Maya Angelou

7 Pages 1772 Words

k finger in their crusty asses
While crackling babies
in napalm coats
stretch mouths to receive
burning tears
on splitting tongues
(Angelou42)

The poem describes the torture endured by blacks. “Body imagery functions as poetic referent further chronicling and transporting her prophetic message: stop the assault on Black people and recognize their humanness”(Ramsey33). Maya’s words are not intended to be taken seriously or lightly. It’s just a creative way of getting her point across.
The name of the poem is called “Negro” it speaks about the degrading term used to call Blacks. The word Negro is not a civilized way to refer to African Americans.
From colored man to Negro,
With the N in caps,
was like saying Japanese
instead of saying Japs.
The next big step
was change for true
from Negro in caps
to being a Jew
(Angelou46)

This poem is about colored men being called Negro. The negative word Negro is changing it into something positive. “The poem evolved out of historical and political event, merging into new and positive meaning”(Neubauer211). She finds new and positive meaning of Negro to lesson the severity of the word.
The second major theme in Maya Angelou’s poetry is loneliness. “Alone” is a ...