THE REFLECTION OF MAYA ANGELOU’S LIFE AS SEEN IN HER SELECTED POEMS
THESIS
Submitted to the Board of Examiners In Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for Literature Degree at English Literature Department
By
NUR SELI NIM: AI 150327
ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY THE STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY SULTHAN THAHA SAIFUDIN JAMBI 2019
MOTTO
Meaning: ―I only complain of my suffering and my grief to Allah, and I know from Allah that which you do not know.‖ (Qs. Yusuf: 86)1
Artinya: “Hanya kepada Allah aku mengadukan kesusahan dan kesedihanku. Dan aku mengetahui dari Allah apa yang tidak kamu ketahui.” (Qs. Yusuf: 86)2
1 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, (1934) ―The Meaning of Glorious Qur‟an Text Translation and Commentary‖, p. 245 2 Abdullah Yusuf Ali, p. 245
DEDICATION
In the name of Allah SWT most gracious merciful and the Prophet
Muhammad SAW, the inspiration of Moslem‘s life, I dedicate this thesis to my beloved parents, Mr. Herman Susilo and Mrs. Liana (almh), my step mother Mrs.
Nesi and especially My beloved Grandmother as a second mother for me Mrs. surya, who have grown me up in love, without your deeply love and holy prayers I can‘t take my success. I feel so prestigious because living around the super skillful and wise people as you are all. I also dedicate this thesis for my brother, Hairul Takwa.
Thank you for support, encouragement, patient, helping and everything.
For my best friend GWC team and my support system Mr. Azhar who always giving love and supported as long as I made this thesis and other friends who cannot be said one by one. I would like to say thanks a lot for your care and suggestion that are given to me as long as my journey in writing this thesis. The thesis for all people who have helped me in writing this thesis, I would like to say thank you so much. I love you al as always.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Firstly, the writer would like to say Alhamdulillahirabil‟alamin, all the praise to Allah SWT the lord of all creatures, for his blessing from the starting point of my study until now the end of my study. After that, Sholawat and Salam be upon to our
Prophet Muhammad SAW, hopefully we will get His Syafa‟at later at The Last Day to accomplish this thesis, the writer had been given one great deal to many people.
So, the writer would like to say thanks for their contribution, they are:
1. Prof Dr. H. Suaidi Asy‘ari, MA, Ph.D as the rector of the State Islamic
University of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi.
2. Prof. Dr. Maisah, Mpd. I as the dean of Adab and Humanities Faculty.
3. Dr. Alfian, S.pd M.Ed as the first Dean Academic. Dr. H. M. Fadil, M.Ag as
the second Dean of Finances, and Dr. Roudhoh, S.Ag, M.Pd. I as the third
Dean of University Student of Adab and Humanities Faculty,
4. The head of English Literature Department Ulfatmi Azlan, SS, MA. And The
secretary of English Litrerature Department Dian Mukhlisa, MA .
5. My supervisor H. Mislan S.pd M.Pd, Firdiansyah M.A. I would like to
express her deepest gratitude to people who helped the writer in
accomplishing this thesis. I would like to thank who have helped adduced,
support and suggested me in writing this thesis and finish this thesis.
6. All the lectures and staffs of Adab and Humanities Faculty, then contribution
and assistant during studying in UIN of Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi
7. The head of officers of the library of UIN and public library of Jambi
Province.
8. My beloved parents, grand mother and brother, who gave fully supporting to
the writer.
9. The last but not least, to all classmates ELITE 2015 who have given
additional suggestion and support.
The thesis is still far away from perfection. I need some critics and suggestion, so that I can be letter in the future. Finally, the writer hopes this thesis will give positive contributions for readers, especially for the student of English
Literature Department of Adab and Humanities Faculty.
Jambi, October
2019
The writer
Nur Seli AI 150327
ABSTRACT
Seli, Nur . 2019 ―The Reflection of Maya Angelou’s Life as Seen in her Selected poems‖. English Literature Department, Adab Faculty, The State of Islamic University Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi. Supervisor I : H. Mislan, M.Pd Supervisor II : Firdiansyah, M.A
This study aims to find the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life as seen in her selected poems. Moreover, this study designs to find out the meaning of Maya Angelou‘s poems and the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life in her poems. Poem is the tool to express the human feeling and sense that used selected language as a media to explore and filed up with figurative language and another element to beautify the tone, rhyme, and another aspect which make the poem more interest. Literary work is generally fictional, such as a poem. But there are some poems that related to the real life of the author or related to the past of the author. As found in Maya‘s poems, some of her poems are based on her real life. On this research the writer applies the theory of expressive and biographical approach. This research is qualitative research that conducted by descriptive method. This research uses document for technique of collecting the data content analysis technique in analyzing the data. Since the data are collected, analyzed, and described in the form of words it tries to describe the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life. The data of the research are sentences in every stanza of the poems. This study has data source which is the fourth selected poems and taken from the Maya Angelou‘s biography. The writer found that there the connotative and denotative meaning from that poems, and four selected poems reflect Maya Angelou‘s life. In the first poem ―a plagued journey (1983),‖ feeling of hope, love and sadness, this poem tells about her life when she felt sadness after married several times and always the end with divorce. The second poem ―Kin (1978),‖ this poem tells about her feeling of sadness and when miss with her brother and remembering the childhood they experienced together. The third poem ―Caged Bird (1969)‖ this poem tells of her sympathy toward the African American society who has discrimination to ethnic minority. The last poem ―phenomenal woman (1978),‖ this poem tells of her sympathy with the woman in African American and her as the power of African America.
Keyword: connotative and denotative, reflection
ABSTRAK Seli, Nur . 2019 ―The Reflection of Maya Angelou’s Life as Seen in her Selected poems‖. English Literature Department, Adab Faculty, The State of Islamic University Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin Jambi. Supervisor I : H. Mislan, M.Pd Supervisor II : Firdiansyah, M.A
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menemukan cerminan kehidupan Maya Angelou dalam puisi-puisinya. Terlebih lagi, penelitian ini didesain untuk menemukan makna didalam puisi-puisi Maya Angelou dan cerminan kehidupan Maya Angelou dilihat dari puisi-puisinya. Puisi adalah alat untuk mengekspresikan perasaan manusia menggunakan bahasa yang dipilih sebagai media untuk mengeksplorasi dan mengisi dengan bahasa kiasan dan elemen lain untuk mempercantik nada, sajak, dan aspek lian yang membuat puisi lebih menarik. Karya sastra umumnya bersifat fisi , seperti puisi, Namun ada beberapa puisi yang terkait dengan kehidupan nyata penulis. Seperti yang ditemukan dalam puisi maya, beberapa puisinya didasarkan pada kehidupan yang sebenarnya. Pada penelitian ini penulis menerapkan teori exressive dan pendekatan biografis. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif yang dilakukan dengan metode deskriptif. Penelitian ini menggunakan dokumen untuk teknik pengumpulan, teknik analisis isi data data dalam menganalisis data. Karena data dikumpulkan, di analisis, dan dijelaskan dalam bentuk kata-kata, ia mencoba menggambarkan refleksi kehidupan Maya Angelou. Data penelitian adalah kalimat- kalimat dalam setiap bait puisi. Penelitian ini sumber data yaitu empat puisi pilihan dan biografi Maya Angelou. Penulis menemukan bahwa ada makna konotasi dan denotasi dari puisi itu, dan empat puisi yang dipilih mencerminkan kehidupan Maya Angelou, puisi pertama, ―A Plagued Journey (1983),‖ perasaan harapan, cinta dan kesedihan. puisi ini menjelaskan tentang kehidupannya, ketika dia merasakan kesedihan setelah menikah beberapa kali dan selalu berakhir dengan perceraian. Puisi kedua, ―Kin (1978),‖ puisi ini menjelaskan tentang perasaan sedihya ketika merindukan sadara laki-lakinya dan mengingat masa kecil yang mereka alami bersama. Puisi ketiga, ―Caged Bird (1969)‖ puisi ini menjelaskan tentang simpatinya kepada masyarakat Africa-America yang mengalami deskriminasi terhadap suku minoritas. Puisi keempat, ―TPhenomenal woman( 1978),‖ puisi ini mencertikan tentang simpaty nya terhadap wanita Africa America dan dia sebagai kekuatan bagi para wanita African American.
Kata Kunci : Makna konotasi dan denotasi, cerminan.
ABBREVIATION
SWT : Subhanahuu Wata‟ala SAW : Shallallahu Alaihi Wasallam UIN : Universitas Islam Negeri STS : Sulthan Thaha Saifuddin APJ : A Plagued Journey CB : Caged Bird PW : Phenomenal Woman
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Problem Human life is inseparable from the existence of literary work. Human is not only given a mind by god but also completed with feeling. Literary means of information in the form of a sign to receive, to save, and to transfer. Literary is a sign that contain text3. Human can feel what happen on their own life or environment. On the other hand, they can also fell happy, sad and other concerning with their emotion such as feeling that they have not only kept in both in their mind or heart, but certainly they are able to express as an idea or overflow emotion thought literary work. It means that by literary, people can express what they seen in life. What they have experience of it and what they have thought and felt. They transform those aspects in various from of literary work. Generally in the literary, there are four main steps of interpretation. Like these to determine directly the primary meaning, explain the meaning implicit, determine the theme, explaining the meaning of the text4. According to Ahmad Bahrun“ sastra adalah kegiatan seni yang menggunakan bahasa dan garis-garis symbol lain sebagai alat dan bersifat imajinatif”5 From explanation above, the writer can take assumption that literary work is all about language. Language is a thing to make communication with the other, and also language is imaginative. A person can describe life as outlined by the media of language, writing or other object.
