Maya Angelou Research Paper

An author is able to have a reader view the world through her eyes, in her writing Angelou is able to write clear and comparable poems and autobiographies based off of real events in her life that have affected her style of writing, her perception of the world during the time that she lived and her philosophy.

There are events and past experiences in Angelou’s life that play a major role in her poems and writings. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri with divorced parents. At the age of three Angelou and her older brother Bailey, were sent to live with their grandmother in Arkansas (“Maya,” Academy). At the age of seven, while visiting her mother young Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend: “Too ashamed to tell any adults she confided

in her brother...she later heard the news that her uncle had killed her attacker” (“Maya,” Academy). Angelou soon went through a stage where she did not speak for five years: “She felt that her words had killed the man” (“Maya,” Academy). Angelou began to speak again at the age of thirteen. Furthermore, she and her brother rejoined with her mother in San francisco, where she attends public schools and also studies dance and and music (Braxton 5 ). It was during that time in San francisco where Maya Angelou was exposed to progressive heads that animated her later political activism (“Maya,” Academy). With other interests in life Maya Angelou dropped out of high school to become San francisco's very first African American female cable conductor (“Maya,” Academy). Angelou returned to high school but her life was going to take a huge turn, she became pregnant senior year, nevertheless, she did not allow that to stop her from getting her education. Angelou graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son [Guy] (“Maya,” Academy). An event which Angelou has written about in many of her poems is during the time of which she left home and became a single mother. In the poem “They Went Home” Angelou describes the empty feeling felt after being left alone, after being told that by a man that he would never leave, she also describes the feeling of not ever being good enough “...they never once in all their lives had known a girl like me but...They Went home” (Angelou 3). This poem makes reference to past relationships of Angelou that did not work out, thus leaving her to deal with the broken pieces after they have went home.
The poems from the book The Poetry of Maya Angelou and her autobiographies all have covered a common theme and led to academic and social recognition. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is the first of Angelou’s six autobiographies: “It is widely taught in schools, though it has faced controversy over its portrayal of race, sexual abuse and violence” (“Maya”, Poetry), similar to many poems that are found in The Poetry of Maya Angelou such as “Remembering”, it refers to Angelou’s past experiences with men, rape and love affairs, with descriptive lines: soft grey ghosts crawl up my sleeve…peer into my eyes…I within deny their threats and answer them with lies a ritual on my lips I lie in solid hopelessness and they lay my soul in strips (Angelou 10), a poem as this one is seen as inappropriate for school teachings, but the author, Jeans Kelley further explains that Angelou writes in that form as a reflection of herself:
Angelou was in uncharted territory, and she had lost her way because Angelou takes the initiative in being her own worst critic, she encourages her audience to sympathize with her and understand how she had fallen so far. (Jeans 151)
The past experiences in Angelou’s life gives cause her to write such descriptive poems and express herself in a more realistic way. During her lifetime, Angelou made the commitment to become a “social activism and promote civil rights” (Hobley). In the mid 60’s, with her ability to “incorporate simple short lines to make bold statements on social and political issues” (Weagel 162) she partners up with Martin Luther King who requests that she servers as Northern coordinator for the Christian Leadership Conference. In the 20th and 21st century Angelou had become “member of the Directors’ Guild of America, Board of trustees of the American Film institutes and worked as a Journalists for foreign publications” (Braxton 5) her work has spread nationwide. Maya became a voice for all who were silenced by society in 1975 Carol E. Neubauer wrote in Southern Women Writers: The New Generation. “Angelou had become recognized not only as a spokesperson for blacks and women, but also for all people who are committed to raising the moral standards of living” (“Maya,” Poetry). Maya Angelou’s works were judged by many, although it benefited more people. When writing Angelou answered in an interview, “I try to remember times in my life, incidents in which there was the dominating theme of cruelty, or kindness or envy, or happiness, perhaps for incidents in the period I’m going to write about, then select the one that lends itself best to my device” (“Maya,” Art). Maya Angelou’s works is a “ re-creation of her life story with symbolic significance which have been raised to a mythic proportion” (Braxton 5 ), which is why she has received so many acknowledgement for her work, they are based on realistic events which the reader is able to relate to.
The life of Maya Angelou is best described as inspiring. In the book The Poetry of Maya Angelou by Angelou herself, she writes poems which connects to her past. Angelou was given the name Marguerite Annie Johnson born in St. Louis, Missouri (Academy), growing up in the south in the early 1900s. Angelou was exposed to the concept of racism and inequality, she “lived through a time when Americans did not honor the spirit of freedom for all and she fought in her own way to right that injustice for the future generation” (Jeans 151) instead of allowing anger to overcome her by the country's actions. Angelou decides to make the best of her situation and fight back, in her poem “Life doesn’t Frighten Me” Angelou is referring to her way of thinking after all of the obstacles she has faced, obstacles which she refer to as: “Shadows on the wall...as noises down the hall” (167) and Angelou responds to those inconveniences with: “life doesn’t frighten me at all” (167) Angelou has even created a tactic on how to get rid of those problems and not allow them to make her feel inferior: “I go boo Make them shoo I make fun way they run I won’t cry… I just smile...Life doesn’t frighten me at all” (Angelou 167) Angelou in her poems is inspiring young readers to not run away from their problems but approach and conquer them. After a very traumatic experience as a child, Angelou has come to realize that “courage is the most important of all virtues without courage you can’t practice any other virtue with consistency” (“Maya,” Art). After being sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of seven(“Maya,” Academy), Angelou later writes the poem “Take Time Out” which this poem supports Angelou’s philosophy on the power of speech. She states in the poem, “When you see them on a freeway hitching rides wearing beads with packs by their sides...ask what’s all the warring, jarring, killing and thrilling about?” (Angelou 111) the concept is that speaking up can make a big difference, Angelou continues by stating, “when you see him with a band around his head an army surplus bunk, you’d better ask what’s all the beating, cheating and bleeding about?” (111) understanding that speaking up is important from her past experiences, it also gives provides an opportunity to hear the opinion of others.
During the era which Maya Angelou grew up in, the events reflected her writing in poems like “My Arkansas” where Angelou speaks of racist acts and crimes in the south, Angelou describes the state to have “..a deep brooding, old crimes like moss pend from poplar trees” (143), due to these acts this led Angelou to go to one of Martin Luther King’s speeches “Inspired by the message she decides to become part of the struggle for civil rights” (“Maya,” Poetry). After this experience Maya moved to Cairo with her son then later in 1962 to Ghana where she worked as freelance writer and publisher (“Maya,” Poetry). During this period of traveling all over Africa, Angelou was able to gather information and incorporate her experiences and observations in order to write a poems such as “Africa” and “America”, in these poems Angelou compares the two nations and describes the similarities which she believe exist between the two. In the Poetry of Maya Angelou, she describes similarities such as pain and suffering from the country’s past, in Africa: “White and cold brigands took her young daughters sold her young daughters sold her young sons… bled her with guns” (81), while in America: “her southern exposure black death did befriend… have not fed the hungry nor eased that pain...discover this country’s dead centuries cry” (81). As Angelou return from her exploration of Africa to the United States two important leaders of the civil rights movement Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were assassinated this event was reflected in the poem “My Guilt” where Angelou express her feelings from this event: “My guilt is ‘slavery’s chains’ this brother sold this sister’s gone...My crime is ‘heroes, dead and gone’ dead Vesey, Turner, Gabriel, dead Malcolm, Marcus, Martin King. They fought too hard, they loved too well. My crime is I’m alive to tell” (47). Martin Kich included that “Angelou’s shifting persona reflects her own development as a writer as well as the significant cultural changes that occurred over the course of her long life” (Literature).
It is safe to assume that Maya Angelou agrees with the ideology of forgiveness.

