Maya Angelou: America’s 21st Century Iconic Female Poet

Maya Angelou represents one of the women in America to idolize in our time. As a strong woman, she epitomizes the role of an all round contemporary female. Her poetry reflects her can-do attitude about life, showing her inner strength and resilience. An excerpt from her poem “Ships?” reveals her attitude.

“…Life?

‘Course I’ll live it.

Just enough breath,

Until my death,

And I’ll live it…”

Though some call her a renaissance woman, the term cosmopolitan seems more fitting as she espoused a multinational perspective in her life. Her poetry speaks volumes about her experiences in life allowing us to visualize the issues through her eyes. She turned raw brutal life facts into words of beauty. Her “Why the Cages Bird Sings” echoes the raw violence from the civil rights movement in the 1960s.

“…The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

and longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.”

Maya Angelou began life as Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, but spent much of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas in the throes of racial discrimination. According to the Academy of Achievement, in later life, she became only the second poet after Robert Frost to accept invitations to the White House. In 2011, Ms. Angelou read a poem “The Pulse of Morning” at the inauguration in 1993 of President Clinton.

“…But today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,

Come, you may stand upon my

Back and face your distant destiny,

But seek no haven in my shadow,

I will give you no hiding place down here…

President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. Ms. Angelou lives each moment and demonstrates that women can be who they want to be. The poem “Phenomenal Woman” reveals her resolute inner strength.

“…Now you understand

Just why my head’s not bowed.

I don’t shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It’s in the click of my heels,

The blend of my hair,

the palm of my hand,

The need of my care,

‘Cause I’m a woman

Phenomenally,

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.”

Maya Angelou’s ability to discuss her identity, family and racism places her as a pathfinder for women. One knows she moved major issues against women to the forefront as her controversial work underwent challenge by conservative sections of our society. This woman truly represents a crusader for the downtrodden.


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