Preview

Maya Angelou Touching By An Angel Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
781 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Maya Angelou Touching By An Angel Analysis
''When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time'' says marguerite Annie Johnson also known as Maya Angelou. Known for her inspiring appearances as an author, screen writer, dancer, actress and of course a poet. There were many ways Maya was born in St. Louis Missouri in 1928. She experienced racial prejudices and discrimination after moving with her grandmother when her parents split. She experienced harsh events in her life that made her the strong woman she is that led her on till her death in 2014. The spirit in her work still lives on today by those who admire her work. Using her biography as a resource, Her parents split when Maya was just a very young girl. Not only did she get raped as a child by her mother's boyfriend, She also got pregnant at the early age of 16 in a short high school relationship that left her with a handsome boy named Guy Johnson. Maya's importance was based on her 1969 memoir ''I know why the caged birds sing.'' Maya's life experiences are revealed in her work continuously. Throughout her poems of ''Phenomenal woman'', ''Touched by an Angel'', and ''Harlem Hopscotch'' her poetic language is shaped by her experiences.

Maya …show more content…
Another one of her poems ''Touched by an Angel'' states her opinion on when love will arrive into life. Maya believes Love is something that will cost everything that your are as one individual but will feel as if you are being freed. ''We unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life'' Maya states in her this poem. Maya was shown affection in high school during her teenage years. Maya's parents split, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. She was simply looking for some affection or source of love from someone. She is lonely. To her love should come from a high holy temple and should set one
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Maya Angelou Biography Essay Example
    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maya Angelou Biography Essay Example

    Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri on 4th of April in 1928. Maya Angelou is a nickname that was given to her as a young child from her brother Bailey. He called her "Maya" instead of "my sister.” At the age of three Ms. Angelou’s parents divorced. Her and her brother Bailey was sent to a Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother. While living in Stamps, as a young girl she experienced racial discrimination. During the time Maya Angelou was living in the south she absorbed the deep religious faith and old-fashioned courtesy of traditional African Americans. When Maya Angelou was seven she was sexually molested by her mother's boyfriend in Chicago.…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Accomplishments
    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maya Angelou Accomplishments

    Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than fifty honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. Her biggest most top selling book was called “ I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.”…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou's Accomplishments
    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou's Accomplishments

    Maya Angelou’s life was a roller coaster. Through her upside down loops and her cork screws, she made a high living for herself. She achieved awarding accomplishments. Maya is not only one of the most famous poets in the world but, she was also a literature writer, a dancer, actress and a singer. She wrote children books and she was also one of the first African American women to have an original screenplay produced called Georgia. She won the National Book Award, A Pulitzer Prize and is listed as one of the one hundred most influential women in the world. She was also the first African American to have a nonfiction book on the best sellers list Maya was big into the civil rights movement. Maya got involved with helping Malcom X with his…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Trials and Triumphs
    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maya Angelou Trials and Triumphs

    Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson, on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. After her parents divorce in 1931, she and her brother Bailey moved to Chicago with their mother. In 1936, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend. After some hesitation, Marguerite confided in her brother and then to her mother that she had been raped. Shortly after Marguerite had to testify, but her attacker was released. Days after his release he was murdered. Convinced that the death was her fault Marguerite went through four year period where she would not speak to anyone except her brother Bailey. She and Bailey were sent to Arkansas to live with their grandmother (Maya). At the age of twelve, Marguerite started speaking again after she started the study of writing, literature, and music, she became known for her intelligence.…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Mammas Encounter
    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mammas Encounter

    Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri (1928) as Marguerite Johnson; however she grew up in Stamps, Arkansas where her grandmother ran a general store. Angelou has acted and written several plays, poems, and a six-part autobiography “I Know Why the caged Bird Sings” making her one of this country’s foremost black writers. In this story Angelou tells about how her grandmother (momma) triumphs over a pack of taunting neighborhood children. I feel very strongly about this particular piece given the time set and the way black people were treated by the whites, and how without harsh words or threats some black people overcame the taunting and cruelties of the whites.…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou's Influences Essay Example
    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Maya Angelou's Influences Essay Example

