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What does Maya Angelou say about loss?
What does Maya Angelou say in 'when great trees fall'?
What did Maya Angelou teach us about death?
What is Maya Angelou poem about?
- “When I Think About Myself” “When I Think About Myself” is about observing one’s own life. Here, she looks back at the pain almost in disbelief. She should have been dancing the dance, and singing the song.
- “Phenomenal Woman” By contrast, conventional women and men narrowly experience life. So, in “Phenomenal Woman,” the reader gets to hear how what’s unconventional is far more intriguing than the rest.
- “Touched By an Angel” Here’s a poem that exemplifies a love that “sets you free” from pain, fear, and timidity. Because the love represented here is strong without being sexual or intimate, and because it’s a love that finds you later on, it’ll work as part of your eulogy for a partner or perhaps a dear friend.
- “Caged Bird” What makes “Caged Bird” an inspirational poem is that although one bird is free and the other is caged, the caged bird doesn’t stop singing.
Famous Death Poem. Maya Angelou (1928-2014) uses symbolism and strong imagery in this poem to show a person’s response to loss. It doesn’t matter how strong or tough you are; when an influential person in your life passes away, you feel the effects.
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Nov 27, 2023 · In this poem, Angelou articulates her unwavering belief in the power of life to triumph over death. Despite the injustices suffered during her lifetime, she was undaunted by death. Angelou’s work subverts the traditional idea that death is inevitable and inevitable.
Jun 24, 2019 · Maya Angelou. When great trees fall, rocks on distant hills shudder, lions hunker down in tall grasses, and even elephants lumber after safety. When great trees fall in forests, small things recoil into silence, their senses eroded beyond fear. When great souls die, the air around us becomes light, rare, sterile. We breathe, briefly.
- Summary
- Poetic Techniques
- When Great Trees Fall Analysis
In the first lines, the speaker begins by using an extended metaphor to describe a natural scene. She speaks about the reaction of animals when “great trees fall”. They hide, hunker down, and “lumber after safety”. The metaphorcompares the death of loved ones to the monumental shifts that occur when large and powerful trees fall in the forest. As t...
‘When Great Trees Fall’ by Maya Angelou is a five stanza poem that’s separated into uneven sets of lines. The stanzas range in length from five lines up to fourteen. There is no specific rhyme scheme or metrical pattern but Angelou does make use of several poetic techniques that help to unify the text and create a feeling of rhythm and rhyme. These...
Stanza One
This poem opens with the metaphor of the tree that falls. It, of course, symbolizesthe loss of a great person. When a great tree falls, it is felt for miles around. In the same way, when a great soul departs, the effects are felt deep and far. The image of the “rocks on distant hills shudder[ing]” symbolizes the ways in which the death causes people, even distant people, to feel despair and shudder. The lions which “hunker down” reflect the way some people will react to the loss. The loss cau...
Stanza Two
The metaphor continues in this stanza. The speaker, having already revealed the way in which great things are affected by the death of a someone great, now turns her attention to the “small things”. This suggests that the loss of someone great is felt among the great and among the small. This could mean that the physically small, children, feel the effects of the loss as much as their older counterparts. It could also mean that those who are unknown, without fame or political significance, fe...
Stanza Three
With the third stanza, the speaker shifts from her use of metaphor to speaking directly about death. Just as the great tree that falls causes ripples for miles, so the great soul departed move affectsthe hundreds or thousands of hearts he or she has touched during the time they lived. The speaker describes the way in which the air, even, seems to become “light” and “sterile”. It is hard to breathe when one has lost an important loved one. The speaker describes the way in which those affected...
Nov 19, 2023 · Maya Angelou’s poem “When Great Trees Fall” is a powerful and poignant examination of death and grief. The poem meditates on the passing of a beloved loved one, pointing out the insignificance of humanity in the larger scheme of things.
Still I Rise - Discover the meaning behind Maya Angelou's inspiring poem, with an audio recording of actress Rosie Perez reading this classic work, which has been celebrated by Serena Williams, Cory Booker, and other public figures.
