The Essays I wrote

Women Empowerment in Maya Angelou's Poems

Women Empowerment in Maya Angelou's Poems

Feminism is a common and empowering theme found in many contemporary poems. In Maya Angelou's poems "Still I Rise", "Phenomenal Woman", and "Woman Work", she writes about the work women do, can do, and how they can still be powerful and successful. Using diction and connecting the poems with images of nature and linking them with the topic of women suffrage and power, Angelou's poems and the single, unnamed speakers that are in each poem take a clear stand on the self-identities and authority of women.

In "Still I Rise", the four line stanzas all focus on either people trying to bring the speaker down, how she makes them upset when they fail to do so, and the certainty of her of her ability to not be deterred. She taunts them with rhetorical questions, "Did you want to see me broken?/ Bowed head and lowered eyes?/ Shoulders Falling down like teardrops,/ Weakened by my soulful cries?" (13-16) Her certainty and response to those trying to bring her down is, "Still I'll rise" or some variation there of ("Still I Rise" 12). She sends a message that women should not be ashamed to be women and that she finds life and joy in the fact saying, "Does it come as a surprise/ That I dance like I've got diamonds/ At the meeting of my thighs?" (26-28). In the stanzas promoting her certainty in herself, she includes images of nature. She refers to herself as a "black ocean, leaping and wide" to allude the power and mystery of the ocean to her own self (33). She also refers to her work, and being successful at it, saying that, "Welling and swelling I bear in the tide/ Leaving behind nights of terror and fear" (34-35). The speaker talks about suns and the "certainty of tides/ Just like hopes springing high,/ Still I'll rise" (10-12). She compares herself to the beauty of the world.

In the stanzas where she questions those who do not believe in her she talks about her "sassiness" and her "haughtiness, which she knows contributes to her reputation and the respect she has gained, is being shamelessly shown (5, 17). Her body and her attitude is her reasoning for her...well, attitude and respectability and command of power. As she shows off this power and influence, she represents all of women, bringing them into a more respected light. She is the messenger for her people, "bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,/ I am the dream and hope of the slave" and she will not be swayed (39-40).

Angelou continues to spread her empowerment through her gender in "Phenomenal Woman". At the end of every stanza she repeats the lines, "I'm a woman/ Phenomenally./ Phenomenal woman,/ That's me," Pushing the idea that she is powerful and strong and others' opinions of her do not dictate her actions ( "Phenomenal Woman"10-13, 26-29, 42-45, 57-60) At the end of the poem she says its "'Cause I'm a woman" that she contains all this power (57). The speaker says that she is phenomenal not because she's "cute or built to suit a fashion model's size" but that is because everything about her, from the way she moves to the way she thinks, makes her unique and phenomenal (2).

The speaker commands attention, she makes men fall around her like "a hive of honey bees" (20). Like in "Still I Rise" images of nature, using them to compare her and their power and beauty. When she says, "It's the fire in my eyes,/ And the flash of my teeth,/ The swing in my waist,/ And the joy in my feet" she is saying that she is fierce and loves fun, not meek and a willing slave. In the last stanza of the poem, the speaker says, "Now you understand/ Just why my head's not bowed./ I don't shout or jump about/ Or have to talk real loud./ When you see me passing,/ It ought to make you proud" to give a feeling of finality and of course leave of feeling of respect (46-51).

"Woman Work" begin with a list of all the work a woman does, all compiled in a fourteen-line stanza. This stanza is also the only one that has a rhyme scheme, composed of couplets, signifying the life that she leads is organized, common, and structurally boring. There is no punctuation until the end of the stanza. This symbolizes how all of her work is just muddled together and there is no break because of the abundance and stress involved. The next four-line stanzas are a prayer to give her strength. Strength to be able to do all the work that she is expected to do and that she continues to do.

She talks about images of nature as well. The speaker calls upon images of nature saying, "Sun rain, curving sky/ Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone/ Star shine, moon glow" to give her strength ( "Woman Work" 27-29). She cries out to the forces of nature to come upon her, "Shine on me, sunshine/ Rain on me, rain/ Fall softly, dewdrops/ And cool my brow again./ Storm blow me from here/ With your fiercest wind/ Let me float across the sky/ 'Till I can rest again/ Fall gently, snowflakes/ Cover me with white/ Cold icy kisses and/ Let me rest tonight" (15-26). The words in the last line are her final words that say that these natural images that she's asking for strength, are "all that I can call my own" (30). Again, the speaker, like in "Still I Rise" and Phenomenal Woman" compares herself to the powerful images of nature.

Feminism is the clear and dominant theme in Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise", "Phenomenal Woman", and "Woman Work". Angelou promotes feminine strength and individuality using the clear choice diction she uses. Angelou writes about the power of women in these three poems connecting them with one speaker, images of nature, and ideas of women suffrage and influence. She compares the beautiful nature to the speakers in her poems, who are fierce, phenomenal, and hard-working women.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. "Phenomenal Woman." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 2222 Apr. 2017.

Angelou, Maya. "Still I Rise." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.

"Woman Work by Maya Angelou." Hello Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2017.