Maya Angelo's Poetry Comparative Essay
How do Maya Angelou and Grace Nichols communicate what it means to be a black woman in today’s society?
In this essay I will compare two poems. The two poems I will compare is Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I rise’ to Grace Nichols’ ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of Black women’.
I think Maya Angelou’s ‘Still in rise’ has a rather different message to Grace Nichols’ poem. I think they are interesting to compare because Maya Angelo is lively and spirited about writing a poem about how strong black women are and how it is to be a black woman in today’s society. Whereas, Grace Nichols is more disgruntled and irritated about writing her poem.
The first poem I will scrutinize is Maya Angelo’s ‘Still I rise’.
The title ‘Still I rise’ shows strength and optimism as it is a short but strong meaning title. It means that Maya Angelou …show more content…
She is also implying, when she says ‘For the abused stereotype already in their head’, that the stereotype has been put into people’s heads by white, biased history books.
When she says, in the next verse, ‘a perfect song’ she is referring to someone that is proud of their race and would like to write a poem about being black, for example Maya Angelou.
Within the next few lines, Grace Nichols talks more about how not all black women are the same and how they can’t be categorised. When she says’ I say I can write no poem big enough to hold the essence’. This means she can’t write one poem for black people or any other race as there are too many personalities and individuals to put them all into one category.
When she says ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ she is then showing her sarcasm again when she says ‘green woman’ as you can’t have green women and what she is trying to say is that we are all equal
In this essay I will compare two poems. The two poems I will compare is Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I rise’ to Grace Nichols’ ‘Of course when they ask for poems about the ‘realities’ of Black women’.
I think Maya Angelou’s ‘Still in rise’ has a rather different message to Grace Nichols’ poem. I think they are interesting to compare because Maya Angelo is lively and spirited about writing a poem about how strong black women are and how it is to be a black woman in today’s society. Whereas, Grace Nichols is more disgruntled and irritated about writing her poem.
The first poem I will scrutinize is Maya Angelo’s ‘Still I rise’.
The title ‘Still I rise’ shows strength and optimism as it is a short but strong meaning title. It means that Maya Angelou …show more content…
She is also implying, when she says ‘For the abused stereotype already in their head’, that the stereotype has been put into people’s heads by white, biased history books.
When she says, in the next verse, ‘a perfect song’ she is referring to someone that is proud of their race and would like to write a poem about being black, for example Maya Angelou.
Within the next few lines, Grace Nichols talks more about how not all black women are the same and how they can’t be categorised. When she says’ I say I can write no poem big enough to hold the essence’. This means she can’t write one poem for black people or any other race as there are too many personalities and individuals to put them all into one category.
When she says ‘of a black woman or a white woman or a green woman’ she is then showing her sarcasm again when she says ‘green woman’ as you can’t have green women and what she is trying to say is that we are all equal