The Negro National Anthem By Maya Angelou Analysis

In Maya Angelou’s “Graduation” she spoke about a fictional character named Marguerite Johnson and her eighth-grade graduation. Marguerite was always kinda of lost and selfish at times, and never look at how others seen things. But as the story goes on Marguerite starts to find herself and understand others. “Graduation” isn’t just about how Marguerite pass on to the next grade but how she has grown from a lost girl to a young intelligence woman. In this story the reader is going to follower her on this surprising journey.

How human beings overcome various tribulations and survive the difficulties in their lives has always been a critical element in Maya Angelou’s works. She once asserted that all her work, her life, everything about her is about survival (Angelou 13). Indeed, Maya’s life was characterized by significant difficulties all which she overcame and triumphed. A review of her poetry works reveals the survival aspects of her life and the lives of her people. African Americans, across generations, have struggled for freedom experiencing significant losses, destruction, and even deaths. Maya’s poetry highlights these adversities, bringing out the conditions that African Americans had to survive. Her poems also bring out how the African Americans gained courage and pride to overcome, hence the proliferating the theme of survival.

Perseverance is the steadfastness in doing something despite the difficulty in achieving success. In the stories “Occupation: Conductorette” and “Like the Sun” both protagonist: Angelou and Sekhar used perseverance to help deal with their conflicts. With them using perseverance, it assisted them towards what they wanted to accomplish. Perseverance is a valuable trait to possess because it helps make progress towards goals.

Maya Angelou worked as a professor at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1991 to 2014. As an African American women, one whose life was full of racial discrimination and gender inequality, she had plenty of experience and wisdom to share with her students. During her time working at the university, she taught a variety of humanities courses such as “World Poetry in Dramatic Performance,” “Race, Politics and Literature,” “African Culture and Impact on U.S.,” and “Race in the Southern Experience” (Wake Forest University,

In reading the passage “Encounter with Martin Luther King Jr.”, it shows a very important moment in Maya Angelou’s life. In the passage, Maya Angelou does not include much of diction or sensory details. Even though these two characteristics are missing, she has a strong grip on characterization of both Martin Luther King Jr. and herself while the dialogue is also well written.

In “Momma, the Dentist, and Me,” Maya Angelou describes Mommas’ struggle during racial segregation in a childhood memory and in a rare but glorious case is overcome. Angelou recalls when she and Momma, her grandmother, go to the dentist for a toothache severe enough that young Angelou contemplates death to feel relief from the excruciating pain. Angelou imagines her Momma’s actions in the dentist's office after being turned down heroically. Angelou demonstrates a small victory over racism with Momma’s actions as she stands valiantly against racial injustice. In order to strengthen her narrative, Angelou employs imagery, hyperbole, and tone effectively. (MS 2)

Imagine a life, a nation, a world where an individual was defined by their race, role, or gender; yet, categorized as whole and deprived of their rights, chaos. In Maya Angelou’s piece “On the Pulse of Morning,” she explains the people who shaped ones everyday life, one being Cady Stanton. In her piece, “Declaration of Sentiments of the Seneca Falls Woman's’ Rights Convention,” she is a person from the past. She is an example of what Angelou has written about. Stanton fought for women's rights and has molded every female's life today. Even though Maya Angelou and Cady Stanton display the same concepts of freedom, equality, and achievement and success their perceptions differentiate.

Since the 1940’s, times have really changed but we can still draw many similarities as well as many differences between our experiences today and their experience then. For example, In the excerpt “Graduation”, from Maya Angelou’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, similarities and difference can be found between Angelou’s graduation and my high school graduation. Maya Angelou’s and my experience with graduation are similar regarding family involvement and nervousness. However, our experiences were very different in the ways others treated the graduating class and the feelings leading up to graduation and the feelings after graduation.

boys! She had a surge of relief. It ebbed, vanished. A feeling of absolute unimportance followed.