3Suwardi Endraswara,(2011) “ Metodologi Penelitian Sastra “. (Yogyakarta: FBS Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, CAPS.).p 45 4 Ibid. p, 45 5http://www.scribd.com/doc/31552799/pengertian-sastra-Menurut-Para-Ahli(retired on friday at September 17,2019 at 23,30 pm)
Literature concerned with all aspect of human life and universe in their entirety, surely every work of literature is about something and the more a person reads, the better stoked will his mind be with knowledge. On the other hand Wallek and Warren said literature as creative activity an art, literature us art, from like painting, sculpture, music, drama, and the dance. Literature as a description of human experience that has personal and social dimensions at once and knowledge of humanity that equal with the shape of life itself6. The important of literature studied as means of sharing experience in the search for and finds the truth of humanity. There is not much literature related to writing, but with the language used as a vehicle to express certain experience or thought. As cited in Rohberger and Woods, literature is a structure with meaning: that involves experience, gives knowledge; it involves one in experience that he values the experiences afford the greater knowledge and wisdom7 Indeed literature has great impact to one‘s lives, and hope to give visions for others. Literature has four genres, namely short story, novel, poem and play. In this study, the research is concerned with poems. The rhythmical language of poem has opened the research‘s mind. The poem helps the researcher to feel optimist and brave, also to gain new vision of the society condition. According to Wallek and Warren to analyzed of the literary work that is viewed from the external factors such as biography, history and philosophy of the poet to the extrinsic approach.8 Literary works have an important role in society because the work of literature is a reflection or a reflection of the social condition of society that accrued in the word so that the word to inspire people is feelings to think about life, social problems
6Wallek and Warren (1989)Theory of literature, melani bidiarta9trans. Jakarta GramediaPustakautama 7Rohrberger , M.& Woods, Jr, S.H(1971). Reading and writing about literature. New york; Random house. P.5 8Wallek and warren in M. Keith Booker(1996), A Practical Introduction to Literary Theory and Cricism(United States of America : Linda Moser Book Center, Betty L &Sokol,),p.19
and event experienced, felt and seen by the author then gave birth to ideas that poured in her work9. Among the great genres of English literature, novels, poetry and drama, which contain the literature appreciation of the essence of complex literary auto is poem, because poetry is a painting of certain words that produce its new world, the world of text. Poem is tool to express the human feeling and sense that used selected language as a media to explore and filed u with figurative language and another element to beauty the tone, rhyme, and another aspect which make the poem more interest. Poems have two talents, imaginative and mastery of language, as imaginative people the poems lead the reader to drown in their words and feel the things that‘s the poems fell thought their works, the reader must not easily use her imagination to interpret any poems as she wishes to be expected or wanted, the poems have their own meaning and sometimes the poetic words do not explicitly mean as they written. Poem has many meanings in a world, as Waluyo said : “puisi adalah karya sastra, semua karya sastra bersifat imaginative. Bahasa sastra bersifat konotatif karena banyak digunakan makna kias dan makna lambing.”10 Poem is one of means for someone to deliver her feeling, emotion, idea and also about her experience in her life. By writing it, she feels satisfied with her creation. And the topic is correlated with her life. In poetry, the readers do not understand about general meaning such as meaning word by word in poem, but also detail meaning. it means understanding about meaning of word by word and knowing the deep meaning in that poem like sense, for example, if the title of poetry is about life the sense be different can be sadness or pain in life, and also if one word is analyzed, it needs much explanation or has much meaning. Actually, the author makes the poetry from her life experience, or what happen in her social life. Then, the authors conclude it down into beautiful poem. The
9Backson,K&Ganz. (1975), Literary terms : A Dictionary, Toronto : McGraw-Hill Ryers 10 Herman J, Waluyo,(1991). Teori dan Apresiasi Puisi. (Jakarta Penerbit Erlangga), p. 22
topic may be sadness, happiness, pain, hope, hopeless, sympathy, sorrow and etc. because poem usually makes it from writer life experience and the poem is reflected in her life. Because of that, the writer is interested in analyzing the poem and the writer want to know what the reason of the author to wrote that poems. This research is chosen the poem in this research because the writer is interested in studying poem. Reading poem carefully automatically develops our knowledge and science and it makes possible to arrange the works that are chosen by the author. Besides that the writer can also get the authors feeling or experiences from the poems, and the writer knows that poem is literary work that describe the behavior of life based on feeling and experience of life and poems have beautiful high value in the form or in the meaning itself Poem shows the real condition in the environment and show moment that happened at specific time. So much poetry by Maya Angelou, the writer just takes some of the poetry which contain with her life experience. There are fourth poems by Maya Angelou a plagued journey, kin, caged bird and phenomenal women. The writer is interested in choosing Maya Angelou as the topic, because as we know so many famous authors from America one of them Maya Angelou, here, the writer want to analyzed Maya Angelou‘s poem, her full name is Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St Louis, America (1928-2014). She is the famous modern woman poet from America. She made a lot of poems such as love poem, good poem, nature poem and also life poem. She made the poem from all aspect in social life. Famous name is Maya Angelou; Maya expressed the experience of her life, her feeling and her emotion into poem and by using beautiful and chosen words, so the poetry is more interesting to read. Maya Angelou wrote down the poem and gave the information to the readers about her life experience into her poem, so that the writer wants to analyze Maya literary work, and the writer is correlating it into Maya‘s life. The writer picks out some example from the poems. First, this poem tells about his feeling to her brother Bailey Johnson the tittle ―Kin ―. It can be seen in the stanza below:
We were entwined in red rings Of blood and loneliness before The first snows fell Before muddy rivers11
In this poem, Maya Angelou describes her feeling sad and missing to her brother Bailey Johnson, she tells its proximity with her brother. In this stanza describe about her relationship, a red rings that symbolizes blood cells or a blood relationship both of them, it was the beginning of their close relationship. And Maya tell that a brotherhood can not to be replaced by anything in the world. This poem with the title: ―kin”. Maya was famous at the time, some of her poem create based on her own fear as the writer know in Maya biography, she have complication illness and her life is not simples full of worry, prejudice, discrimination, and complicated. Her poems greatly influenced Emily Dickinson, who admired her as a woman of achievement. Her popularity in the United States and Britain was further advanced by her stands against social injustice, including slavery in the United State, injustice toward African American society by foreign rules, and child labor. The writer choose selected the poem because of some reason, the first one is that all the poem have successfully moved the researcher, since the poem can be felt real on her life and not only by the African American, but also for the people who experienced bullying, oppression, and injustice in Indonesia especially. There are some issue regarding to religion and race that the minorities have no right to become the leader and to voice their opinion. People are afraid of the truth and putting the blames to the innocence, just like what white American did to the African Americans. These poems show the reader the way to act hold even in the lowest situation in life, and that people should come together to fight injustice.
11Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive
The last reason is that Maya Angelou is one of the emotions of the empowered woman; Maya Angelou shows the humanity through her works, she connects the emotion of the African Americans as group and their struggle to get their rights. Her works motivates others, especially for women, who are considered weak, to bravely state their opinion and should not give up in every problem in their life. As we know literary is generally fiction, such as a poem, but there are some poem that related to the real life of the author or related to the past of the author. As found in Maya Angelou‘s poem, her poems do not only have beautiful words, but also share the story and history of her life and society and African American society to the world. Thus, the researcher conducted the research in order to see her life as reflected in a plagued journey, kin, caged bird, and phenomenal woman. The writers choose the poems because they were written at the era where the breakthrough of her experience movements happens. Moreover the poem has the data that suitable for analysis in this research. In this research writer would analyzed Maya Angelou‘s poem. The writer was interested in the researching Maya Angelou‘s poem because there were many aspects from condition of her poems, society which describe about the different treatment of Black woman‘s life. The writer choose Maya Angelou‘s poem to be researched because Maya Angelou‘s is the second poet and first female who expressed her poetries based on the real event that happen not only on her own life but also which happen in social life and condition society in her Era and deliver message to the reader. Based on the background that was deciphered, the writer interested to know what the correlation between the author and her poems is and also the writer want to know usual meaning that found Maya Angelou‘s poems. So, the title in this thesis is “The Reflection of Maya Angelou’s life as seen in her selected Poems”
B. Formulation of the Problems The focus of this study, the researcher limits and focuses of this study by formulating the research questions as follow: 1. What are the meanings of Maya Angelou selected poems? 2. How do the poems reflect Maya Angelou‘s life?
C. Limitation of the Problem In this research, the writer limits the discussion on the extrinsic element of poem. The poem extrinsic element is about correlation the author‘s life based on biography and the poem. And actually so many aspect that the writer can analyze in the poetry, but in the case the writer limited the research. The researcher only focuses on fourth in Maya Angelou‘s poem, because these poems tell of sense in her poems and reflection of poems with her life, and her experience in life and her society. Title of poems is: a plagued journey, kin, caged bird, and phenomenal woman.
D. Purpose of the Research Based on the problems statement is mentioned above, the purposes of this research is: 1. To find out the meanings of Maya Angelou selected poems 2. To find out the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life in her life.
E. Significant of the Research The research analyzed selected poems by Maya Angelou‘s the writer hopes this research will bring a significant positive contribution. There are several significances of this study; hopefully, this study gives benefits to the readers and those who are interested in doing a literary research. This study is expected as the reading material which is used for teaching reading and poetry subject. Moreover, the researcher wants to help the readers to become more aware that reading and understanding literary work does not only give joy but also a deeper and broader
knowledge about the real world condition. This research can also be a reference for students who want to understand more about Maya Angelou‘s work. Besides, through the study, readers can see the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life, which is mostly about the struggle of life to survive. On the other hand, for future literary researcher, who plans to conduct a research based on Maya Angelou‘s literary work, especially her poems, the researcher expects that this study becomes a new reference. Also, for those who are interested in studying poems, hopefully, this study becomes a source of different styles of poetry, which can be analyzed by the diction, versification, imagery and figures of speech. The researcher hopes this study is able to help people to be aware of literary works, and enjoy the literary works with pleasure.
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
In this chapter, the writer will conducts library. Research that will give theory and theory of reflection of the author‘s life from some related literature as references for this thesis. The writer also makes note some quotations from the experts to supports the theory used in this study. In addition, the writer will present theoretical background that becomes the base of this study.
A. Biographical Approach There are many ideas about biographical approach. To support this research, the writer use biographical approach. Wallek and Warren said biographical approach is one of the old approaches; biographical is systematic study about the creative12. It means that biographical approach is one of old approach and creative activities of human being, from their imagination, develop and though to become art. According to Guerin ―biographical approach is literary work chiefly, if not exclusively as reflect of the author‘s life and time or the life and tome of characters in a work‖.13 Biographical approach, In order to understand the literary object, one most appreciates the ideas and personality of the author. The followers of this approach attempt to learn as much as they can about the life and development of author and to apply this knowledge in their attempt to understand his writings. The biographical material provides useful facts that could put the reader in better position to understand and appreciate the literary object. Besides, people must be careful to not to allow any moral judgment concerning to the life of the writer to carry over to a judgment of the writing.14
12Wallek and Warren in Nyoman Kuta Ratna(2010). Theory, Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra, p.56 13 Wilfred L. Guiren ( 2005 ). A handbook of Critical Approach of Literature, ( New York Oxford University Press), p. 51 14Rohrberger and woods (1971,p . 8)
Biographical approach is analyzing of the literary work based on the background of the author‘s biography that can see in life, and also social culture environment of the author‘s in a literary work. Social culture of way of life of certain time period gives the reader a greater knowledge based on which to draw conclusion and better to understand the story. Discovering details about author‘s life and time also provide similar ways to further develop idea about the story, so biographical approach explains about the author‘s, his creative, his carrier, his activity, and his personal life15. Nyoman Kuta Ratna Explain : “ biograpfi yang semata-mata menganalisis riwayat hidup, dengan proses pemahaman mulai dari individu kemasyarakatan, namun biografi juga menilai sejauh memberi masukan tentang penciptaan karya sastra dan biografi juga dapat dianggap sebagai studi yang sistematis tentang psikologi pengarang dan proses kreatif”16
The biographical approach as the way of analyzes the poem by examining the poem in relation to what is known about the poet‘s life. If we want to use this approach we have to know the poet‘s life or the poet‘s biography. There are advantages in using the biography approach of the author in the analysis, namely to illuminate the element within a work, words, allusions to particular place and historical event, conflicts, theme, characters, setting. Furthermore, biography gives ease to see the expression of author‘s deep concern and conflict. Therefore, Angelou‘s personal life, her times and works are taken into consideration. Here, the writer chose will apply the biographical approach to implement in this study, because the approach sees literary work as mainly the reflection of its author‘s life and times of the life and times of the characters in the work. The poets are concern about their social situation and the effect for the people and what happened in her life. The study deals with the relation of the historical society of the
15 Jako Sumardjo & Saini K.M.(1986),Apresiasi Kesusateraan,(Jakarta : Gramedia ), p. 22 16 Nyoman Khuta Ratna(2011). Teori Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra, p.59
author of literary work. Researcher wanted to know the reflection of Maya‘s life with her selected poems and what happened in her life seen from her poems, So that the researcher understands deeply the concept of Maya Angelou‘s poems. Besides, some experts stated that literary work is the reflection of the condition of the poems and poets themselves. Rohrberger and Woods for example, in their book they stated that poetry is the highest expressions of man‘s ideas and experience, which convey the author‘s ideals and thoughts.17 Therefore the study needs to use the approach which will underpin the theme of the poems.
