Preview

How Does Maya Angelou Use Personification In On The Pulse Of Morning

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
539 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Does Maya Angelou Use Personification In On The Pulse Of Morning
"On the Pulse of Morning," is a poem written by Maya Angelou. In this poem, Angelou describe characterization. Personification is a part of literature in which an object or a living thing is given human individuality. Angelou uses personification to give the pitch, the river, and the tree the aptitude to converse to the reader. In "On the Pulse of Morning", Angelou writes "But nowadays, the rock cries out to us, evidently, vigorously, Come, you may stand upon my back and face your far-away fortune, but seek no shelter in my shadow." (Lisandrelli, 1996)

In this, personification is given to the rock, implying that it be capable of "cry out". It gives the figment of your imagination that the rock is conversation to the person and informing them that it is there for the individual to use as "ground" to place on, but not as a guard. The rock says that he is here to help struggle, but not to conceal the person from their fate. Angelou also writes "Yet, today I call you to my riverside, if you will learn fighting no more. Come, wearing clothes in peace and I will
…show more content…
It is saying that it wants to be there to keep them calm and help them through all the hard times that they will be faced with, and that if they just listen to it, they will be guided to peace. "They hear. They all hear the speaking of the tree. Today, the first and last of every tree speaks to humankind. Come to me, here beside the river. Plant yourself beside me, here beside the river, is another form of personification used by Angelou. (Hagen, 1996, Williams, 1996) The tree is also talking to the people, asking them to plant themselves beside it. It is saying that it is there to hold the person up, to be used at strength, something to lean against, in order to fight away all the hatred in the world. It is there for the person if they are true to themselves and the world & want to keep

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou has become widely known for her poetry and literary works. She has written several autobiographies and numerous volumes of poetry. One volume of poetry was And Still I Rise, in this collection of poems the poem “Still I Rise” is a famously known one.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Blake/Plath Essay

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The “Morning Song” uses many language features throughout the poem to provide clear imagery, which shows how the arrival of the baby has affected the speaker’s life. First, the poem starts with the picture of a “fat gold watch,” which expresses the speaker’s idea that time is being taken away from her and that having a child is an enduring responsibility. In addition, the watch also represents the baby’s heartbeat, which is a constant reminder of the baby’s presence. Then the speaker goes on to create an image in the reader’s mind of a “New statue. In a drafty museum.” This image shows a variety of emotions the speaker feels, such as resent, pain, and sorrow. Additionally, the use of “statue” depicts an attitude of resent because it describes a sense of permanence, which the speaker has now recognized that her child has been born. Also, the use of “drafty museum,” creates an idea of distance between the speaker and her child. The statement, “I’m no more your mother,” is another example of the speaker’s attitude, which shows her distance and anger. Another image that aids in the expression of the speaker’s attitude is when she says, “Your mouth opens clean as a cat’s.” This depicts the distinct and loud crys of the infant, which wakes the speaker at night, and it once again shows the distance between the speaker and her infant when she refers to the baby as if it were an object by calling it a cat. These vivid images definitely…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Personification: A figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects. It affects the reader by creating empathy, and allows the reader to associate with the poem and the message in it e.g. “In its china blue…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Personification: A figure of speech that gives human qualities to abstract ideas, animals, and inanimate objects. It affects the reader by creating empathy, and allows the reader to associate with the poem and the message in it e.g. “In its china blue coat”…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou books and poems relate to real world situations. In her poem phenomenal women it talks about how you should not live in a stereotypical way of life and have confidence in yourself. You should celebrate how remarkable you are and it makes you a champion. Being a woman makes you supreme, because women are a mystery and hard to figure out. She expresses you don’t need to be loud to get attention just being yourself shows who you are. Maya Angelo works states you should embrace your purpose, practice a self-confidence ritual, and enjoy spending time alone, refuse to buy into the media’s image of a perfect woman, refuse to take anything too personally, ask empowering questions, and ask what they can do to improve the world. Her story…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Strory of Tom Brennan Essay

    • 2345 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The image by Image Zoo reflects the idea that moving into the world involves different pathways. This image uses the rule of thirds and symbolism to bring attention to the four different pathways to the centre tree trunk. The rule of thirds draws central focus to the light coming from the tree. This light symbolises the light that is present through different pathways and journeys. Light symbolises the hope, possibilities that come with moving into the world. Even though each pathway comes to the same centre of light, it branches upwards into different pathways shown at the top of the tree trunk. The tree symbolises the “Tree of life” as the tree that brings possibility to the world, it gives life and experiences to everyone. This brings to the main point that moving into the world, shown metaphorically as the tree through the four different pathways to new experiences.…

