Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St Louis, Missouri. She is described sometimes as a poet, sometimes as a memoirist, but, in fact, her 50+ year career included teaching, writing poems, plays, television shows, autobiographies and essays, singing and dancing. She received more than 50 honorary degrees. Hers is an important and memorable voice, especially because of her civil rights activism. Having spent this week reading her books and poems and watching interviews, I would go so far as to say that she is relevant to all of us. We should all read Maya Angelou, either to learn about ourselves or to improve our understanding of others.
I’ve read Letter to My Daughter this week. Such an easy read, language-wise, at times entertaining, at others heart-wrenching. I look forward eagerly to my next Angelou book. In searching through her many poems, I have constantly found myself wanting to read more. Why not start with the best-known ones? Still I Rise and Caged Bird are perhaps the most renowned, and she is also remembered particularly for her poem on the occasion of President Clinton’s inauguration in 1993, On the Pulse of Morning.
I have looked through the notes I took while reading Letter to My Daughter, and I find that these lines still resonate with me the most:
All great artists draw from the same resource: the human heart, which tells us that we are more alike than we are unalike.
Please let me know if you decide to read some, or more, of Maya Angelou’s poems, or indeed any of her writing. And I also enthusiastically recommend browsing YouTube to hear her reading her own poems, and for interviews. I guarantee that, the more you read and hear, the more you will want to continue!