B. Expressive Theory In this research, the writer analyzes about the reflection of the author‘s life as seen in her selected poems. Expressive theory is meaning of something that relates to research. Because of that, the writer chooses the expressive theory for these research after that the writer analyzed it to find the answer of the research. Expressive theory treats a literary work primary in relation to the author. It defines literary work as an expression, overflow, utterance, or projection of the though and feeling, or as the products of human feelings18. The most powerful impetus in expressive critical thought was the Romantic Movement that began in the late eighteenth century. This movement has deeply affected our modern consciousness and the common sense discourse of literary commentary. The three key concepts associated with this movement are: imagination, genius, and emotion. Here, the writer decided to use expressive theory because it is suitable with the research that will be analyzed about intrinsic element that built in the poetry itself. According to Abrams in Partini Sardjono Pradotokusumo‘s book: pendekatan kritis yang terkandung yang utama terhadap karya sastra yaitu 1) pendekatan yang
17Rohrberger and woods (1971) p.103 18M.H. Abrams(1999), romantic theory and the critical tradition, (London, new york:Oxford University), p.22
menitik berat kan pada karya sastra itu sendiri (pendekatan objectif); 2) pendekatan yang menitik beratkan pada penulis (pendekatan ekspresif); 3) pendekatan yang menitik beratkan pada semesta ( pendekatan mimetic)19. Best on the statement it can be known that expressive theory only focuses on the author self. According to Longinus; untuk mencptakan karya agung yang terpenting adalah unsur kreatif penulis; passion and emotion20. From that statement to get good literary work is depend on writer self, the important thing is the element of creativity of the writer such as her passion and her emotion. According to Gerry Mackie said : expressive theory studies the psychological aspects of the writer during the creative process is projected through the works of creation, both of in the relation to the writer as a person and the writer as a representative of the community to choice in many circumstances of life21 Here, the writer analyze about the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life as seen in her selected poems. Where expressive theory focuses on writer or the author itself usually the story tells about the author‘s life that has happened in the past event and author thought her theory is very suitable with this research because this research tells about the reflection of the author‘s life and one of the experiences of the author.
C. Poetry Study McCurry stated that art organizes consciousness and brings people together with a sense of shared experience, and sympathy of feeling. Besides, she also mentioned that, are protected the human values of compassion, love and innocence,
19Pradoto Kusumo Partini Sardjono(2005), Pengkajian Sastra, (Jakarta: Gramedia,), p.63 20Longinus in PartiniPradotokusumo. (2005). Pengkajian Sastra (Jakarta: Penerbit PT GramediaPustakaUtama). P.72 21 Gerry Meckie(2007).On The Expressive Theory Of Voting,(University Of California, Sandiego.) p.2
and made the freedom for real survival.22 Poetry is an example of art. In this point, the researcher wants to describe the theory of poetry. Perrine describes Poetry as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than do ordinary language. Since poetry is much more highly condensed, compressed from language then prose, the words used have to bear much more meaning than those in prose23. Poetry by its special use of words, makes ―massive‖ kind of communication, which attempt to communicate attitudes, feelings, and interpretation,24 it means that poetry hopefully could convey the poet message directly to the reader. Besides, poetry is not a thing separate from ordinary life and that matters with which poetry deals are matters with which the ordinary person is concerned. In understanding the poems, the researcher needs to understand some element of poetry and make them as whole not parts. From explanation above, the writer can make assumption that, the poem is not only a tool to express human‘s ideas. But also often teaches the readers a moral lesson, share something that have experienced, and give pleasure to the readers. Indirectly, poem is enabling the readers to look ―into the life of things‖ while science sharpens our intellect, a poem enriches our moral insight. There are some kinds of poem, those are: a) Descriptive Descriptive poem is the poems which describe people or experience, scenes, or object. b) Reflective
22McMurry (1976) McMurry, M. K. (1976). Role-playing as art in Maya Angelou‘s ‗Caged Bird‖ south Atlantic Bulletin, 41,(p.111) 23Rohrberger&woods , jr.,1971,Rohrberger, M. & Woods, Jr, S.H (1971). Reading and Writing about literature. New York; Random House.P.34 24Brooks& Warren, 1960, Brooks, C. & Warren, R. P. (1960).Understanding poetry.Chicago; Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p,6
Thoughtful poems often containing a great deal of description which the poet comment or from which he draws conclusion are directly stated: at other times implied. c) Narrative Narrative is a telling of a story or a description of an event. d) The lyric The lyric is usually a short poem like a song which is usually the expression of a mood or feeling. e) The Sonnet The sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines which follows a very strict rhyme pattern. It is usually divided into two parts: the ‗octave‘ (the first eight lines).
D. African American Society in USA African American (also referred to as Black American or Afro-American) are an ethnic group of American with total partial ancestry from any the black racial groups of Africa. The term typically refers to descendant of enslaved black people who are from the United States.25 African American were sold and traded to the south of America from 1607 to 1807 when the import was finally banned. After Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery was appointed President of the United States in 1860; slavery was abolished in 1863 through legal states. Even though racial deference was still felt until finally around the beginning and mid-20th century, black people began to rise against their tribes. The climax occurred in the 1960s and with the emergence of the human rights movement, so that now black people in the US have had a much better life and treatment. Their economic situation and level of society has also improved. Starts in the 16th century, with peoples from West Africa forcibly taken as slaves to Spanish America, and in 17th century with West African slaves taken to
25Shola Ajiboye‖Black Americans and Africans in United States of America:Different And Similarities” vol 15, No. 2, December 2015, case western Reserve University
English colonies in North America, after the founding of in United States, black people continued to be enslaved, and the last four million black slaves were only liberated after the civil war in 1865. The nationalization Act of 1790 limited U.S. citizenship to whites only, and only white men of property could vote. These circumstances were changed by reconstruction, development of black community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, the elimination of racial segregation, and the civil right movement which sought political and social freedom. In 2008, Barrack Obama becomes the first African American to be elected President of the United States.26
E. Figurative Language Figurative language is the language that used the author for expressing something with unusually ways.27 Figurative language has many and rich of meanings; it means that the writer expresses the whole passage, words, meaning of the figurative language and sign with indirect ways. Figurative language seems more effective to express the purpose of something with some reasons, those are:
1. Bahasa figurative mampu menghasil kan imajinatif 2. Bahasa figurative adalah cara untuk menghasilkan imaji tambahan dalam puisi 3. Bahasa figurative adalah cara menambah intensitas perasaan penyair untuk puisi nya dan menyampa kan sikap penyair 4. Bahasa figurative adalah cara untuk mengkonsentrasikan dan cara menyampaikan sesuatu yang banyak dan luas dengan bahasa yang singkat.28
26LaGarret J.K, ChristpherDavis,AnthonyLbrown, ―African American History‖. Vol 36 Issue 4 University of Texas Austin. 27 L.G Alexander(1963), Poetry Appreciation For Overseas Student,(London: Longman Group Limited,),p 23-41 28 Herman J Waluyo(1987), Teori dan Apresiasi Puisi (Erlangga), p.83
In conclusion, Figurative Language is a way to use the language, so that the energy of expression and the full energy or both become more interested. figurative language is needed to convey the right meaning in an artistic way that is a special way to use words because in poetry there are many figurative words as well as in Maya‘s poems. Perrine describes Poetry as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than do ordinary language. Since poetry is much more highly condensed, compressed from language then prose, the words used have to bear much more meaning than those in prose.29
F. Connotative and Denotative Meaning Connotative meaning is the suggested or added meaning usually changes in meaning. A word may convey certain affective or evaluative associations; connotations arise as words become associated with certain characteristics of the items to which they refer. Connotative is the literature language that full ambiguity and homonym. Connotative is signification level which explains between signifier and signified which in both operates meaning that is not explicit, indirect and indefinite.30 Denotative is significant level which describes the relationship between signifier and signified, or between the mark and he reference to the reality, which generates explicit meaning, direct meaning, and definite meaning is also referred to as first order signification. Denotative is the most conventional signification level in society, namely the elements of sign which meaning tend to be agreed socially.31
29Rohrberger&woods , jr.,1971,Rohrberger, M. & Woods, Jr, S.H (1971),p 34 30VictioriaFromkin, An introduction to Language, ( London: Harcourt Btace),p, 25 31VictioriaFromkin, An introduction to Language, ( London: Harcourt Btace), p. 127
Simply denotative is describe as the meaning of words that do not contain additional feelings. So, it is called denotative. Denotative have some other term, such as reverential meaning, the meaning of conceptual, or ideational meaning. In conclusion with the connotation and denotation meaning of the researcher interpreting poetry based on these two types of meanings obtained meaning associated with the poem of Maya, and makes it easier for the researcher to understand and look for the correlation between her poem and the story experienced by Maya in her life.
G. Review of Related Study
The first literary research is in Muhammad Sofian‘s research. Student of English Literature Department of Adab Faculty, in Islamic University STS Jambi 2013, His thesis ―The sense thought the meaning of life that correlate with Khalil Gibran as Depicted on Khalil Gibran‘s selected poetries‖32. He applied Biographical Approach and the sense of life concept by to support his research. He uses qualitative method, which also uses descriptive technique to describe and analyze the data. As result, he found the answer from two problems as found in poetry of Khalil Gibran are 1) there are three sense of life in Khalil Gibran selected poetry, they are happiness, sadness, and anger and fear. 2) Khalil Gibran‘s poetry has much correlation with his life such as hid family, friends, environment, government, and love. The second, the literary research is in Fajar Aditya Yunarto‘s research. His title ―The reflection of Sylvia Plath‘s Suicidal Manner and Suicidal Attempts in ‗lady
32 Muhammad sofian(2013) the sense thought the meaning of life that correlated with Khalil Gibran as depicted on Khalil Gibran‟s selected poems. ( Islamic University of Jambi ).
