AFRICA

BY MAYA ANGELOU

NISA
AUNI
SIRHAN
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MAYA ANGELOU :
GLOBAL RENAISENCE
WOMAN

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BIOGRAPHY
Born

Marguerite Ann Johnson

April 4, 1928 (age 83)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.

Occupation

Poet, civil rights activist,

dancer, film producer,
television producer,
playwright, film director,
author, actress, professor

Ethnicity
Literary movement

African American
Civil rights
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 In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination,

but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional
African-American family, community, and culture.
Dr. Angelou has received over 30 honorary degrees and is Reynolds
Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
Dr. Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has
received 3 Grammy Awards. President Clinton requested that she compose
a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Dr. Angelou's reading of her
poem "On the Pulse of the Morning was broadcast live around the world.

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Thus she had lain

sugarcane sweet
deserts her hair
golden her feet
mountains her breasts
two Niles her tears.
Thus she has lain
Black through the years.

Over the white seas

rime white and cold
brigands ungentled
icicle bold
took her young daughters
sold her strong sons
churched her with Jesus
bled her with guns.
Thus she has lain.
Now she is rising
remember her pain
remember the losses
her screams loud and vain
remember her riches
her history slain
now she is striding
although she has lain
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THEME
1.Suffering
brigands ungentled
icicle bold (11-12)
- "ungentled" and "bold" aren't exactly a warm and fuzzy
combination, are they? That's precisely the unsettling
feeling Angelou wants to create, so that by the time we
get to the actual violence, we're already on the edge of
our seats.

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 took her young daughters

sold her strong sons (13-14)
- violent action "took" and "sold" seem almost like
wounds that erupt onto each new line.
bled her with guns (16)
- It's not actually Africa who is bleeding; it's the people of
Africa. Angelou's speaker uses the continent as a
shorthand for all of its inhabitants here

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 remember her pain

remember the losses
her screams loud and vain (19-21)

- Now suffering opens the door to transformative

experiences as the speaker urges us (the readers) to
use suffering as a rallying cry to fight for a better future.

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2. Patriotism
sugarcane sweet
deserts her hair
golden her feet
mountains her breasts
two Niles her tears. (2-6)
- Animating the geography of Africa allows the speaker to
present it as something (or someone) with whom the
reader could fall in love. And after all, love is one of the
key elements of patriotism

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 Thus she has lain

Black through the years. (7-8)
- These two lines make the "citizens" of
Africa clear: anyone who is black shares
the history of (and thus the relationship
with) Africa that Angelou describes.

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3. Appearance
deserts her hair
golden her feet (3-4)
- This is a really descriptive passage, but
it's also figurative. After all, when was the
last time you met someone with sand for
hair?

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 mountains her breasts

two Niles her tears. (5-6)
- This woman isn't just well-endowed; she's
got mountains for breasts. And the Nile
River, in case you haven't heard, is pretty
long. Picture that as a teardrop, then
imagine the size of the body that could
produce such a teardrop. See what we're
saying?

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 now she is striding

although she has lain. (25-26)
- Africa isn't just rising she's a woman who's
striding into the future. The parallel between
the first and the last lines makes this
progression something like a return to the
magnificence of the long-ago past as well.
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Page 14

MEANING
STANZA 1
thus she had lain

Sugercane sweet
Deserts her hair
Golden her feat
Mountains her breast
Two Niles her tears

about any girl or woman

waking up from a nap
Now we're talking. This isn't
any old woman. In fact, she's
so incredible that we can't
really imagine her as a human
woman at all. Maybe she's
Africa?
There's a rather long tradition
of addressing a land (or nation)
as if it were a woman. There's
Mother Earth, Gaia, Lady
Liberty, and Bharat Mata
(Mother India), to name just a
few
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Thus she has lain

Black through the years

Allow Angelou to emphasize the

passivity of this image. After all, if
you're lying around all day,
chances are you're not getting all
that much done. That's all well
and good if you have a carefree
life

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STANZA 2
Over the white seas
Rime white and cold
Brigands ungentled
Icicle bold

