Defiant to Didactic:Change in Tone in Maya Angelou’s Poetry with reference to Selected Poems
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This paper aims to highlight the tonal change in Maya Angelou’s poetry with reference to her early poem `Caged Bird’, `Still I Rise ’and a late poem `Human Family’. Maya Angelou herself belonged to Afro-American community. Blacks were brought to Virginia as slaves by the White Americans. Their existential trauma owing to marginalized living, racial abuse, physical torture, lack of civil liberties and sexual assault forced Maya Angelou to pick her pen as her weapon and raise her voice against oppression. In ‘Caged Bird’ ,she equates a black person with a captive bird whose feet have been tied and wings are clipped to prevent him from flying out of the cage into the open sky like a free bird (white person).Even in the cage, it dares to sing a song of freedom and raise its voice against brutality of its masters. Song here signifies black community’s courage and determination to carry their fight against the oppressor. The underlying tone of defiance is all pervasive. In’Still I Rise’ the first stanza sets the tone of defiance that is carried onto the end of the poem. In the first stanza she challenges the whites by asserting that even if she is trampled by them in the dirt she will rise from dirt itself and stand tall before them. The word “Still” conveys poet’s determination, defiance and her march for the goal of freedom. “I” here stands not only for Maya but it encompasses her community also. This poem served as a clarion call for the black women to keep fighting till the dawn of freedom arrives. Maya Angelou was a Civil Right Activist also and when her friends and fellow activist died in the Riot it broke her from inside. As a result ,her tone became philosophical and didactic. In ‘Human Family’ she says some wise words. When she recited this poem in U.N Assembly she herself said, “I am asked to say some wise words.” The poem is didactic in nature as it conveys the message that all human beings are more “alike than unalike”. The people across the world may vary in their skin tone, likes, dislikes, habits, way of life, but emotionally they belong to one race – Human race. Their emotional qualities make them similar: love, kindness, pity, empathy etc. Here, also she conveys her message that in spite of racial differences mankind is one and so the social prejudice should end. The tone has changed but her message for brotherhood, equality and freedom for all, reflects in her poetry.
Author: Dr. Kirandeep Kaur
Language: English
Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4409240447