Lazarus‘ as seen thought the Imagery‖33 1) to find out how the imagery reflect Sylvia Plath‘s suicidal manner and suicidal attempts. This study applies library research and uses biographical approach, and applies three theories. In this research, he found that there are various kinds of images that are used in the poem; the biography of Sylvia Plath proves that Sylvia Plath also suffered from similar severe stresses, though the imagery the poem reflects Sylvia Plath‘s suicidal manner and suicidal attempts. The third, literary research is in Siti Mustofiah‘s research, student of English Literature Department of Adab Faculty, in Islamic university STS Jambi 2012. Her thesis title is ―the reflection of Khaled Hosseini‘s life as seen in his novel ‗The Kite Runner‘‖34. She uses expressive theory to make this thesis, and also she uses biographical approach that is really suitable with her thesis. And she has found the problems in this novel such as 1) what are the similarities of life between the author‘s life, Khaled Husseini, and main character‘s life, Amir, that happen in his novel the kite Runner. From the previous research above, different from previous research, most of them analyzed of meaning, in this research, the writer are going to focus on the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life as seen in her selected poems and the writer uses Expressive theory and Biographical Approach to help this research becomes clear.
33FajarAdityaYUnarto (2006) “ The reflection of Sylvia plath‟sSucidal Manner and Sucidal Attempts in „lady Lazarus‟ as seen thought the Imagery” (Yogyakarta: SanataDarma University) 34SitiMustofa (2012) the reflection of HkaledHosseini‟s Life as seen in His novel „the kite Runner‟( Jambi UniversitasislamNegri )
CHAPTER III METHOD OF RESEARCH
A. Design of Research In writing this thesis, the writer use qualitative research and descriptive method that is suitable with the aim of this research. Qualitative method may be in descriptive form. The data were collected in form of words as a descriptive explanation than a number. The result of the research contained quotation from the data illustrate and substantive the presentation. Descriptive research is a research which aims to describe a phenomenon accurately based on the characteristic of research.35 In this thesis, the writer uses qualitative research, where the data are analyzed through interpreting, not statistical analysis. Nyoman Kutha Ratna stated that: “metode kualitatif memberikan perhatian terhadap data alamiah, data dalam hubungan nya dengan konteks keberadaannya. Cara-cara inilah yang mendorong metode kualitatif dianggap sebagai multi metode sebab penelitian pada gilirannya melibat kan sejumah besar gejala social yang relevan. Dalam penelitian karya sastra, misalnya, akan dilibatkan pengarang, lingkungan social dimana pengarang berada, termasuk unsur-unsur kebudayaan.”36
Best on quotation above, the qualitative research can be used in this research due to the qualitative method did not only involves the intrinsic aspect in literary work. But, it can be related with the extrinsic aspect in the literary itself. So, that is why, the qualitative method also can be said as multi method. Because, the relating of the extrinsic aspect in the literary itself. Descriptive is:
35 John W.Creswell(1997), qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, (United States of America: California ),p. 15 36Nyoman Kutha Ratna(2011), Teori, Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Cet. Ke-III edisi revisi (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Plelajar, ),p. 47
‖data yang dikumpulkan berupa kata-kata gambar dan bukan angka-angka, hal itu disebabkan oleh penerapan metode kualitatif.”37
In this research, descriptive method can be defined as a problem solving procedure investigated by describing the state of the subject or object in the study. Descriptive method is a method in examining the status of group of humans, an object, a set of conditions, a system of thought, or class event in the present. The purpose of this description, painting systematically, factually and accurately, of the facts, the characteristics and relationship between the phenomena and investigated In this theory, qualitative research in research procedures which produce descriptive data as spoken words of the person or behavior being researched. Moh Nazir stated that ―metode deskriptif adalah bertujuan untuk membuat deskripsi, gambaran atau lukisan secara sistematis, factual dan akurat mengenai fakta-fakta, sift-sifat serta hubungan antar fenomena yang diselidiki”38. It makes easy the research to get the right data. It means that qualitative method is analyzing about descriptive data that are used documentation in this research, by using qualitative method, the writer felt easy to analyze the poems. The research aim to describe phenomenon accurately based on the characteristic of research called descriptive research, in this thesis the writer used descriptive qualitative method, research that is suitable with the aim of research Best on that statement, qualitative research are multi method that focus on interpretive, it is subject matter and qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials-case study, personal experience, interview, observation, historical, life story, introspective and visual text that describe routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals live. It can be concluding qualitative research that analyzing about descriptive data that is collected
37Sugiyono,(2009) metode penelitian Kuantitatif Kualitatif dan R&D, (bandung: Alfabeta,), p,9 38MohNazir(2010), metode penelitian (Bogor :penerbitGraha Indonesia,) p. 54.
in the form of the object. To describe the research problem related to the understanding of the data collection and interpret problem based on real phenomena related to the research study. By using the researcher the writer can be answer the question in analyzing of the analysis condition and correlation of poems in Maya Angelou‘s.
B. Source Data Primary data were the main data directly related to the discussion of the thesis. In this research the writer takes the primary data from fifty-five poems of Maya Angelou the writer takes the source of data from fourth of Maya Angelou‘s selected poems which related with her experience in her life. A plagued journey, kin, caged bird and, phenomenal women. Secondary data are Biographies of Maya Angelou .in order to supports this research; the writer will take the data from several sources, such as some internet, and cyber data, dictionary, new papers, and the other source that have correlation with the research.
C. Technique of Data Collection In an effort to get the data, in this research the writer uses qualitative research, the technique in qualitative research. The writer uses documentation and Sugioyono stated that ― Dokumen merupakan catatan peristiwa yang sudah berlalu dan dokumen ialah setiap bahan tertulis, ataupun dari record yang dipersiapkan karena adanya permintaan seorang penyidik.39. It means that in Qualitative research, the writer uses some documents that have correlation or support the problem of the research. Because this research is descriptive that is why the writer describes and analyzes the data has been found in Maya Angelou‘s poems to answer of the problem that has been formulated in the formulation of the problem. The writer has some steps in
39Sugiyono(2009), Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif Kualitatif dan R & D, (Bandung: Alfabeta,), p. 9
collecting the data, in order to make this research more specific. The steps in collecting data; a. Collecting all the data from the poems that had been taking from tell and other source which are closely related to the aim of the research and also reading repeatedly and comprehensively for some sense, text, and symbols that exist in the selected poems of Maya Angelou and articles in the cyber data as many as possible which show a form of problem. b. Reading the data repeatedly, after getting all sources, the writer reads it to make sure that the data are correlating with the research. c. Making on the words or sentences and all the important statements and information, as well as afterwards, making a note of data. After reading the sources carefully, the writer makes any important statements to make the writer easier in the analyzing process for the research. d. Identifying and classifying the data, after finding all the data completely, the writer processes the data to analyze them. Finally, the writer makes a good arrangement for the thesis proposal itself as the last in finalizing research40. Collecting the data in this research, the writer choose fourth selected poem‘s Maya Angelou from internet such as ;a plagued journey, kin , caged bird, and phenomenal women, and also taking in some other source that has a relationship with this research.
D. Technique of Data Analysis After collecting the data, the writer analyzes the data. In qualitative research, technique analysis data are used to answer the formulation of the problem in analysis data. In the technique data analysis the writer conclude all the data that has complete
40Siswantoro(2010), Metode Penelitian Sastra,(Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar), p.73
to understand the data that were collected, According to Sugiyono book ―data analysis is the process of systematically searching and arranging interview transcripts, field notes, and other materials that you accumulate to increase you own understanding of them and to enable you to present what you have discovered to others‖41 The writer uses content analysis method. According to Noyman Kutha Ratna : “isi dalam metode analisis terdiri dari atas dua macam, yaitu, isi laten dan isi komunikasi. Isi laten adalah isi yang terkandung dalam dokumen dan naskah, sedangkan isi komunikasi adalah pesan yang terkandung sebagai komunikasi yang terjadi. Isi laten adalah isi sebagaimana dimaksudkan oleh penulis, sedangkan isi komunikasi adalah sebagaimana tewujud dalam hubungan naskah dengan konsumen”42
Based on the statement above, the writer use communication content, because the writer analysis the relation between poems with the life fact of the author. In this research writer uses content analysis technique because this research is descriptive. It was way the writer describes, analyzes the data has been found in the scripts poem of Maya Angelou. To find the answer the formulation of the problem that has been formulated. The technique of data analysis in this research the writer have some steps in analyzing the data, in order to make this research more specific. The steps are; 1. Identifying The write identify the poetry of Maya Angelou and try to understand about the meaning and characteristic of each poem. 2. Classifying the data The writer classifies the text event teaching which has correlated with the source and combined in the poems of Maya Angelou. 3. Analyzing, describing, explaining
41Sugiyono, Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif dan kualitatif R &D , P. 244. 42NyomanKuthaRatna. Teori,Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. P. 50
The writer analyzes, describes and explains the data based on the theory that is used. 4. Making Conclusion The writer concludes all of the materials analyzed, described and explained in the research based on the theories and frown and the writer will make the conclusion of the research43.
43Suwardi Endaraswara(2011). MetodologiPenelitianSastra, Etimologi, Model.TeoridanAplikasi,(Yogyakarta: Center for Academic Publishing Service), 160-161
CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
1. The Meaning of Maya Angelou Selected Poems
This part discusses the analysis of meaning in Maya Angelou selected poems. Poem is one of literary work that has sentences and words which differences meaning from daily language used. The writer only focuses on the meaning of figurative language. Connotation and denotation meaning could be regarded in the situation, the time and the environment. It means that, different situation will give different meaning in a sentence.
a) A Plagued Journey
In the first poem, Maya told about her feeling to all ex-husband. A plagued journey is supposedly about hope and sadness, and love which the poet feels inside her. Below is an analysis of the poem.
There is no warning rattle at the door nor heavy feet to stomp the foyer boards. Safe in the dark prison, I know that light slides over the fingered work of a toothless44 ( APJ 1983 )
In this line ―There is no warning rattle at the door” According to Oxford Dictionary, the word ―warning” means advance about a possible danger or difficulty45, and the word “door” means piece of wood46. ―Safe in the dark prison”
44 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive.p 6 45 Hornby, (2008), Oxford Learner‟s Pocked Dictionary, Fourth Edition, (Oxford University Press) 46Hornby, (2008),
According to Oxford Dictionary, the word ―Dark‖ means lack of light47 and “Prison” means building in which criminals are kept as a punishment48. From the stanza above, Maya explained her feeling with her ex-husband. The poem starts with the poet telling about an intruder, which seeps in towards her. ―There is no warning rattle at the door” The intruder is silent, and doesn‘t announce its presence with any sound. “Safe in the dark prison”, is a chamber of poet. The poet is resting in the darkness, and is gloomy. It is later revealed that the intruder is sunlight – rather say hope which arises within a person with the arrival of sunlight.
