I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Peer Reviewed Article

How I managed to go to the ripe old age of 33 without reading whatever of Maya Angelou's work is entirely beyond me, particularly given that I wrote my academy dissertation on black women writers. And yet, it was only when I was at a loose cease recently and perusing the shelves of Gertrude & Alice, that I decided to finally tick this much-loved memoir off my ever-expanding reading wish-list.

As someone who has long been lauded as one of the most of import voices of the 21st century, Maya Angelou is as well known for her activism every bit she was for her writing. The first in a six-potent series of autobiographies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is a depiction of Angelou's life as a young girl in Stamps, Arkansas.  A tome that frequently features on banned volume lists, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings addresses issues of rape, racism and molestation, all of which Angelou was privy to during her boyhood and younger years.

Born Marguerite Johnson and frequently referred to every bit Ritie past her relatives, we learn most Angelou's babyhood in rural Arkansas where Maya and her older brother Bailey were taken to alive with their grandmother following their parents' divorce. Despite the fact that the south was however in the throes of racial prejudice and Stamps was at the forefront of the segregation, the immature Maya Angelou appeared to enjoy a loving childhood. Raised by a strict, church going grandmother and uncle, Maya and Bailey turned to both books for comfort, a passion which saw both children quickly advance through the Stamps educational organization, ii grades alee of schedule.

What follows is a life littered with trials and tribulations equally Angelou navigates everything from sexual abuse to academic excellence. A gifted writer and poet who was advanced well across her years as a kid, Angelou delivers a poignant memoir, rich with prose set against the backdrop of rural and racist America. A moving portrait of a babyhood in the midst of the Jim Crow laws, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings reveals the upbringing of a remarkable American adult female. A courageous glimpse into Angelou'due south life, this first memoir of hers is poetic and powerful, and the ultimate portrayal of triumph in the face of adversity.

About I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou's debut memoir has become an classic beloved worldwide. Her six volumes of autobiography are a attestation to the her talents and resilience.. Loving the globe, she as well knows its cruelty. Every bit a Black woman she has known discrimination and extreme poverty, but also hope, joy, achievement and celebration. In this first book of her six books of autobiography, Maya Angelou beautifully evokes her babyhood with her grandmother in the American south of the 1930s. She learns the power of the white folks at the other end of town and suffers the terrible trauma of rape by her mother's lover. However, far from being dispiriting, James Baldwin writes, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.'

'I write well-nigh being a Black American woman, however, I am always talking well-nigh what it's similar to be a human being being. This is how we are, what makes us laugh, and this is how we autumn and how we somehow, amazingly, stand up up again' Maya Angelou

About Maya Angelou

Dr Maya Angelou was one of the world'due south virtually important writers and activists. Born 4 April 1928, she lived and chronicled an boggling life: rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned writer, poet, playwright, ceremonious rights' activist – working with Malcolm Ten and Martin Luther King – and memoirist. She wrote and performed a poem, 'On the Pulse of Forenoon', for President Clinton on his inauguration; she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom past President Obama and was honoured by more than 70 universities throughout the world.

She starting time thrilled the world with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). This was followed by half dozen volumes of autobiography, the 7th and final volume, Mom & Me & Mom, published in 2013. She wrote three collections of essays; many volumes of poetry, including His 24-hour interval is Washed, a tribute to Nelson Mandela; and two cookbooks. She had a lifetime appointment equally Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University of North Carolina. Dr Angelou died on 28 May 2014.

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Source: https://thelitedit.com/review-i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-maya-angelou/

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