Maya Angelou: Poems Literary Elements

The narrator is, in most cases, Maya Angelou herself, speaking out from the perspective of an oppressed African-American woman against the injustice of society.

Most of Angelou's poems are in completely unstructured free verse, with no regular form or meter.

In "Caged Bird," Angelou uses the metaphor of a caged bird singing a song in an attempt to reach the ears of the free bird, representing her own status, as well as that of other oppressed people, and her attempts to use her writings to reach the hearts of those that can do something about this injustice.

Assonance: "One foot down, then hop! It's hot." ("Harlem Hopscotch")

In "On the Pulse of Morning," Angelou points out a sad irony: men are created only a little lower than the angels, but "have crouched too long in / The bruising darkness / Have lain too long / Facedown in ignorance, / Your mouths spilling words / Armed for slaughter."

Poetry, activism

Many of Angelou's poems take place in New York City in the mid-twentieth century, such as "Harlem Hopscotch" and "Awaking in New York."

Spirited, passionate, accusatory, joyful

The protagonist is the person who fights back against injustice, which is almost personified in the intense way Angelou characterizes it as an antagonist.

People in society are facing oppression; Angelou has taken it upon herself to try to make a statement and fight back, singing a song that will alert people to the injustice going on in the world and inspire them to try to fix it.

In "Still I Rise," Angelou builds the poem's excited energy to a climax by describing the inevitability of a brighter future, then ends the poem dramatically with this trifold repetition:

"I rise
I rise
I rise."

The first lines of "Still I Rise," describing the efforts of the oppressors to keep the narrator down, foreshadow the narrator's spirited response: "But still, like dust, I'll rise."

"The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still." ("Caged Bird")

This caged bird is an oppressed person calling out for the defeat of injustice, making this half-stanza poetic understatement.

In "The Mothering Blackness," Angelou references Hagar, a Biblical figure with whom Abraham had an illegitimate child, and whose line was cursed.

"white tears icicle gold plains of her face" ("The Mothering Blackness")

"Deceit and agile poppies dance
In golden riot." ("California Prodigal")

"I am the dream and the hope of the slave." ("Still I Rise")

"... the click of my heels" ("Phenomenal Woman")