    Maya Angelou faced many obstacles when trying to reach success, that just made her stronger. Angelou quoted, “ You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” (Thinkexist.com, 1996-2006). Maya she was born April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis. At the age of seven, Maya Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Freeman. Freeman tells her he will kill her or Bailey, (Maya Angelou’s brother), if she tells anyone about what happened, between him and her. “A few days after she was forced to testify at his trial, her rapist was found beaten to death in an alley, apparently murdered by some of Angelou’s uncles.”(SPEC, 2008). Maya felt guilty and believed that her voice had caused the death of the rapist, so she became mute and remained so for four years. The only person Maya spoke to was Bailey; she began speaking again at the age of 13. At the age of 16, Maya gave birth to her son, Guy, three weeks before she graduated from high school. Maya decided to leave home, so she could support her son and herself. “Maya worked as a cocktail waitress, dancer, cook, and…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou
    • 712 Words
    • 21 Pages

    Phenomenal Woman: Maya Angelou

    Phenomenal Woman is one of the most quoted poems in literary history. This poem was written in 1978 by Maya Angelou to tell a story of how as woman, through our many obstacles, we still were phenomenal. Angelou is a poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She was born Marguerite Johnson, April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou’s life wasn’t always silver and gold. Maya Angelou’s parents divorced when she was a young child and her and her older brother were sent to live in Arkansas with their grandmother. At the age of seven, during a visit to her mother’s, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. She only told her brother that this accord and days later, her mother’s boyfriend was killed by her uncles for his act on her. She thought that her words had killed him and she stopped speaking. She went on not speaking for five years and when she finally spoke, her and her brother moved back with their mom now in San Francisco. Maya earned a scholarship to the Labor School to dance and act. At the age of 16, she became pregnant and dropped out of school to work and raise her son. Angelou begin her career in a different way than most poets. She began as a dancer, then a Calypso singer and later moved to Harlem to join the Harlem Freedom Writers. In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian leadership Conference. From 1961 to 962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt; and from 1964 to 1966 she was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana. She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. At the…

    • 712 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Research Papers
    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maya Angelou Research Papers

    Maya Angelou's turbulent experiences through late childhood and adolescence transformed into an almost positive force in her adult life as they helped enlighten, inspire, motivate and shape her very being. They provided her with the vehement fuel that drives her achingly powerful words and allowed her the knowledge and wisdom that led to self-discovery (finding one's inner self) and eventually knowledge of self (understanding one's inner self), two endeavors that most of humanity is never able or perhaps willing to acquire. In Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Marguerite Johnson experiences a particularly difficult childhood where she is often displaced geographically, socially and racially, and is even raped at a young age,…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou On The Pulse Of The Morning
    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou On The Pulse Of The Morning

    Maya Angelou, born as Marguerite Anne Johnson was born on April 4,1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She began being interested in poetry at a very young age. She fell in love with poetry in Stamps, Arkansas. At the age of 8 she was raped, and managed her trauma by recalling and reciting literature, including poetry which helped bring her out of her muteness. When she was young, she liked to be called Maya, because it was the nickname her older brother had given her. She had many different occupations; she was a successful singer, dancer, and performer.…

    • 495 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Best Essays

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
    • 2425 Words
    • 10 Pages

    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou was an African American girl who grew up during this challenging time. During her childhood, she witnessed and experienced racial prejudice first hand. She had difficultly understanding and accepting the consequences that accompanied belonging to this race during this era. Although she had several bad experiences as a child, she did not allow them to take over the rest of her life. Overcoming prejudice demands one to go through a long, ruthless journey, particularly when the prejudice is directed towards oneself. This is unmistakably displayed in Maya Angelou’s autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.…

    • 2425 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Many Things Influenced Maya Angelou's Writing
    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Many Things Influenced Maya Angelou's Writing