In Maya Angelou’s chapter Mrs. Flowers, Marguerite Johnson, finds how to become successful in a segregated America. What Mrs. Flowers does is teaches Marguerite how to avoid racist people, that usually meant staying home. Mrs Flowers made her memorize many works of literature such as poems. “Take this book of poems and memorize one for me. Next time you pay me a visit I want you to recite it.” This story connects directly back to Maya Angelou’s life. She was always memorizing writing as a child. It was because of that she thrived in so many different occupations and won two grammys. Maya Angelou is showing that even when you are put in the worst of circumstances it is possible to succeed.

In “Graduation” by Maya Angelou, it shows Angelou’s experiences as a black student in the 1940s. In “The Problem We All Live With” by This American Life, Mah’Ria Pruitt-Martin’s experiences as a black during the 2000s was very similar to Angelou’s experiences. Angelou went to Lafayette Country Training School, which was the black school. Pruitt-Martin went to Normandy, which was the worst district in the area. She was trying to transfer to a better school. Both Maya Angelou and Mah’Ria Pruitt-Martin had bad high school experiences because their schools had little resources for education and people didn’t

Some authors have the special ability to create pieces of literature that have an everlasting effect on their readers, simply through the words of their writing. Mark Shriver and Maya Angelou are perfect examples of such authors. Mark Shiver wrote an inspirational biography of his father, Sargent Striver, and his many accomplishments in his novel, A Good Man. Maya Angelou, a civil rights activist and author, writes about overcoming constant abuse based on her race in her poem, “Still I Rise.” Both, Mark Shriver’s novel and Maya Angelou’s poem, are empowering pieces of writing that represent Marywood University’s core value, Excellence.

This explication is on the poem “Africa” by Maya Angelou. In the poem, the speaker shows the suffering of Africa by personification, imagery, and wordplay to result that Africa is moving forward to regain herself to give us all the world has done to Africa. The speaker is a knowledgeable person who is passionate and knows well about Africa. The poem takes the setting of Africa and in the time period around the 1400s - 1500s. The poem is an ABAB pattern with three stanzas. The first stanza of the poem personifies Africa as a woman of her beauty. The second stanza shows the history of Africa crippled of her powers. The third stanza shows Africa is rising from the suffering of her past.

However , in “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelon she uses the phrase ‘Caged Bird’ as something scary and ‘free bird’ as freedom. For instance, Angelou points out in the second stanza and says “... his bars of rage, his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” This quote signifies how he is stuck in the cage with discomfort and how he’s yelling out of anger. The bird is frightened, angry, and discomfortable and has no other options other than to stay in the cage. Furthermore, in the 3rd stanza it says “The caged bird sings with a fearful trill of the things unknown.” The author implies that the bird is sad and dying of being caged for so long. Angelon points out “the caged bird sings” --- sings as in yelling and crying!

Still I Rise, written in 1978 by African American poet and civil-rights activist Maya Angelou, is a resoundingly courageous and unearthing poem with an inspiring invited reading directly related to the time period it was written in: during the declaration for Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The poem discusses an African American woman’s struggles against racism and hatred from the society. It consists of nine-stanzas, offering words of inspiration to those who have been oppressed. It sends a message of hope that even in the midst of adversity it is possible to overcome obstacles and find the inner strength and confidence to rise above them. This poem is very straightforward making the message more meaningful and affective. This poem teaches readers that all humans have strength within them that can help to overcome any obstacles. “Out of the huts of history 's shame…/ I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide…/ Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear…/I rise…” (29-43) generate a glorious ending and reflection of being the hope and the dream of slaves as reflected in the freedom and opportunity of the present day. The message drives a point that no matter what, the protagonist will be triumphant. The importance of having appreciation of our previous generations for what they have done for us and what they have left is highlighted in line 39, “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave”. Also, “I am the dream and the hope of the slave” (40) shows how Angelou