Happy prints of an invisible time are illumined. My mouth agape Rejects the solid air and Lungs hold. The invader takes Direction and Seeps through the plaster walls49 (APJ 1983)
In this line ―an invisible time are illumined” According to Oxford Dictionary, the word ―Invisible‖ means enable to be seen, not visible to the eye50, and ―illuminate” shine light51. The line ‗Happy prints of an invisible time are illumined‘ probably implies that hope gives a person the feeling of a better future, a happy future, a place in which the person will feel happy and loved, and hence the invisible time is illumined. The time is invisible because it is in the future, and may occur if the person has hope. The poet is taken aback with the arrival of Hope. She rejects its presence and tries to be void of hope. But hope invades and seeps through small cracks and crevices into the room and thereafter into her.
47Hornby, (2008), 48Hornby, (2008), 49Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. P 6 50 Hornby, (2008), 51 Hornby, (2008),
It is at my chamber, entering the keyhole, pushing Through the padding of the door. I cannot scream. A bone of fear clogs my throat. It is upon me. It is sunrise, with Hope its arrogant rider52 ( APJ 1983 )
From the word ―Sunrise‖ According to Oxford Dictionary means, ―sun” star round which the earth, the time in the morning when se sun appears or full daylight arrives53. In these lines, it is depicted how hope moves into the room of darkness where the poet is sitting. The poet is afraid of the presence of hope, and tries to avoid it. In these lines, it is revealed that Sunrise is the invader which is being talked about by the poet in the previous lines. The Sunrise, or sunlight, is accompanied by its rider, Hope.
to look upon their rapturous visages, to let them enter even into me. I am forced outside myself to mount the light and ride joined with Hope54 (APJ 1983 )
In this line “to look upon their rapturous visages” According to Oxford Dictionary, the word “look” means turn your eyes in a particular direction55, the word ― Rapturous‖ means adjective from ―rapture” great happiness56 . In the above
52 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. P. 6 53 Hornby, (2008), 54 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive.p.6 55 Hornby, (2008), 56 Hornby, (2008),
lines, the poet tells us what happens to her thoughts and thinking because of the arrival of hope. Her mind, which was numb before, starts believing in a positive way, having a positive outlook towards herself, and her future, hope enters her mind, and starts a storm of thoughts inside her head. She further says that because of the Hope, she is forced out from being herself (that is sad, gloomy or depressed), and she rides the waves of hope which has invaded her mind.
Through all the bright hours I cling to expectation, until darkness comes to reclaim me as its own. Hope fades, day is gone into its irredeemable place and I am thrown back into the familiar bonds of disconsolation57 (APJ 1983 )
In this line ―I cling to expectation, until” According to Oxford Dictionary, the word “cling” means hold on tightly58, and “expectation” means a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future59. Lines ―darkness comes to reclaim me” the word “comes” means move to travel toward or into a place through of as near or familiar to the speaker60, and word “reclaim” means retrieved or recover, something previously lost, given, or paid61. The poet rides the waves of hope for as long as the sunlight enters her room, she clings to expectations of positive thoughts and mind set. But eventually the sun does set, and so the light coming from it also starts fading into the distant, marking the arrival of darkness (Sorrow or depression), and darkness once again comes to reclaim the poet as their own. The day
57 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive.p.6 58 Hornby, (2008), 59 Hornby, (2008), 60 Hornby, (2008), 61 Hornby, (2008),
is gone, and with it all the hope it had bring to her, darkness once again conquers her thought, and she again becomes
The poet beautiful describes how the darkness conquers her once again, little by little. We can picture the scene of a woman sitting in a room, and as the sun sets, the darkness begins creeping towards starting from the walls, climbing onto her toes and then working her way up to her knees and finally covering her entirely. This is a metaphor, for how darkness or sadness or depression, slowly engulfs a person without even a warning. The poem depicts how people who suffer from sadness, or depression feel about hope, and how many times – despite their efforts – they still struggle in overcoming it
b) Kin (1978)
A kin is supposedly about sadness which the poet feels inside her. Below is an analysis of the poem
We were entwined in red rings Of blood and loneliness before The first snows fell62 (KIN 1978)
In this line ―We were entwined in red rings” According to Oxford Dictionary, the word “entwined” means , and “red” the color of blood63, word ―rings” means circular metal band worn on a finger64. From the stanza Maya describe about her feeling with her brother, her brotherhood describe with red rings is and symbolizes blood cells and ―before the first snow fell‖ shows how they were connected from birth, before they saw snow.
62 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. p 27 63 Hornby, (2008), 64 Hornby, (2008),
Before muddy rivers seeded clouds Above a virgin forest, and Men ran naked, blue and black Skinned into the warm embraces Of Sheba, Eve , and Lilith. I was your sister65 (Kin 1978)
“Skinned into the warm embraces” According to Oxford Dictionary word “skin” means layer of tissue that covers the body66, word “warm” means between cool and hot67, and word ―embrace‖ means your arm as a sign of affection68. These lines also contain visual images that help us understand what she sees in her head the fact that it is said that she ―is‖ her sister indicates that they no longer have the same relationship, and Maya explain how he tried to force other to take the figure of a brother in her life, but no one can replace him in herself.
I will remember silent walks in Southern woods and long talks in low voices shielding meaning from the big ears of overcurious adults (KIN 1978)
This line ―shielding meaning from the big ears” from Oxford Dictionary word “ears” means part of the body on each side of the head used for hearing69
65 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive.p.27 66 Hornby, (2008), 67 Hornby, (2008), 68 Hornby, (2008), 69 Hornby, (2008),
c) Caged Bird
Caged bird is supposedly about sympathy which the poet feels inside her. Below is an analysis of the poem. In this poem describe a bird and compares a bird in a frightened cage with a cut wing ad a happy bird flying freely. Freedom felt between the minority and majority races at the time.
The free Bird leaps On the Black of the wind And floats downstream Till the current ends70 (CB 1969)
“The free Bird leaps” from oxford dictionary word “free” means not in prison71, and word “leaps” means jump high or a long way72. From stanza above of the poem describe a free bird, the free bird is able to choose where he goes and when he ride the wind, enjoy the sun, and ―dares to claim the sky‖, this is joyous depiction is then juxtaposed with the troubles of the caged bird.
But A bird that stalks Down his narrow cage Can seldom see through His bare of rage His wings are clipped and His feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing73 (CB 1969)
70 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. p 13 71 Hornby, (2008), 72 Hornby, (2008), 73 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. p 13
Word “wings” means one of the parts of body of a bird or insect that uses for flying74. The second stanza describes. The bars of its cage make it difficult to see because they are ―bars of rage‖ the caged birds is not able to overcome his anger at his captivity because he is surrounded by constant reminders of his narrow life ―his wings are clipped and/ his feet are tied‖ he is kept from soaring free, as his own nature demand and the only thing left for him to do is to sing his pain and anger.
The free bird thinks of another breeze And the trade winds soft through the singing trees And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn And he names the sky his own (CB 1969)
―Winds‖ means have many bends and twists, word ―trees‖ means wooden trunk and branches. But a caged birds stands on the grave of dreams His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing (CB 1969)
Word “shadow” means dark shape75; word “nightmare” means frightening dreams76. Caged bird sings of things he‘s never known, never having experienced true freedom does not stop him from longing for it. He knows there is something better there, and his cry for freedom is heard ― on the distant hill‖
d) Phenomenal Woman
Phenomenal Woman is supposedly about sympathy which the poet feels inside her. Below is an analysis of the poem
74 Hornby, (2008), 75 Hornby, (2008), 76Hornby, (2008),
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies I‘m not cure or built to suit a fashion model‘s size But when I start to tell them The think I‘m telling lies77 (PW 1978)
In that line, the word “pretty” means attractive in a delicate way without being truly beautiful78, the word “secret” means something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others79, and the word “lies” means an intentionally false statement80. From the stanza above it‘s interesting to note that the people this phenomenal woman want to address initially are pretty women. The reason why is soon revealed. She want to plain looking herself, she is not cute or slender or fashionable in shape. She does not fit the typical definition of beauty as embodied by fashion models. She explain the secret to her beauty, the women believe she is telling ―lies‖. The use of such a strong term suggests that they are not only in disbelief but jealous as well. She proud to be an individual without the need to prostrate to society and its stereotypes are wrong, his ideas about what should be liked and aspired by a beautiful woman. The woman humanity and respect for the phenomenal space of others, her dignity and inner strength mean that she does not have to advertise her qualities or be insolent and popular. No, its essence, its health, is far deeper.
It‘s in the arch of my back The sun of my smile The ride of my breast, The grace of my style I‘m a woman Phenomenally
77 Classic Poetry Stories, Maya Angelou poems(2012) Poem hunter.com- The world‘s Poetry Archive. p 45 78Hornby, (2008), 79 Hornby, (2008), 80 Hornby, (2008),
(PW 1978)
From that line, the word “sun” means, the stars around which the earth orbits, and the word “smile” means form one‘s features into a pleased, kind or amused expression, typically with the corner of the mouth turned up and the front teeth exposed.
Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed I don‘t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud When you see me passing It ought to make you proud (PW 1978)
In that line, the word “bowed” means bend the head or upper part of the body as sign of respect, greeting, or shame. From stanza above Maya describes, she is never ashamed of anyone, she makes weakness into strengths, she is a phenomenal woman and she proud with herself, she is not more beautiful and more fashionable even thought her presence makes people proud of themselves and will be in the spotlight wherever she goes that‘s why she never bowed her head in shame.
B. Maya Angelou’s Selected Poems That Reflect Her Life
After the writer arranged the formulation by finding the problem and it would be discussed and explained in this thesis. The writer explained briefly about the theory of expressive, the meaning of Maya‘s poem, and then the analyzed formulation itself in the analysis. Several of Maya Angelou‘s poems reflect of her life. Maya wrote down the poems and gave the information to the readers about her experience into her poems. She made the poem from all her life experiences. Maya Angelou‘s has complication illness and her life is not simples full of worry, prejudice,
and complicated. But her life is not all about sadness. Maya Angelou also made her poems with some expression, they are: hope and sadness, happiness, and sympathy, and prejudice.
