Analysis Of Money Can T Buy Happiness By Maya Angelou

Melanie Huot

Mrs. Marsden

Honors LAL I

26 April 2014

Money Can’t Buy Happiness

Maya Angelou, an African-American poet and autobiographer, is known worldwide for her works of literature. She first began writing and publishing her works in the late 1960’s. Angelou is recognized for her voice for social justice, civil rights, feminism, and the importance of love and family. Her most famous work is her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. Six years following that, she published a book of poems, titled Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well. Although it was not as popular as her previous book, the poems within still held her powerful voice for her ideology and what she believed in. Her purpose was “to put all the things bothering me — my heavy load — in that book, and let them pass” (Chow). One of the poems included in the book, which was titled “Alone,” describes the difficulties of going through life without others to be there. By using themes of wealth and class, Angelou explains the effect loneliness has on a person.

Throughout the poem, she cautions the readers that no one is excluded from feeling the pain of loneliness. Everyone, in her eyes, needs love from others. She uses repetition to remind readers of this. She repeats these lines, which serves as a separate refrain for the poem:

Alone, all alone

Nobody, but nobody

Can make it out here alone. (Lines 11-13)

She makes it clear that everyone is able to suffer from loneliness, even if that person is wealthy.

In the third stanza, she then focuses on millionaires. She looks outside of her own loneliness, and compares it to the loneliness of wealthy people. Although it seems that “money is what makes the world go round”, she goes against this vi...

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...ut the rest of the book, as well. It allowed me to see the greater picture within Angelou’s poems, which also let me understand her works better. Compared to the other sources used, it provided a broader view of her writings, rather than an in-depth explanation of “Alone” itself. The information is reliable and uses an objective tone. The goal of this source was to show the deeper meanings within Angelou’s works.

This source was helpful to me by showing me that the themes within “Alone” are also a part of her other writings, proving that she does not believe a person’s wealth determines their happiness. Another person researching Angelou could find this source useful to explain that her poems are not as simple as they appear to be. This could change the way a person sees Angelou’s poems by providing an in-depth view into her personal life and what she believed in.