Took her young daughters

Sold her strong sons

The immediate interjection of "white"

seas forms a contrast to the "black"
land making it possible that
changes (and, well, problems) are on
the horizon.It's interesting to note
that Angelou doesn't ever refer to
the people who perpetrate the crimes
of slavery. It's only the seas that are
white. It's almost like nature itself is
Angelou chooses to describe the
attacking
the land.
kidnapping and enslavement of millions of
Africans in generational terms? Africa isn't
just losing her present, she's losing her
future. After all, without daughter and
sons, how do you get granddaughters and
grandsons?
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Churched her with Jesus

Bled her with guns

Thus she has lain

One of the powerful things about these

lines, however, is the sense of violent
action inflicted upon Africa. If you look at
the way the two lines are structured, some
pretty incredible parallels arise: "churched"
and "bled" share the same verb-space
which also makes "Jesus" and "guns"
structurally equivalent. It sets up the
possibility that the speaker sees the two as
harmful in the same way

After all, it could be a way to express

sorrow at the fact that Africa's timeless
survival seems to be the only weapon in
its arsenal. Or the speaker could be noting
her frustration at the fact that Africa seems
to keep taking all the hits that the rest of
the world is throwing its way
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STANZA 3
Now she is rising

When is Africa rising? Right Now

Remember her pain

Remember the losses
Her scream loud and vain
Remember her riches
Her history slain

This poem becomes the scream

that Africa herself can't make. It's
got readers and a message.
We're betting that the speaker is
certain that her message will be
anything but "vain." Africa can't
speak for herself? Well, no worries,
friends.

there are lots of ways that history can be

distorted, forgotten, or deliberately silenced.
By refusing to specify which way Africa's
history is slain, Angelou leaves the door open
for all sorts of horrible potential silencing.
Once again, though, this poem steps in to
offer a deliberate alternative to lost history

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Now she is striding

Although she has lain

Notice, though, the change in the

wording of these lines. Africa is now
"striding/although she has lain."
Why is that such a big deal? Well, it
suggests that things are changing.
Sure, she once sat passively and
did nothing as generations were
captured and slaughtered. But that's
all over now. Now she's moving and
shaking and doing
things despite her long history of
silent victimhood. It's a new era,
folks, and it's one that the speaker
is pretty happy about

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TONE AND MOOD

This poem scans like a national anthem:
short, snappy lines, easy-to-remember
refrains, and larger-than-life images that
transform an entire continent into a
gorgeous woman.
The first stanza reads like a love poem.
The admiring speaker sketches his (or
her) love
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 Come to think of it, the rousing finish in

Stanza 3 is pretty much that part when
fireworks start going off and we all tear up
because "the flag was still there." The
image of Africa striding is just the sort of
image of a strong, enduring figure that
almost every national anthem features in
some way.
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Literary Devices
Maya Angelou's "Africa" describes Africa
being destroyed by Europeans who took
the children of Africa into slavery.
Personification and rhythm enhance both
the imagery and tone of the poem.
The continent of Africa is personified to
create vivid images and the rhythmical
patterns contribute to the changing tone
from pleasant to unpleasant to
contemplative
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Personification
Africa is personified to create vivid imagery and to
give human emotions to a continent
Africa is personified as a woman with :
"deserts her hair / mountains her breasts / two
Niles her tears
The description creates vivid images of the land
In line 21, Africa "screams loud and vain." This
personification and onomatopaeia suggest that the
continent was devastated when people were taken
from their homeland
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 the words "she" and "her" are repeated

throughout the poem. The continent is
treated as a woman to empathize
the continent is personified as a mother in
lines 13-14 when the Europeans "took her
young daughters / sold her strong sons."
The comparison draws attention not to a
beautiful resting woman, but to her rape
and destruction.
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Assonance
Example of assonance is:
remember the losses (stanza 4, line
20)
Repetition of vowel E.

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RHYMES
Examples :
Now she is rising
remember her pain
remember the losses
her screams loud and vain
remember her riches
her history slain
now she is striding
although she has lain

A
B
C
B
D
B
E
B

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