    Many Things influenced Maya Angelou’s writing. The hardships she went through was because of the color of her skin. She was born into a segregated world and is black. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri but was raised by her grandparents in Arkansas due to her parents getting divorced. Both of these places were segregated. Her and her brother were both treated unfairly by everyone around them. Her grandmother taught her manners and disciplined her until she was a polite and mature person. She helped raise her younger brother which loved and cared about her and would always call her “my” for “my sister”. Which led to her name becoming Maya instead of her real name, Marguerite Annie Johnson.…

    • 403 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Maya Angelou
    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou

    Marguerite Anne Johnson (Maya Angelou) was born in St. Louis, Missouri on the 4th of April 1928. Even at the time of her birth, when she was seconds, minutes, hours, old, life was working against her. She was born at the mercy of the ignorant, the “traditionalists”, and the near-sighted (racist/sexist people). At a very young age Angelou’s parents split and she and her brother were left in the care of her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou experienced both brutal racism and unshakable faith in community and culture while living with her grandmother and was crushed when she had to leave Stamps and all the memories that the town embodied. At age seven, while visiting her mother in the windy city (a.k.a. Chicago) Angelou was molested by her mother’s boyfriend. She told her brother who, in turn, told others. Her rapist showed up dead a few days after the incident and believing that her words were what killed him, Maya Angelou decided to stop speaking. For 5 long years Maya stayed silent, beginning to reintegrate speech only after she moved to San Francisco where her love for the arts won her a scholarship to the San Francisco Labor School. At 16 years old she became pregnant and gave birth to her son Guy. After graduating high school she decided to pursue the arts and at the ripe age of 19 she married Anatasios Angelopulos, a Greek sailor on a cruise ship where she later sang. Her nightclub/cruise ship singer status was elevated after her marriage deteriorated and she was invited to play Carla and the 1954-1955 production of Porgy and Bess. As her career flourished she turned to writing poetry and lyrics. Her works became known and she soon had four autobiographies under her belt. She has spoken at an inauguration, received 3 Grammys and 2 presidential medals, and inspired many to look beyond their…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Maya Angelou
    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Maya Angelou

    Maya Angelou was born as Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Ed.) Her parents divorced when she was 3, she then lived with her mother. (Shaw, Taylor) At age 8 her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, raped her. Angelou hid her dirty underwear under the couch, where her mother found it and discovered she had been raped. Mr. Freeman was convicted and sent to jail. When he was released he was beaten to death. (Cuffie, Terrasita) Angelou thought it was her fault that he was killed, so she didn’t speak to anyone except her brother for 6 long years. (Smelstor, Bruce) Angelou and her brother, Bailey, then moved to Stamps, Arkansas to be raised by their grandmother. She was forced to accept the ways of the Deep South. Her grandmother owned a general store and she helped Angelou develop confidence. (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd Ed.) After 8th grade Angelou moved back to California to live with her mother. She was a great student and graduated high school with honors. (Smelstor, Bruce)…

    • 1228 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou: Still I Rise
    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maya Angelou: Still I Rise

    Rising to become a college professor, dancer, activist, and movie star, Maya Angelou has overcome much in her life. From being raped by a family member at a very young age that made her speechless for years (Burns 1) and having to deal with the responsibilities of being a mother in her teens (Burns 1),Maya Angelou has risen. She was a part of the Martin Luther King Jr. movement serving as the coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Burns 1). Maya Angelou has risen from the racism, discrimination, sexism and pure hate that comes along with being a black woman in the late 1900’s (poets.org 1). Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” can be paralleled to her life experience of rape, sexism, criticism, and personal obstacles.…

    • 965 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Epitome of a Woman
    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Epitome of a Woman

    Maya Angelou has been an inspiration not only to me, but to women all around the world. Her colorful works of art aspire me to be all I can be; from” I know why a cage bird sings” to “Phenomenal Woman.” This particular piece spoke to me because of I think of that special person in my life every time I stubble across it. This poem speaks of a woman whom is phenomenal one. This story speaks of the beautiful magohany woman who gave me life.…

    • 685 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics