Questions tagged [maya-angelou]

Questions about the works of the American poet, memoirist and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; 1928 – 2014) and her life as a writer. Angelou published seven works of autobiography, starting with 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' (1969).

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
6 votes
1 answer
463 views

What is the relationship between Angelou's poem "Caged bird" and book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"?

What is the relationship between the poem "Caged bird" and the book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings? One seems to be an autobiography and the other a poem, but they have overlapping titles ...
temporary_user_name's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
3k views

What does "But... They went home" mean in Maya Angelou's "They Went Home"?

Maya Angelou's "They Went Home" opens like this: They went home and told their wives, that never once in all their lives, had they known a girl like me, But... They went home. The end of ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
4 votes
1 answer
572 views

What does the line "You're all that I can call my own" mean in Maya Angelou's "Woman Work"?

The first half of Maya Angelou's "Woman Work" details the extremely busy life of the narrator, ranging from taking care of a baby to mending clothes to picking cotton. The second half ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
6 votes
2 answers
887 views

What does "and bread loaf is not stone" mean in Maya Angelou's "Alone"?

The opening stanza of Maya Angelou's poem "Alone" goes like this: Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
4 votes
2 answers
1k views

What does "where water is not thirsty" mean in Maya Angelou's "Alone"?

The opening stanza of Maya Angelou's poem "Alone" goes like this: Lying, thinking Last night How to find my soul a home Where water is not thirsty And bread loaf is not stone I came up with ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
2 votes
3 answers
921 views

What does "rime of alien dreams" mean in Maya Angelou's "The Mothering Blackness"?

In Maya Angelou's poem "The Mothering Blackness", there's a verse that goes like this: She came down creeping        here to the black arms waiting        now to the warm heart waiting rime ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
7 votes
1 answer
216 views

How is capitalization being used in Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning"?

I was looking through Maya Angelou's "On the Pulse of Morning", and noticed that there's an interesting use of capitalization in the poem. (I checked multiple version to make sure that this ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
3 votes
0 answers
235 views

How does the change in syllables change the reading in Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise"?

In the opening stanza of Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise", the syllables go 9 / 7 / 9 / 6. The second verse goes 8 / 7 / 9 / 7. All of these are within two or three syllables of each other, and ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
2 votes
1 answer
726 views

How are colors being used in Maya Angelou's "The Mothering Blackness"?

In Maya Angelou's poem "The Mothering Blackness", there are a bunch of different colors mentioned. For instance, the first verse goes like this: She came home running    back to the ...
Mithical's user avatar
  • 24k
7 votes
1 answer
3k views

In Maya Angelou's "Caged Bird", what is the meaning of "his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream"?

Here is the penultimate stanza of "Caged Bird" by Maya Angelou: But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are ...
user8626's user avatar