1. Reflection of Hope and Sadness
Hope is something that what we want to happening in the future and feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Hope It's a simple word and yet can mean so much to anyone going through a difficult time. It can mean the difference between hanging on and giving up. It can mean a tiny smile in the face of a devastating diagnosis. Hope can mean anything you want it. Sadness is an emotion that is often associated with the feeling of disadvantage, loss, and helpless. Sadness is considered to be the direct opposite of happiness, and can also be characterized as arrow, grief, misery, and melancholy. By Maya Angelou‘s selected poems, the writer found three poems that reflect her sadness. They are those poems;
a) A plagued journey (1983)
In this poem, Maya Angelou reflected her feeling with her past the less fortunate of lovers. She gave birth to 17 years old without a husband. 2 times divorced and one time without celebration. On 1945 she give birth her son without a husband, on 1951 her first marriage with Tosh Angelou an electrician, former sailor and musician, her marriage without approval her mother. But the marriage broke up just after three years and the couple got divorced in less on 1954. On 1961 Maya Angelou having a relationship with Vusumzi make but not celebration. And the second marriage Maya Angelou with Paul de Feu a carpenter in San Francisco on 1973 and got divorced in less again on 1981.such as describes in his biography. Such as describes in her biography below:
―In 1951, Angelou married Tosh Angelos, a Greek electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother.‖81
―After Angelou's marriage ended in 1954, she danced professionally in clubs around San Francisco, including the nightclub the Purple Onion, where she sang and danced to calypso music‖82
― Angelou married Paul du Feu, a Welsh carpenter and ex-husband of writer Germaine Greer, in San Francisco in 1973. Over the next ten years, as Gillespie has stated, "She [Angelou] had accomplished more than many artists hope to achieve in a lifetime. In 1977, Angelou appeared in a supporting role in the television mini-series Roots. She was given a multitude of awards during this period, including over thirty honorary degrees from colleges and universities from all over the world. In the late 1970s, Angelou met Oprah Winfrey when Winfrey was a TV anchor in Baltimore, Maryland; Angelou would later become Winfrey's close friend and mentor. In 1981, Angelou and du Feu divorced.‖83
This poem was made in 1983 in South America, after telling the story of Paul's explanation, divorce was delivered for 2 and he returned to northern America. he still had to complete his past there and, still not having a bachelor's degree, accepted Reynolds's tenure as Professor of American studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he was one of the few African- American professors who were very busy thinking about that moment, he considered himself "a teacher who wrote". Angelou teaches a variety of lessons that reflect his interests, including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and use.
81 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 2308) 82 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 23:08) 83 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 23:08
From the explanation above, this poem is a reflection of her life when he suffered a divorce with her husband, the writer concluded that Maya Angelou reflected her life in poem, the feeling about divorce and hope and sadness to story of her love. A story that stars from the divorce of her parents which makes her not believe with a relationships of eternal and her story 2 times to settle down. Hope of the shadow of love, the temptation of seduction and love made her hope for a harmonious relationship but when she was lulled in the hope she felt be sorry for the hope with divorce, but did not make she down and the depression was only desperate for a relationship. She rise up and began a new life without a husband and happiness back until she died only with her son.
She decided to write her experience because she tried to motivate young people and himself and try to make her employees change their mindsets and be more positive. Hope and hope. We in life must have hope in the hope of being able to tell someone a better future going forward. But it must be overlapping if there is hope we are not in accordance with what we dream and can change involving discontinuation.
b) Kin (1978)
In this poem, Maya described her relationships and stories and about the life experiences they shared. the joy and misery they experienced together, about the importance of their family and relationship with their brothers, how close they grew up together, their closeness, until finally he was abandoned by her brother, because her brother wanted freedom, Maya was very close to her brother whoever was not can replace his brother's position in his heart.
Maya feels how she tries to make other people replace her brother's figure, even though she doesn't grow up to adulthood but her blood relationship makes him very close and cannot be replaced with anyone, in this poem virtual tells about her longing for his brother that's how she longed to talk and laugh together and share experiences, even though virtual separation from his brother their memories will
never be forgotten and will always be remembered. she remembers how her first brother called him "Maya" or "my" which he interpreted as "My sister" saying a call to his sister, when they were 3 and her brother was 4 years their parents divorced and they were sent to stamps, Arkarnas, how they got on their own train to arrive at the place of her father's grandmother.
―Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. Angelou's older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed Marguerite "Maya", derived from "My" or "Mya Sister". When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage" ended, and their father sent them to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. In "an astonishing exception" to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because "she made wise and honest investments"84
Returned to live with her mother how was her brother abused the first person who defended she and finally they returned home to his grandmother but on her mother's side there they went to school and learned and began to develop her talent and when they were 15 years old they lived back with their mother and when they grew up they finally separated for each other's freedom and to reach their respective goals.
84 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 23:08 )
2. Reflection of sympathy
Sympathy is the fact of showing support for or approval of an idea, cause, and many other. Sympathy expression is an expression or feeling of pity and sorrow when we know and see someone or people are unlucky or have trouble and in bad condition. By expression sympathy we want to show our concern or carefulness on other people condition. By Maya Angelou selected poems, the writer found one poems that reflect her sympathy.
a) Caged Birds (1969)
This poem wrote in 1969. Maya reflect her life and in this poem as a felt of sympathy Maya to African American society, issue of discrimination and oppression to African American, in this era so many problem, discrimination and oppression, at the time the celebration and endurance and dignity of African Americans were greatly disrespected. Therefore Maya Angelou made this poem the power of African Americans for the anger and pain felt by African society.
―1965. She became an administrator at the University of Ghana, and was active in the African-American expatriate community. She was a feature editor for The African Review, a freelance writer for the Ghanaian Times, wrote and broadcast for Radio Ghana, and worked and performed for Ghana's National Theatre. She performed in a revival of The Blacks in Geneva and Berlin.‖85
―In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. asked Angelou to organize a march. She agreed, but "postpones again", and in what Gillespie calls "a macabre twist of fate‖, she was assassinated on her 40th birthday (April 4). Devastated again, she was encouraged out of her depression by her friend James Baldwin. As
85 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 23:08 )
Gillespie states, "If 1968 was a year of great pain, loss, and sadness, it was also the year when America first witnessed the breadth and depth of Maya Angelou's spirit and creative genius". Despite having almost no experience, she wrote, produced, and narrated Blacks, Blues, Black!‖86
This poem reflected of her feeling about discrimination and conflicting experiences because of racial discrimination between blacks and whites. Caged bird is supposedly about sympathy which the poet feels inside her. Below is an analysis of the poem. In this poem to represent dominating white people and for oppressed black races, describe a bird and compares a bird in a frightened cage with a cut wing ad a happy bird flying freely. Freedom felt between the minority and majority races at the time.
b) Phenomenal women (1978)
This poem wrote in 1978 Maya Angelou was an African-American and because of her nationality she experienced discrimination and was aware of the way the society looked at people like her. But Angelou was very proud of her self and wanted the world to see it. She was not afraid of speaking in public, she use to do so to help others that were the victims of discrimination. She was also fighting for the women to have the same rights as men.
This poem Maya Reflected her life, feeling life and her past in, on 1936 Maya was sexually abused the age of eight by her mother‘s boyfriend and because of that incident Maya was depressed of several years and when she was divorce with her husband on 1954 she also worked at the night club and at the time discrimination against black and white women was differentiated. According to them the beautiful standards for those who were white and black skin has not appeal. This poem as a felt
86 The famous people, Maya Angelou, (accessed July 29,2019 at 23:08 )
of sympathy Maya to woman in African American society, such as describe on her biography: ―At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles. Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone."
In this poem Maya Angelou make a Phenomenal Women as a self-confident woman, she want makes her beautiful and she expresses it in a various way, this poem is one of the fourth poems by Maya Angelou about celebrating women.
In this poem tell about the body of women skin of women and Maya believe every women have an inner beauty, not only white skin, black skin although can be beautiful with this poem can also be considered an attack on the whites who consider themselves superior and discriminate he people on the basis of their color. And Maya tell the secret of her beauty is her womanhood.
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
A. Conclusions
After analyzing the meaning and the reflection of Maya Angelou‘s life as seen in her selected poems, the writer takes conclusions, they are: Maya Angelou‘s poems have many figurative language and connotative and dennotative meaning in her poems, and her poems are so varies. The first poem is about hopeless, love, and sadness. The second poem is about her loved with her brother, happiness, and sadness. The third poem is about her fight to African American society, feel of sympathy, and the last poems is about her proud of her self and to all woman. First poem ―a plagued journey (1983),‖ this poem tells about her life when she felt sadness after married several times and always the end with divorce, her feeling with her past her love to all the ex-husband. Hopeless with a love and sadness if always to thinking about that time, and try to be a good life with her soon without a husband, focuses on carrier. The second poem ―Kin (1978),‖ tells about her feeling her love with her brother. What happened in their life happy and sadness together with broken home, until their separate, and when miss with her brother and remembering the childhood they experienced together. The third poem ―Caged Bird (1969)‖ tells about discrimination minorities, racism, and oppression of Black American society, and in this poem tell of sympathy Maya as a power of African Americans for the anger and pain felt by African American society, The last poem ―phenomenal woman (1978),‖ This poem of her sympathy with the woman in African American and her as the power of African America, in this poem Maya describe as a woman must proud our self and don‘t other people do the discrimination and in this poem Maya want to tell every woman have a different inner beauty not always white, black skin although can be beautiful.
B. Suggestions
At the end of this thesis, the writer would like to give some suggestion. Based on analysis in this research, there are some suggestions related to this research:
1. The writer suggests this research can give contribution knowledge for junior of English Literature Department, especially about correlated and reflection with author‘s life to the reader. 2. The writer suggests that the other researchers can continue the research about Maya Angelou‘s life, because there are many other cases which are good to be discussed and analyzed. Since this study only discusses about the poems reflected Maya Angelou‘s life, the writer suggests the next researchers to conduct further research focus on one of her life, like education, career, or struggle. The researchers should not be afraid to do a literary research because analyzing a literary work and in linguistic and literature, there is only the different perception about linguistic and literature related to many others field of science.
REFERENCES
Abrams,M.H.1999. Romantic Theory and The Critical Tradition, (London, new york:Oxford University)
Angelou,M. 2002, Poem Hunter.com-the World‟s Poetry Archive. Classic Poetry Series.
Creswell,John W.1997 Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, (United States of America: California ).
Endraswara, Suwardi. 2011 Metode Penelitian Sastra, Yogyakarta.
Ganz,Backson. 1975, Literary Terms : A Dictionary, Toronto : McGraw-Hill Ryerson
Guiren, L Wilfred L. ( 2005 ). A handbook of Critical Approach of Literature, ( New York Oxford University Press),
LaGarret J.K, Christpher Davis,Anthony Lbrown, ―African American History‖. Vol 36 Issue 4 University of Texas Austin
L.G Alexander,(1963) Poetry Appreciation For Overseas Student,(London: Longman Group Limited,)
McMurry, M. K. (1976). Role-Playing as Art in Maya Angelou‘s ‗Caged Bird‖ South Atlantic Bulletin, 41, 106-111
Meckie, Gerry (2007).On The Expressive Theory Of Voting,(University Of California, Sandiego.)
Nazir.M2010 Metode Penelitian (Bogor : penerbit Graha Indonesia)
Mustofa,Siti. 2012 The Reflection of Hkaled Hosseini‟s Life as seen in His Novel „the Kite Runner‟( Jambi Universitas islam Negri )
M.& Woods,Rohrberger Jr, S.H (1971). Reading and Writing about Literature. New York; Random House.