    • 2345 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Still I Rise” by the African-American poet Maya Angelou, written almost 40 years after the Harlem renaissance ceased, displays a variety of emotions and poetic devices. Maya Angelou incorporates her personal struggles gives the audience a sense of the determination she felt to reach equality. The reader can see her anger towards the discrimination she faced at the time.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Maya Angelou’s style is very intriguing and captivating due to her usage of tone. Maya Angelou was an American Civil Rights Activist, born in St Louis, Missouri, who lived through the Jim Crow Era - which, as mentioned before, was a critical period in terms of the rise of racial segregation in the United States. Unlike the majority of her kind, Angelou was extremely privileged - becoming a successful actress, author and poet. Although she is privileged and considerably well-off in her own personal endeavors, she is fully aware of the atrocity and inhumanity with which her fellow folk are being treated with on a daily basis. In the poem, she decants and expresses her frustration, but she does so with great subtlety and restraint. Although she uses a confrontational tone (by using the pronoun ‘you’) towards white people (which is the intended audience of the poem), she does not personally attack them in any way. She simply poses rhetorical questions which make the audience re-evaluate their way of thinking and cause them to truly see that their beliefs are founded upon hatred and false accusations. Aside from using a confrontational tone, Angelou also makes use of a perseverant tone which, through close analysis, entails a valuable message for people from all walks of life and, more importantly, the black folk who suffer from racial discrimination. “...I rise..”…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do-synthetic parellism. The first part of this verse gives a metaphor of what particular people that love the Bible are like. The verse compares the spiritually focused people to trees alongside a never ending water stream. The trees never stop giving their fruit because they are constantly nourished with water. The second part of the verse expounds on the first. The second part of the verse gives further evidence that the people who stay focused on God do not lack in any area. The second part of the verse is crucial to the first part because it provides support for the first part of the verse.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the Pulse of Morning

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In "On the Pulse of Morning", Angelou writes " But today, the rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully, Come, you may stand upon my back and face your distant destiny, but seek no haven in my shadow." In this, personification is given to the rock, implying that it can "cry out". It gives the illusion that the rock is talking to the person and telling them that it is there for the person to use as "ground" to stand on, but not as a shield. The rock says that he is there to help fight, but not to hide the person from their destiny.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    These are only three of many symbols that have far more meaning than what is blatantly told in the novel A Separate…

    • 270 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Response

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Through her narrative structure, Angelou aspires for young black students to maintain “Negro” pride and strong ambition. Her essay is built on a foundation of intertwined objective and subjective narration which follows chronological order. It commences with Angelou expounding on the culture of her local community, Stamps, Arkansas, through objective narration. Then, through subjective narration, Angelou interprets her own rank within the community and graduation preparations. This produces a tone of blithe anticipation for the approaching ceremony; although during graduation, the tone shifts. Angelou goes from describing herself as “the person of the moment,” to having agonizing thoughts that it “was awful to be a Negro and have no control over…life;” and, finally, to Angela declaring that she is a “proud member of the wonderful, beautiful Negro race.” The tone alters throughout the essay, changing to bitter disappointment after Mr. Donleavy’s discouraging speech and then back to contentment after the speech of class valedictorian, Henry Read. This narrative structure demonstrates that these people did not let prejudice hold them back long.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first and second line in the first stanza, Sounds/Like pearls, written by using simile. Sounds and pearls, people enjoy the beauty of the pearl by its lustrous color, smooth and perfect round. Obviously, pearl is a gemstone and it is not strange that people metaphor it for “admirable”, “valuable”. In other hand, sounds has its own beauty, for example note, rhythmic, or even, to speak and say people’s feelings, opinions, arguments, needs, etc. Then, in Doubt and fear/ Ungainly things/ With blushing, Maya Angelou moves to other things, Doubt and fear, which are given quality of ungainly or clumsy. Why? Well, clumsiness sometimes makes people won’t do anything, moreover doubt and fear blush, looks like people who are ashamed of what they have done or even what they don’t even try yet.…

    • 632 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou was a woman with a heart for helping. She became a teacher, a civil rights activist, and a poet which in turn helped mold her into the historian she is known for still today. Maya Angelo wrote a poem called “Still I Rise,” to express the obstacles she faced never stopped her. She always overcame whatever hardship was thrown at her.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    3. To what extent are the statements in paragraphs 16 and 17 to be taken literally? What functions do they serve in Angelou’s narrative?…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays