Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. She died May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was an author, poet, actor, singer, songwriter, dancer, playwright, historian, director, and civil rights activist. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1982, as a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem, "On the Pulse of Morning," at President Bill Clinton's inauguration. She was the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since 1961. Maya Angelou's career has allowed her to make a difference in the world. She worked steadfastly for peace, love, and equality with many individuals such as Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King. She has received numerous awards including 3 Grammys, a Presidential Medal of Arts, and the Lincoln Medal. Angelou's ability to overcome racism, oppression, and other obstacles made it's way into her literary works. Her natural experiences give her work authority and accuracy. As Angelou said in an interview, "There are no natural writers, but there are natural rememberers" (Angelou, 2002). Angelou's poems are filled with a spirit of hope in the face of despair, courage in the face of injustice, and triumph in the face of oppression. This essay will demonstrate these themes in four of Angelou's poems.
"Alone," "is a poem that crosses lines of color and race to provide a request to all human beings; to come together and offer support to each other. It starts off with the narrator lying in bed thinking as they are drifting off to sleep realizing no one can make it in this world alone. There are some pretty universal themes in this poem, isolation, suffering, spirituality, and classes of society. The speaker of the poem argues that nobody can make it alone in the world. People need people, and the soul needs to have a home. "Lying, thinking/Last night/How to find my soul a home" (Angelou, 1994 p.