Pradotokusumo, Longinus in Partini. 2005. Pengkajian Sastra (Jakarta: Penerbit PT GramediaPustaka Utama).
Ratna,Nyoman Kutha,2011 Teori, Metode dan Teknik Penelitian Sastra. Cet. Ke-III edisi revisi (Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pleajar,).
Sardjono, Pradotokusumo Partini,2005. Pengkajian Sastra, (Jakarta: Gramedia,)
Shola Ajiboye‖Black Americans and Africans in United States of America:Different And Similarities” vol 15, No. 2, December 2015, case western Reserve University.
Sofian, Muhammad.2013 The Sense Thought The Meaning of Life That Correlated With Khalil Gibran as Depicted on Khalil Gibran‟s Selected Poems. ( Islamic University of Jambi ).
Siswantoro,2010. Metode Penelitian Sastra. Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar
Sugiyono,2009. Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif Kualitatif dan R&D, (bandung: Alfabeta,)
Sumardjo, Jako & Saini K.M.(1986),Apresiasi Kesusateraan,(Jakarta : Gramedia
Victioria Fromkin, An introduction to Language, ( London: Harcourt Btace)
Warren and Wallek. 1989.Theory of Literature, melani bidiarta9trans . Jakarta Gramedia Pustaka utama
Waluyo J.H (1987)Teori dan Apresiasi Puisi (Erlangga,)
Yunarto,Fajar Aditya .2006 “ The Reflection of Sylvia Plath‟s Sucidal Manner and Sucidal Attempts in „Lady Lazarus‟ as Seen Thought the Imagery” (Yogyakarta: Sanata Darma University)
.WEBSITE http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maya-angelou http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/maya-angelou-2329.php
―Maya Angelou‖2019. The Biography channel website. Juli 29 2019, 23:08 http://www.biography.com/people/Maya-Angelou-9185388.. http://www.scribd.com/doc/31552799/pengertian-sastra-Menurut-Para-Ahli (retired on friday at September 17,2019 at 23,30 pm)
APPENDIX 1
BIOGRAPPHY
Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson, April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
She became a poet and writer after a series of occupations as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She was an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, she made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel.
Early life
Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. Angelou's older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed Marguerite "Maya", derived from "My" or "Mya Sister". When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage" ended, and their father sent them to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. In "an astonishing exception" to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because "she made wise and honest investments".
And Angelou's life has certainly been a full one: from the hardscrabble Depression era South to pimp, prostitute, supper club chanteuse, performer in Porgy and Bess, coordinator for Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, journalist in Egypt and Ghana in the heady days of decolonization, comrade of Malcolm X, and eyewitness to the Watts riots. She knew King and Malcolm, Billie Holiday, and Abbey Lincoln.To know her life story is to simultaneously wonder what on earth you have been doing with your own life and feel glad that you didn't have to go through half the things she has. Four years later, the children's father "came to Stamps without warning" and returned them to their mother's care in St. Louis. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles. Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone." According to Marcia Ann Gillespie and her colleagues, who wrote a biography about Angelou, it was during this period of silence when Angelou developed her extraordinary memory, her love for books and literature, and her ability to listen and observe the world around her.
Shortly after Freeman's murder, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother. Angelou credits a teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, with helping her speak again. Flowers introduced her to authors such as
Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Douglas Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson, authors who would affect her life and career, as well as black female artists like Frances Harper, Anne Spencer, and Jessie Fauset.
When Angelou was 14, she and her brother moved in with their mother once again, who had since moved to Oakland, California. During World War II, Angelou attended the California Labor School. At the age of 16, she became the first black female cable car conductor in San Francisco. She wanted the job badly, admiring the uniforms of the operators — so much so that her mother referred to it as her "dream job." Her mother encouraged her to pursue the position, but warned her that she would need to arrive early and work harder than others. In 2014, Angelou received a lifetime achievement award from the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials as part of a session billed ―Women Who Move the Nation.‖
Three weeks after completing school, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son, Clyde (who later changed his name to Guy Johnson).
Adulthood 1951–1961
In 1951, Angelou married Tosh Angelos, a Greek electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother. She took modern dance classes during this time, and met dancers and choreographers Alvin Ailey and Ruth Beckford. Ailey and Angelou formed a dance team, calling themselves "Al and Rita", and performed modern dance at fraternal black organizations throughout San Francisco, but never became successful. Angelou, her new husband, and her son moved to New York City so she could study African dance with Trinidadian dancer Pearl Primus, but they returned to San Francisco a year later.
After Angelou's marriage ended in 1954, she danced professionally in clubs around San Francisco, including the nightclub the Purple Onion, where she sang and danced to calypso music. Up to that point she went by the name of "Marguerite Johnson", or "Rita", but at the strong suggestion of her managers and supporters at the Purple Onion, she changed her professional name to "Maya Angelou" (her nickname and former married surname). It was a "distinctive name"that set her apart and captured the feel of her calypso dance performances. During 1954 and 1955, Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She began her practice of learning the language of every country she visited, and in a few years she
gained proficiency in several languages. In 1957, riding on the popularity of calypso, Angelou recorded her first album, Miss Calypso, which was reissued as a CD in 1996. She appeared in an off-Broadway review that inspired the 1957 film Calypso Heat Wave, in which Angelou sang and performed her own compositions.
Angelou met novelist John Oliver Killens in 1959 and, at his urging, moved to New York to concentrate on her writing career. She joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where she met several major African-American authors, including John Henrik Clarke, Rosa Guy, Paule Marshall, and Julian Mayfield, and was published for the first time. In 1960, after meeting civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and hearing him speak, she and Killens organized "the legendary"[38] Cabaret for Freedom to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and she was named SCLC's Northern Coordinator. According to scholar Lyman B. Hagen, her contributions to civil rights as a fundraiser and SCLC organizer were successful and "eminently effective". Angelou also began her pro-Castro and anti-apartheid activism during this time.
Most of Angelou's time in Africa was spent in Accra, Ghana, shown here in 2008.In 1961, Angelou performed in Jean Genet's play The Blacks, along with Abbey Lincoln, Roscoe Lee Brown, James Earl Jones, Louis Gossett, Godfrey Cambridge, and Cicely Tyson. Also in 1961, she met South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make; they never officially married. She and her son Guy moved with Make to Cairo, where Angelou worked as an associate editor at the weekly English-language newspaper The Arab Observer. In 1962, her relationship with Make ended, and she and Guy moved to Accra, Ghana so he could attend college, but he was seriously injured in an automobile accident. Angelou remained in Accra for his recovery and ended up staying there until 1965. She became an administrator at the University of Ghana, and was active in the African-American expatriate community. She was a feature editor for The African Review, a freelance writer for the Ghanaian Times, wrote and broadcast for Radio Ghana, and worked and performed for Ghana's National Theatre. She performed in a revival of The Blacks in Geneva and Berlin.
In Accra, she became close friends with Malcolm X during his visit in the early 1960s. Angelou returned to the U.S. in 1965 to help him build a new civil rights organization, the Organization of Afro-American Unity; he was assassinated shortly afterward. Devastated and adrift, she joined her brother in Hawaii, where she resumed her singing career. She moved back to Los Angeles to focus on her writing career.
Working as a market researcher in Watts, Angelou witnessed the riots in the summer of 1965. She acted in and wrote plays, and returned to New York in 1967. She met her lifelong friend Rosa Guy and renewed her friendship with James Baldwin, whom she had met in Paris in the 1950s and called "my brother", during this time. Her friend Jerry Purcell provided Angelou with a stipend to support her writing.
In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. asked Angelou to organize a march. She agreed, but "postpones again", and in what Gillespie calls "a macabre twist of fate",he was assassinated on her 40th birthday (April 4). Devastated again, she was encouraged out of her depression by her friend James Baldwin. As Gillespie states, "If 1968 was a year of great pain, loss, and sadness, it was also the year when America first witnessed the breadth and depth of Maya Angelou's spirit and creative genius". Despite having almost no experience, she wrote, produced, and narrated Blacks, Blues, Black!, a ten-part series of documentaries about the connection between blues music and black Americans' African heritage, and what Angelou called the "Africanisms still current in the U.S." for National Educational Television, the precursor of PBS. Also in 1968, inspired at a dinner party she attended with Baldwin, cartoonist Jules Feiffer, and his wife Judy, and challenged by Random House editor Robert Loomis, she wrote her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. This brought her international recognition and acclaim.
Later career
Angelou's Georgia, Georgia, produced by a Swedish film company and filmed in Sweden, the first screenplay written by a black woman, was released in 1972. She also wrote the film's soundtrack, despite having very little additional input in the filming of the movie. Angelou married Paul du Feu, a Welsh carpenter and ex- husband of writer Germaine Greer, in San Francisco in 1973. Over the next ten years, as Gillespie has stated, "She [Angelou] had accomplished more than many artists hope to achieve in a lifetime." Angelou worked as a composer, writing for singer Roberta Flack, and composing movie scores. She wrote articles, short stories, TV scripts, documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry, produced plays, and was named visiting professor at several colleges and universities. She was "a reluctant actor", and was nominated for a Tony Award in 1973 for her role in Look Away. As a theater director, in 1988 she undertook a revival of Errol John's play Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at the Almeida Theatre in London.
In 1977, Angelou appeared in a supporting role in the television mini-series Roots. She was given a multitude of awards during this period, including over thirty honorary degrees from colleges and universities from all over the world. In the late 1970s, Angelou met Oprah Winfrey when Winfrey was a TV anchor in Baltimore, Maryland; Angelou would later become Winfrey's close friend and mentor. In 1981, Angelou and du Feu divorced.
She returned to the southern United States in 1981 because she felt she had to come to terms with her past there and, despite having no bachelor's degree, accepted the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she was one of a few full-time African- American professors. From that point on, she considered herself "a teacher who writes". Angelou taught a variety of subjects that reflected her interests, including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and writing. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that even though she made many friends on campus, "she never quite lived down all of the criticism from people who thought she was more of a celebrity than an intellect...[and] an overpaid figurehead". The last course she taught at Wake Forest was in 2011, but she was planning to teach another course in late 2014. Her final speaking engagement at the university was in late 2013. Beginning in the 1990s, Angelou actively participated in the lecture circuit in a customized tour bus, something she continued into her eighties.
Maya Angelou speaking at a rally for Barack Obama, 2008 In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton, becoming the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.] Her recitation resulted in more fame and recognition for her previous works, and broadened her appeal "across racial, economic, and educational boundaries".The recording of the poem won a Grammy Award. In June 1995, she delivered what Richard Long called her "second 'public' poem", titled "A Brave and Startling Truth", which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.
Angelou achieved her goal of directing a feature film in 1996, Down in the Delta, which featured actors such as Alfre Woodard and Wesley Snipes. Also in 1996, she collaborated with R&B artists Ashford & Simpson on seven of the eleven tracks of their album Been Found. The album was responsible for three of Angelou's only Billboard chart appearances. In 2000, she created a successful collection of
products for Hallmark, including greeting cards and decorative household items. She responded to critics who charged her with being too commercial by stating that "the enterprise was perfectly in keeping with her role as 'the people's poet'". More than thirty years after Angelou began writing her life story, she completed her sixth autobiography A Song Flung Up to Heaven, in 2002.
