition, Angelou makes good use of repetition in most of her poetry work. In the poem ‘still rise’, she repeats the phrase ‘I rise’ numerous times to emphasize the inner will of getting triumph over all her problems. Moreover, she repeats the line ‘just like moons and like suns’. Repetition is a powerful tool in literature and the emphasis it brings compels the reader to take note of the important ideas that the poet seeks to communicate. In her poem ‘phenomenal woman’, Angelou manages also exhibits her use of repetition. She repeats the phrases ‘phenomenally, phenomenal woman, that’s me’. The appearance of these phrases at the conclusion of each stanza emphasize on the strength of a woman, which is the central focus in this poem. The use of repetition in this poem has immense impact on the picture that Angelou paints. Repetition is evident in her other poems such as ‘alone’ where the constant repetition of ‘nobody’ emphasizes why everybody needs the support of others. An additional literary device used by Angelou in her poetry is parallelism. For example, in ‘still rise’, she presents a problem at the start of each sentence and develops her ideas from the problem, to present a solution at she concludes the stanza. The first stanza offers a clear illustration of parallelism. Angelou highlights the problem when she asserts ‘you may write me down in history’. From this line, the reader knows that the poet faces challenges. However, at the conclusion of the stanza, she ascertains the reader of her action when she says, ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’. Angelou employs this styled effectively in several of her poems. With parallelism, she assures the reader of her will, and determination to surpass any challenges in her life. Through the effective use of this strong literary device, Angelou has emerged to present very inspiring poetry. The tone of Angelou’s poetry works has stood out as the strongest aspect in her style. When she writes poetry, she employs a strong and convincing tone. The power in her tone is reassuring to the reader. For example, in ‘still rise’, any reader finds a fresh conviction of remaining resilient after reading through the poem. Through the effective use of tone, Angelou manages to inspire her readers especially her feminine counterparts. The evident use of tone makes her themes more convincing. After all she has been through in her life; Angelou can ascertain her resilience from personal experience. She brings her resilience to life with a powerful tone. A similarly strong tone comes out in ‘phenomenal woman’ where she ascertains her reader that she can achieve anything she sets on doing. Maya Angelou also succeeds in using symbolism effectively in her poetry. Symbolism conveys ideas in a powerful way when used appropriately and effectively. To illustrate, Angelou uses a strong symbol in her poem ‘still rise’ when she asserts ‘out of the huts of history’s shame’. This symbol refers the reader to an aspect in her dark past because she calls it ‘history’s shame’. She continues to describe her determination of letting go of the pain of the past. From her autobiographies, the reader can ascertain that she had numerous conflicts in her childhood. This symbolism makes a reader connect with her feelings towards a painful past (Leonard 23). In addition to literary devices, Angelou seems to exhibit a trend of a constant use of simple English words. The precision and use of simple work not only motivates readers to understand her poetry, but also invites readers to realize a pattern of significance conveyed by simple words. For example, the word ‘rise’ has an obvious meaning to a reader. However, its use in the poem brings out the strong theme of resilience. In a different poem, ‘the passing of time’, simplicity comes out differently. She uses minimal words when writing about the elapsing of time. The poem consists of six lines, but the message is clear and precise. Moreover, the poem ‘alone’ exhibits a simple but natural style that delivers the message. Evidently, Angelou has mastered the art of using simple words to deliver weighty messages. Due to her keen mastery of this style, she is a celebrated poet. The literary devices evident in her poetry work serve to augment the message that she seeks to put across. Angelou addresses themes that connect closely with her experiences and the people in her life. Through her poetry analysis, the reader can develop a familiarity with her coping mechanisms. Her poetry serves to highlight the attitudes and action that she employed to triumph over the challenges that had the potential of overwhelming her. Her poetry presents her readers with numerous ideas on how to cope with hardships in life. The poem ‘phenomenal woman’ presents the attitude that women can adopt to rise above the multiple setbacks on their way. As Angelou describes, she does not have to be the type of idealized woman, but with her physical strength, it is possible to achieve anything. Angelou has lived to prove this principle true. From broken family, conflicting teenage hood, dissolved marriage and conflicting identity, she has triumphed over all these and become an influential figure in society (Greil and Werner 9). The poem ‘Still Rise’ tells her story and describes the resilience that she has adopted over time. This poem serves to ascertain to the struggling woman that no matter what happens triumph is a possibility. Moreover, her mention of ‘writing down history’ in the first stanza highlights a broader context of the African American experience. The line ‘you may trod me in the very dirt’ implies to the infringement suffered by African Americans with a high rate of murder. When she says that the ‘dust will rise’, she indicates that the African spirit will prevail irrespective of all the oppression. Angelou does not depict women only in her poetry. Rather, she depicts the African-American racial injustices and the resilience that has enabled people of color to endure. In addition, Angelou has faced several heartaches from broken relationships. One of these poems is an early separation from her mother, leaving her to grow up with grandparents. In her poem,’averc Merci mother’, Angelou used her simple, natural and honest style to convey her feelings about the failures and successes of her mother. With her unique style, she makes the reader see beyond the weaknesses of her mother. The blend of tone, arrangement of words, anaphore, and parallelism suffice to display the positive influence that he mother had on her. In her other poem ‘my life has turned to blue’, Angelou expresses her feelings about the failed relationships in her love life. Having experienced two divorces, the reader can connect with her feelings when she says ‘left here alone…my life has turned to blue’. Angelou’s style of writing poetry transverses between the poet and the individual she is. Her poetry communicates her experiences. A reader can adequately connect with her deepest emotions if he or she has knowledge on the experiences of her life. This explains why she published an autobiography before venturing into poetry. This served to set up a platform for a good reception of her poetry. The fact that she employs the first persona in most of her poems connects her themes to her personal life. For Angelou, the meanings that people attach to words are the most important. She does not underrate the simplicity of words. On the contrary, such simple words are the ones she prefers to use even when communicating the most sensitive of themes. Angelou’s works explore a multiple of themes such as racial injustices, issues affecting women, and relationships. She exhibits passion in her work, compelling her to publish very spiritual ands inspiring poetry. Moreover, as described, she has expertise in the use of various literary devices to enrich her poetry. The aspect of simplicity not only moves the reader to understand her poetry, but also invites readers to realize a pattern of significance conveyed by simple words. As described, the literary works of Angelou have exhibited a unique style of writing attracting attention from many literature fans and critics. Moreover, Angelou has published autobiographies that have helped readers understand her world, affecting people’s perception of her works. In a sense, writing about her life has enhanced the understanding of her works. Angelou has risen to become one of the most influential poets in the globe. Work Cited Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. A new literary history of America. Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009. Print. Hunt, Annie M, Ruthe Winegarten, and Frieda Werden. I Am Annie Mae: An Extraordinary Black Texas Woman in Her Own Words. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996. Print. Kuhlman, Erika A. A to Z of women in world history / Erika Kuhlman. New York : Facts On File, c2002. Leonard, Unger. et al. American writers : a collection of literary biographies. New York: Scribner. Print. Sova, Dawn B. Literature suppressed on Social Grounds. New York, NY : Facts On File, c2006. Read More