After being sexually abused as a child to the constant pain caused by relationships and lost loved ones, family experiences. Angelou “writes giving out the message of hope, optimism and encouragement” (Weagel 162). Angelou’s second volume “reflects the dangers faced by a young black teenager who attempts to take care of a baby in an economy that honors neither poor blacks nor unmarried women” (Lupton) later Angelou’s son Guy, was kidnapped by a babysitter. During this period Angelou went through a “period of experimentations including brief forays into prostitution and hard drug use” (Hobley). Despite the obstacles Angelou faced “what sustained her was the support of the communities she lived in and her own faith that she could succeed” (Jeans 141), teaching young women who face the same problems to not give up. Maya Angelou also writes about her love for men in poems such as “Love letter”, an author mentions: “Her celebration of this couple’s connection is not meant to be voyeuristic, but it is simply the acknowledgement of a love affair between two consulting adults of color who appreciate and love each other” (Kich). Despite the past experiences she has had with men she understands that there are a good people out in the world and she agrees to forgive what happened in the past. Maya Angelou replies, “I Love Life” to an interviewer for The Black Scholar, “I love life and I live the art of

living, so I try to live my life as a poetic adventure” Angelou inforce her philosophies from her writings by stating that she loves life and living, this demonstrates her constant self reminder that life is not over just because of a few bad events.
After reading “The Poetry of Maya Angelou” a reader is able to obtain many facts about the author. Angelou has faced many hardships which she is also able to incorporate with her characters in her writing. Angelou is able to express her philosophies and educate the new generation all over the world about the past. Angelou is also able to interpret the views of the world from an African American perspective.
Maya Angelou died May 28, 2014, at the age of 86. Leaving behind many great works. Angelou was able to “set herself apart by extending the form, incorporating personal and historical materials into a continuing narrative that becomes a record of one black woman’s life in America and Africa” (Lupton). It took Angelou “15 years to complete her autobiography” which demonstrates the amount of time dedicates to her writing. As an African American Angelou was able to turn her life around during after the hardest times in her life making her a great role model for not only the African Community but also any reader who is looking for inspiration or sign of hope.

Working Bibliography
Angelou, Maya.

The Poetry of Maya Angelou. Quality Paperback Book Club, 1990.

Braxton, Joanne M. “Maya Angelou.” Modern American Women Writers, edited by Leah Baechler and A. Walton Litz, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1991 pp. 1-19.

Hobley, Katherine E. “Maya Angelou.” Fembio, Fembio, 2017, http://www.fembio.org/english/biography.php/woman/biography/maya-angelou/.

Jeans Kelley, “Further Conversations with Maya Angelou: A Survey of Interviews from 1990 to 2014.” Maya Angelou, edited by Mildred R. Mickle, Salem Press, 2016, pp. 151.

Kich Martin, “Literature Review of the Secondary Sources on Maya Angelou’s Life and Work.” Maya Angelou, edited by Mildred R. Mickle, Salem Press, 2016, pp. 40.

Lupton, Mary Jane. “Maya Angelou.” American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies, edited by A. Walton Litz and Molly Weigel, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996, pp. 1-19.

“Maya Angelou.” Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement, 2017, http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/.

“Maya Angelou.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2017,

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/maya-angelou.
“Maya Angelou, The Art of Fiction No. 119.” The Paris Review, The Paris Review, 2016,
https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2279/maya-angelou-the-art-of-fiction-no-119-maya-angelou.
Neubauer, Carol E.. “An Interview with Maya Angelou.” JSTOR, The Massachusetts Review, 1987, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25089856?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
Weagel, Deborah. “Angelou, Maya.” The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature, edited by Emmanuel S. Nelson, vol. I, Greenwood Press, 2005 pp. 160-163.