What Makes Maya Angelou Poetry Inspirational - Research Paper Example

What Makes Maya Angelou Poetry Inspirational Maya Angelou and American citizen by birth was born Marguerite Ann Johnson in 1928. Throughout her lifetime she has written several books of poetry, five essay books and seven autobiographies. Through these achievements she became and established author and poet. Other than this writings she has been credited with a list of plays and movies that for a period of over fifty years. Besides achieving a lot in her carrier as a poet, Maya has numerous inspirational quotes and some of the examples of her quotes are such as; “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”. This is a quote that focuses on treasuring a friend. Another famous quote by Maya is “My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and to try and love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return”. Most of Maya’s inspirational quotes talk of a thing that happen in our daily lives and that is why many people find her motivating. It is because of her major writings that she has received dozens of awards for distinct writing. She is best known for her autobiographies that place focus on her life from her early childhood and her early adulthood. The first one is “I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing”. Another notable work that she has done is “On the Pulse of Morning”. She recited a poem at the President Bill Clinton’s inauguration. This was the first poet to do so since 1961. In this paper we shall take a look at the life of Maya Angelou from the time she was a young one. This will help in knowing how her experiences inspired her poetry and her writing Life and Experiences Marguerite Ann Johnson was born the second child to Bailey Johnson and Vivian Johnson. Her father was a doorman and a navy dietitian her mother on the other hand was a nurse and a card dealer. Bailey Jr. who was Marguerite’s big brother nicknamed her “Maya”. This was as a short form of “My or Maya Sister”. Their parents ended their marriage when Maya was 3 and his brother was 4 years old. Their father who felt that this calamity may deeply affect the children decided to send them to his parents. He sent them all alone by train. During this time Africans Americans could barely make a living. This was during the Great Depression and the World War II. However, Maya’s grandmother made an unexpected fortune making wise investments. She would sell goods that were mainly basic at her shop. She was able to feed the children without struggling much like her African American counterparts. However before the age of nine, Maya’s father came to Stamps and took the children to live with their mother. Living there, Maya was molested by the mother’s boyfriend. After telling his brother who told the rest of the family, Mr. Freeman who was the mother’s boyfriend was found guilty but only jailed for only a day (Angelou). After his release, he was murdered approximately four days later. No one knows who really killed him but it was assumed that it was Maya’s uncles. However for this reason, Maya did not speak for nearly 5 years. She believed that her voice was the cause of his death and thus did not want to kill anyone else. According to Marcia and her colleagues, it was during these five years that Maya found her unbelievable talent. She developed an affinity for books and an incredible memory. At this time Maya and the brother were again shipped back to her grandmother’s place once again. This time, Maya was in school and credits her speech to her teacher and family friend. The teacher introduced her to one of the world’s best authors. These are the likes of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, James Weldon Johnson and Edgar Allan Poe. These authors would develop her as an author and as a Black activist. She was also introduced to female artistes like Anne Spencer. Through getting many friends, Maya got more inspirational to write quotes on friendship, love, family and women. One of her quotes on love was, “Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope” When she turned 14, Maya and Bailey Jr. moved back in with their mother who had since moved to California. She went to George Washington High School while taking dance and drama lessons in California Labor School. Before graduating high school, she worked as a streetcar conductor. She was the first Black woman of this profession. At the age of 17 she gave birth to her son weeks after completing high school. She recounts the life of being a single mother and jobless. Therefore for a few years she would move through a series of relationships. She explains in her second autobiography of how she slid into poverty and crime (Angelou). With no higher education she had to do a few odd jobs to be able to sustain her child. She became the front manager for prostitutes, prostitute and a cook at a restaurant. At the age of 23 she got married to a Greek electrician, a former sailor and an aspiring musician. This was despite the illegality of interracial marriages. She took modern dance lessons and would later form a dance group with two other friends but did not become successful. She moved to New York to get further study in dance. It was by strong suggestion of managers that she changed her name to Maya Angelou. At this point she became successful because of her distinctive name. Each country that she would visit she would make a point of becoming proficient in their languages and within no time she knew quite a number. It was not until moving around the world and meeting a few civil rights like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and finally moving to Africa and back that she wrote her first book. Through poetry and inspirational quotes, Maya wrote quotes on almost every activity that took place in her life. One of her inspirational quotes on working hard is; “Nothing will work unless you do”. She also produced a ten-part series Essence of her Life Experiences 1. Sadness In the life of Maya Angelou, she got to have a series of sad experiences. Maya’s parents separated when she was just a tender age of three and from this divorce she was made into the beautiful author she became to be. She could connect well with sadness as she had experienced her fair share. She was molested in her early teenage years by her mother’s boyfriend. Who was killed later on for the injustice and for this reason she became mute. Maya used her mute nature to develop skills in memory and literature. Maya also got to meet quite influential people while still in her mute state; Authors and artistes who nurtured her writing talent and input many other ideas. She got to know the true meaning of struggle after having her baby. She was neglected into poverty and all the choices she made her own mother would disapprove. She got several heartbreaks as she went through a series of relationships. She hit rock bottom probably when she had to work as a prostitute in order to feed her child. She 2. Travel She got her fair share of travel. This began as early as the age of three when she had to move to her grandmother’s place. She later moved back to her mother who had moved already because of the break up. She then went to the grandmother’s place after she was raped. This she got to learn a lot about people’s culture in the different places. This was most especially when she was mute and all she did was listening and observe. This also taught her to listen more than talking. She became a master of the art and perfected her memory. She used this art when she got older. She learned the art of dance and was a quick learner. She had to do odd jobs to make the dance school lessons. She perfected the art and used it to set herself on the international stage. Through the learning of different dances, she got to learn different cultures that she would use to inspire people wherever she went to dance. She even went to Ghana, Africa that she met major figures like Malcolm X. She was majorly involved in civil rights by then that made her interact with numerous people. With her numerous travels, she got to learn very many languages and could thus converse with a wide range of people. 3. Recognition With all her life experiences, Maya got recognition in the community. Everyone knew about her story and thus was able to associate with it. She got raped and everyone knew it. A trend that went on at that time unnoticed as was Mr. Freeman. He was freed barely a day after being found guilty. She managed to get the justice from the community members. She was shipped between homes as her parents divorced this was a common thing in her time and this did major psychological damage on her. She got a baby at the age of seventeen. Most girls at the time would be impregnated by elder men who would later run away from their duties as fathers. She worked as a prostitute as when she could not afford to get a job because of her low education. This was a common profession for uneducated girls and women. She also got around a few relationships. Most girls would be heartbroken with men only thinking of themselves. In conclusion it is clear that Maya Angelou’s life was an inspiration to others. Despite the fact that she had gone under a lot of hardship and pain, she managed to pull through and become a recognized figure in the society. She got to fight for the rights of people who did not fight for hers when she was younger. She made a difference in the community where she is still recognized to date. She became a pioneer woman in a number of things during her childhood and early adulthood. Work Cited Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. New York: Random House, 1970. Angelou, Maya. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York: Random House, 1994. Angelou, Maya. On the Pulse of Morning: The Inaugural Poem. London: Virago, 1993. Gillespie, Marcia, Rosa J. Butler, Richard A. Long, Oprah Winfrey, and Dion Graham. Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. Grand Haven, Mich: Brilliance Audio, 2008. Read More