Angelou and Hillary Clinton at an event in North Carolina in 2008 Angelou campaigned for the Democratic Party in the 2008 presidential primaries, giving her public support to Hillary Clinton. In the run-up to the January Democratic primary in South Carolina, the Clinton campaign ran ads featuring Angelou's endorsement. The ads were part of the campaign's efforts to rally support in the Black community; but Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary, finishing 29 points ahead of Clinton and taking 80% of the Black vote. When Clinton's campaign ended, Angelou put her support behind Obama, who went on to win the presidential election and became the first African-American president of the United States. After Obama's inauguration, she stated, "We are growing up beyond the idiocies of racism and sexism."
In late 2010, Angelou donated her personal papers and career memorabilia to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. They consisted of more than 340 boxes of documents that featured her handwritten notes on yellow legal pads for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, a 1982 telegram from Coretta Scott King, fan mail, and personal and professional correspondence from colleagues such as her editor Robert Loomis. In 2011, Angelou served as a consultant for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. She spoke out in opposition to a paraphrase of a quotation by King that appeared on the memorial, saying, "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit",[90] and demanded that it be changed. Eventually, the paraphrase was removed.
The details of Angelou's life described in her seven autobiographies and in numerous interviews, speeches, and articles tended to be inconsistent. Critic Mary Jane Lupton has explained that when Angelou spoke about her life, she did so eloquently but informally and "with no time chart in front of her".For example, she was married at least twice, but never clarified the number of times she had been married, "for fear of sounding frivolous"; according to her autobiographies and to Gillespie, she married Tosh Angelos in 1951 and Paul du Feu in 1974, and began her relationship with Vusumzi Make in 1961, but never formally married him. Angelou held many jobs, including some in the sex trade, working as a prostitute and madame
for lesbians, as she described in her second autobiography, Gather Together in My Name. In a 1995 interview, Angelou said, "I wrote about my experiences because I thought too many people tell young folks, 'I never did anything wrong. Who, Moi? – never I. I have no skeletons in my closet. In fact, I have no closet.' They lie like that and then young people find themselves in situations and they think, 'Damn I must be a pretty bad guy. My mom or dad never did anything wrong.' They can't forgive themselves and go on with their lives."
Angelou had one son, Guy, whose birth she described in her first autobiography; one grandson, two great-grandchildren, and, according to Gillespie, a large group of friends and extended family. Angelou's mother Vivian Baxter died in 1991 and her brother Bailey Johnson, Jr., died in 2000 after a series of strokes; both were important figures in her life and her books. In 1981, the mother of her grandson disappeared with him; finding him took four years.
In 2009, the gossip website TMZ erroneously reported that Angelou had been hospitalized in Los Angeles when she was alive and well in St. Louis, which resulted in rumors of her death and, according to Angelou, concern among her friends and family worldwide. In 2013, Angelou told her friend Oprah Winfrey that she had studied courses offered by the Unity Church, which were spiritually significant to her. She did not earn a university degree, but according to Gillespie it was Angelou's preference to be called "Dr. Angelou" by people outside of her family and close friends. She owned two homes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a "lordly brownstone" in Harlem, which was purchased in 2004 and was full of her "growing library" of books she collected throughout her life, artwork collected over the span of many decades, and well-stocked kitchens. Guardian writer Gary Younge reported that in Angelou's Harlem home were several African wall hangings and her collection of paintings, including ones of several jazz trumpeters, a watercolor of Rosa Parks, and a Faith Ringgold work titled "Maya's Quilt Of Life".
She hosted several celebrations per year at her main residence in Winston- Salem; "her skill in the kitchen is the stuff of legend—from haute cuisine to down- home comfort food".The Winston-Salem Journal stated: "Securing an invitation to one of Angelou's Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas tree decorating parties or birthday parties was among the most coveted invitations in town." The New York Times, describing Angelou's residence history in New York City, stated that she regularly hosted elaborate New Year's Day parties. She combined her cooking and writing
skills in her 2004 book Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, which featured 73 recipes, many of which she learned from her grandmother and mother, accompanied by 28 vignettes. She followed up in 2010 with her second cookbook, Great Food, All Day Long: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart, which focused on weight loss and portion control.
Beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou used the same "writing ritual" for many years. She would wake early in the morning and check into a hotel room, where the staff was instructed to remove any pictures from the walls. She would write on legal pads while lying on the bed, with only a bottle of sherry, a deck of cards to play solitaire, Roget's Thesaurus, and the Bible, and would leave by the early afternoon. She would average 10–12 pages of written material a day, which she edited down to three or four pages in the evening. She went through this process to "enchant" herself, and as she said in a 1989 interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, "relive the agony, the anguish, the Sturm und Drang". She placed herself back in the time she wrote about, even traumatic experiences such as her rape in Caged Bird, in order to "tell the human truth" about her life. Angelou stated that she played cards in order to get to that place of enchantment and in order to access her memories more effectively. She said, "It may take an hour to get into it, but once I'm in it—ha! It's so delicious!" She did not find the process cathartic; rather, she found relief in "telling the truth".
Death
Angelou died on the morning of May 28, 2014. She was found by her nurse. Although Angelou had reportedly been in poor health and had canceled recent scheduled appearances, she was working on another book, an autobiography about her experiences with national and world leaders. During her memorial service at Wake Forest University, her son Guy Johnson stated that despite being in constant pain due to her dancing career and respiratory failure, she wrote four books during the last ten years of her life. He said, "She left this mortal plane with no loss of acuity and no loss in comprehension."
Tributes to Angelou and condolences were paid by artists, entertainers, and world leaders, including Obama, whose sister was named after Angelou, and Bill Clinton. Harold Augenbraum, from the National Book Foundation, said that Angelou's "legacy is one that all writers and readers across the world can admire and aspire to." The week after Angelou's death, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings rose to number 1 on Amazon.com's bestseller list.
On May 29, 2014, Mount Zion Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, of which Angelou was a member for 30 years, held a public memorial service to honor her. On June 7, a private memorial service was held at Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. The memorial was shown live on local stations in the Winston-Salem/Triad area and streamed live on the university web site with speeches from her son, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama, and Bill Clinton. On June 15, a memorial was held at Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco, where Angelou was a member for many years. Rev. Cecil Williams, Mayor Ed Lee, and former mayor Willie Brown spoke.
Works
Angelou wrote a total of seven autobiographies. According to scholar Mary Jane Lupton, Angelou's third autobiography Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas marked the first time a well-known African-American autobiographer had written a third volume about her life. Her books "stretch over time and place", from Arkansas to Africa and back to the U.S., and take place from the beginnings of World War II to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. She published her seventh autobiography Mom & Me & Mom in 2013, at the age of 85. Critics have tended to judge Angelou's subsequent autobiographies "in light of the first", with Caged Bird receiving the highest praise. Angelou wrote five collections of essays, which writer Hilton Als called her "wisdom books" and "homilies strung together with autobiographical texts". Angelou used the same editor throughout her writing career, Robert Loomis, an executive editor at Random House; he retired in 2011 and has been called "one of publishing's hall of fame editors." Angelou said regarding Loomis: "We have a relationship that's kind of famous among publishers."
All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.
Appendix II POEMS
A Plagued Journey
There is no warning rattle at the door in its snug encasement, is strained nor heavy feet to stomp the foyer to look upon their rapturous visages, boards. to let them enter even into me. Safe in the dark prison, I know that light slides over I am forced the fingered work of a toothless outside myself to woman in Pakistan. mount the light and ride joined with Hope. Happy prints of Through all the bright hours an invisible time are illumined. I cling to expectation, until My mouth agape darkness comes to reclaim me rejects the solid air and as its own. Hope fades, day is gone lungs hold. The invader takes into its irredeemable place direction and and I am thrown back into the familiar seeps through the plaster walls. bonds of disconsolation. It is at my chamber, entering the keyhole, pushing Gloom crawls around through the padding of the door. lapping lasciviously between my toes, at my ankles, I cannot scream. A bone of fear clogs my throat. and it sucks the strands of my It is upon me. It is hair. It forgives my heady sunrise, with Hope fling with Hope. I am its arrogant rider. joined again into its greedy arms. My mind, formerly quiescent
Kin
FOR BAILEY We were entwined in red rings Of blood and loneliness before The first snows fell Before muddy rivers seeded clouds Above a virgin forest, and Men ran naked, blue and black Skinned into the warm embraces Of Sheba, Eve and Lilith. I was your sister.
You left me to force strangers Into brother molds, exacting Taxations they never Owed or could ever pay.
You fought to die, thinking In destruction lies the seed Of birth. You may be right.
I will remember silent walks in Southern woods and long talks In low voices Shielding meaning from the big ears Of overcurious adults.
You may be right. Your slow return from Regions of terror and bloody Screams, races my heart. I hear again the laughter Of children and see fireflies Bursting tiny explosions in An Arkansas twilight.
Caged Bird
The free bird leaps sings of freedom on the back of the wind The free bird thinks of another breeze and floats downstream and the trade winds soft through the till the current ends sighing trees and dips his wings and the fat worms waiting on a dawn- in the orange sun rays bright lawn and dares to claim the sky. and he names the sky his own.
But a bird that stalks But a caged bird stands on the grave of down his narrow cage dreams can seldom see through his shadow shouts on a nightmare his bars of rage scream his wings are clipped and his wings are clipped and his feet are his feet are tied tied so he opens his throat to sing. so he opens his throat to sing The caged bird sings The caged bird sings with a fearful trill with fearful trill of things unknown of the things unknown but longed for still but longed for still and his tune is heard and his tune is heard on the distant hill on the distant hill for the caged bird for the caged bird sings of freedom.
Phenomenal Woman
Pretty women wonder where my secret What they see in me. lies. They try so much I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion But they can't touch model's size My inner mystery. But when I start to tell them, When I try to show them They think I'm telling lies. They say they still can't see. I say, I say, It's in the reach of my arms It's in the arch of my back, The span of my hips, The sun of my smile, The stride of my step, The ride of my breasts, The curl of my lips. The grace of my style. I'm a woman I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, Phenomenal woman, That's me. That's me.
I walk into a room Now you understand Just as cool as you please, Just why my head's not bowed. And to a man, I don't shout or jump about The fellows stand or Or have to talk real loud. Fall down on their knees. When you see me passing Then they swarm around me, It ought to make you proud. A hive of honey bees. I say, I say, It's in the click of my heels, It's the fire in my eyes, The bend of my hair, And the flash of my teeth, the palm of my hand, The swing in my waist, The need of my care, And the joy in my feet. 'Cause I'm a woman I'm a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, Phenomenal woman, That's me. That's me. Maya Angelou
Men themselves have wondered