As the season of love approaches, many express their affection through chocolates, teddy bears or love sonnets and poems. One poet, however, stands out from the rest, not just for her reflections on love, but the way she blends it with themes of empowerment, resilience and social justice. That poet is icon Maya Angelou, whose words don’t just celebrate love, but ignite strength and inspire change.
Angelou, born in 1928 in St. Louis was not just a poet, but a memoirist and civil rights activist whose words altered literature and society forever. Overcoming a difficult childhood, she found her voice again through storytelling, ultimately writing her ceiling-shattering autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This raw portrayal of Black womanhood revolutionized American literature and cemented her legacy. She published numerous works throughout her life, earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom, three Grammy Awards and over 50 honorary degrees. Her poetry explores many themes but has a focus on love, in all its forms, whether romantic or self-affirming. Through her verses, she explores the passion and vulnerability of romance while reminding us that love is more than an emotion: It is a force that inspires.
Three poems stand out from the hundreds she has written in proving the mastery of her pen, but also the way she explores the multifaceted nature of love in all its forms. “Touched by an Angel,” “Phenomenal Woman” and “Million Man March Poem” accomplish just that.
“Touched by an Angel” is a poem that delves into the transformative nature of love, with Angelou using lines such as “live coiled in shells of loneliness / until love leaves its high holy temple” in order to cite the comforting nature of love. Angelou writes lines like “Yet if we are bold / love strikes away the chains of fear / from our souls” to state the vulnerability that comes with love, but she also remarks on how it is worth it, using rhyme to employ a musicality in her stanzas that is almost constant throughout her work. Finally, the closing lines, “And suddenly we see / that love costs all we are / and will ever be. / Yet it is only love / which sets us free,” encapsulate the message of the cost and reward of love. This poem sets up love to be akin to divine intervention, transforming individuals and setting them free from fear and woe, highlighting love as not only an emotion but a transformative force that can imbue those afraid with courage.
“Phenomenal Woman” is a poem that celebrates self-love and confidence, with each stanza remarking on people who think the narrator should be insecure, but she responds with unbridled self-confidence that inspires the audience to do the same. “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. / I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size” and “It’s in the reach of my arms, / The span of my hips, / The stride of my step, / The curl of my lips. / I’m a woman / Phenomenally.” Here, Angelou employs rhyme and rhythm to not only enhance the musicality of the piece, but also add to the playful confidence of the piece and the narrator as a whole. The responses almost seem obvious, as that is the level of self-confidence Angelou encourages us to have. She furthers this with lines such as “Men themselves have wondered / What they see in me” and “I say, / It’s in the arch of my back, / The sun of my smile, / The ride of my breasts, / The grace of my style. / I’m a woman / Phenomenally.” This further emphasizes that those who try to make her insecure span all genders, but the confidence still remains. Finally, Angelou closes the poem with “‘Cause I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.” The same repeated phrase, once dissected, reveals the undercurrent of the poem: She is not just any other person but phenomenally herself. Others' confusion about her countenance or disposition does not matter; she is special to herself. This message should be taken into account every day, not only Valentine's Week.
In “Million Man March Poem” Angelou remarks on the unity and love of an entire community of people, emphasizing another facet of love. She starts the poem with “The night has been long, / The wound has been deep, / The pit has been dark, / And the walls have been steep,” to set the scene with powerful diction, creating dreary imagery to set the scene. With “But today, voices of old spirit sound / Speak to us in words profound,” Angelou conveys connectivity through conversation, tying in divine imagery similar to “Touched by an Angel,” with Angelou describing love in all its forms as otherworldly. “I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole. / I look through the posture and past your disguise, / And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.” Angelou is calling back to love's transformative nature, not only for an individual but for an entire community of people. “The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain / We are a going-on people who will rise again. / And still we rise.” Finally, Angelou, being from a time of much political tribulation, uses this poem to advance a social justice cause, stating that the Black community's love for one another, much like the other forms of love she promotes in her other work, is transformative, healing and important.
Whether to discuss self-affirming love, the transformative nature of love, the love within a community or to advance a social justice cause, Angelou masterfully employs her pen to convey the importance of love in all its forms, not solely the romantic depictions we are commonly shown. As we approach Valentine’s Day, Angelou's insights encourage us to value love in all forms.
Daniel Addoquaye is a freshman in the Brooks School of Public Policy. He can be reached at da533@cornell.edu.
