The Poetry of Maya Angelou

by Maya Angelou

Called by some the "black woman's poet laureate", Maya Angelou came to prominence with the publication of her 1969 book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Drawing from a rich personal history growing up in the segregated American South, as well as a varied work history, Angelou's work has an immediacy for many that speaks of passion, heartbreak, and aspirations. This book, for the first time, presents her complete poetic works (as of 1993).

Genres: Poetry

274 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include racism, identity, family, and travel.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are moments in Angelou's poetry where I feel she has captured my entire political philosophy in a few stanzas. She captures a very real anger, guilt and frustration towards a broken system, a system built on the slavery of her ancestors.

Other poems I feel like are just page fillers... but there might be someone somewhere who appreciates them.

My favorite poem from this read is:

I don't ask the Foreign Legion
Or anyone to win my freedom
Or to fight my battle better than I can,

Though there's one thing that I cry for
I believe enough to die for
That is every man's responsibility to man.

I'm afraid they'll have to prove first
that they'll watch the Black man move first
Then follow him with faith to kingdom come,
This rocky road is not paved for us,
So, I'll believe in Liberal's aid for us
When I see a white man load a Black man's gun.

____

[TAP · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say, it’s Maya Angelou.

[Christina Soto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still I Rise, Refusal, and Touched by an Angel are among my favorites.

[ZaRi]

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

[Barbara Svetlick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love her work for she uses words in a way that make you understand the depth of life. One of my favorite poets.

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first foray into the works of Maya Angelou, and I can see why she's so famous. I'm no poet aficionado, but I enjoy how many of her poems read like songs and have a tangible rhythm to them.

My favorite poem in this collection—or rather, the one that stuck with me the most after I'd finished reading everything—is "Elegy." I like how Angelou begins and ends the poem the same way, with the line: "I lay down in my grave / and watch my children / grow." I've often heard phrases like, "X paved the way for Y," or that one Isaac Newton quote about only being able to see so far because he stood on the shoulders of giants. Angelou's version involves the corpses of ancestors and Black revolutionaries fertilizing the ground and allowing their children to bloom like flowers, and to say that it gave me goosebumps is an understatement.

I've always been interested in reading "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," because it's such a famous title and regarded as one of "the classics." But after reading these poems, I am even more intrigued, and I am confident that that autobiography will be the next thing by Maya Angelou that I read.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what I think of when I think of poetry. A desire to explore weighty subjects, traversing different styles, while always maintaining a distinct voice. These are poems you will read two or three times, either because they are so lovely or because you aren't quite sure you gleaned everything you were supposed to in the first reading. Some poems are intelligent sprawling metaphors and others are beautiful in their simplicity. One of the latter is entitled Prelude to Parting:

Beside you, prone,
my naked skin finds
fault in touching.
Yet it is you
who draws away.
The tacit fact is:
the awful fear of losing
is not enough to cause
a fleeing love
to stay.

Like my collection of Basho, I will certainly pick this up again and read from it when the mood strikes me. And to think I went all these years on earth, having only read Caged Bird by Maya Angelou. Sigh. Solid 5 stars. Even if you aren't a fan of poetry I would recommend leafing through this collection.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Angelou's Letter to My Daughter, and assumed that love would translate over to her poetry. Unfortunately, it didn't. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I didn't connect with any of the poems in this collection. Perhaps it's a case of right poem, wrong time. Regardless of why, I closed this collection feeling disappointed.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

not every poem in here is a knock-my-socks-off keeper, but those that are are worth the price of admission.

[Momo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Maya is such an inspirational person and every time I read or listen to her poetry I feel renewed. I listed to an audio book of this and it wasn't my favorite quality but I still enjoyed it.

[kalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

such a beautiful way with words

[Jayme Horne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this after finishing Angelou's first autobiography and wow, this woman can write. This selection of poetry is some of the best I've read.

[Daniela Cruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mais uma vez ler Maya Angelou é a cleaning of the soul 🥰

[Bethanie Humphreys · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a few poems I liked--Woman Me, Nothing Much--but for the most part I wasn't a fan of the frequent rhymes and not-so-interesting language. I've heard her poetry is best enjoyed when she performs it, and I can see how it would lend itself to that.

[jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful poetry-"Phenomenal Woman-That's Me?" and others well known--wonderful relaxed reading.

[Wanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful reading to celebrate National Poetry Month.