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Maya Angelou is a poet, historian, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director. She was among the first African-American women to hit the bestseller list with her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and her works have continued to top the charts ever since.
Dr. Angelou’s works are mostly all autobiographical in nature. She was born in 1928 and raised in segregated Arkansas by her grandparents. Her stories, charm, and insights on humanity all shine forth in her works. As a performer, she dazzles her audience with her oratory and singing ability. As a poet, her lyricism is unparalleled. As a novelist, her autobiography is at the least captivating.
Dr. Angelou has published ten best selling books and numerous magazine articles earning her Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominations. At the request of President Clinton, she wrote and delivered the poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” at his 1992 inauguration. She lectures throughout the US and abroad and is the Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake Forest in North Carolina.
In addition to these extraordinary accomplishments, Dr. Angelou speaks French, Spanish, Italian, West Fanti, and, of course, English. In the past, she was the editor of The Arab Observer, the only English news weekly in the United States. She has also worked by appointment under Dr. Martin Luther King, President Gerald Ford, the United Nations, and President Jimmy Carter.
During her lectures, she dazzles the audience with stories of her childhood. She ranges from story, to poem, and back again.
One of her more popular poems, which she often reads at her lectures and is available in most of her poetry compilations is entitled; “Still I Rise.”
"Still I Rise"
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Her other works include “Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women,” which was published in 1995. This book, also available in audio cassette, features some of her most phenomenal poetry.
Her books include, “All Gods Children Need Traveling Shoes,” which was published in 1991. The book is autobiographical and includes excerpts from her childhood and that of her son.
In 1978, she published “And Still I Rise,” which is her tale of perseverance.
Her most famous book is titled after a poem she wrote, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” which was published in 1991. The book is also autobiographical in nature. Another one of her autobiographical books include “I Shall Not be Moved,” which was published in 1990.
Some of her other books include, “The Heart of a Woman,” “Gather Together in My Name,” “Even the Stars Look Lonesome,” “Brave and Startling Truth,” “Shaker Why Don’t You Sing,” “Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, and “Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas.”
Her poetry can be found in singles, like the version 1993 edition of “On the Pulse of Morning; The Inaugural Poem,” or in compilations. By far the most thorough of these compilations is “The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou,” which was published in 1994.
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