Life Doesn't Frighten Me: Maya Angelou

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Life Doesn't Frighten Me" review activity printable - print all section questions at once (options for multiple keys)

In the first stanza of ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me,’the speaker begins by taking note of the few things that might if she wasn’t so sure of her place in the world, frighten her. These are the “shadows on the wall” and the “noises down the hall”. The perfect rhyme that these lines and the others in this poem have, make each of these statements feel like a nursery rhyme. Something that its meant for a child to hear, read, or remember and take strength from.Hear Angelou read the poem herself, which she says she wrote “for all children who whistle in the dark and who refuse to admit that they’re frightened out of their wits”: Poetic elements are used to enhance the intended impact of the seemingly simple texts. Maya Angelou has added a variety of powerful poetic diction to make her poem a worth read. She has used imagery, symbolism, metaphor, and various other literary elements to convey a message of fearlessness and confidence. This poem I believe is great for children because it showcases how when life gets roughed we as human beings tend to become cowards and hide away from our problems which isn't a great decision but a normal responses when we are clueless to solving our problems. With this poem it helps the reader to realize that yes life can we difficult in different periods of our life but at the end of the day we must face our problems head on and look for the silver-lining or the rainbow at the end of a storm. Maya Angelou is an American author and poet. She has published seven autobiographies, five books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning more than fifty years. She has received dozens of awards and over thirty honorary doctoral degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, tells of her life up to the age of seventeen, and brought her international recognition and acclaim. Angelou's list of occupations includes pimp, prostitute, night-club dancer and performer, castmember of the opera Porgy and Bess, coordinator for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, author, journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the days of decolonization, and actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. Since 1982, she has taught at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she holds the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies. She was active in the Civil Rights movement, and worked with both Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Since the 1990s she has made around eighty appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration, the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. more…

The tenth stanza brings the speaker, who is confirmed in these lines to be young, into the classroom. This is a place where most children experience fear at some point but she does not. The boys might pull her hair or taunt her, but she doesn’t care. If they show her “frogs and snakes” she isn’t bothered either. Mayas’ “Big ghosts in a cloud”, her “loud, barking dogs” and the hair-pulling, teasing school-girls that she speaks of are represented by Jean-Michel’s crude ‘scribbles’: the message is clear and simple. It is a tough world out there but no one should shy away from it. Luz Mosquera on ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All’, a poem of Angelou, illustrated by Basquiat. Cover of the book. Multiple choice, short answer questions, and writing questions - you can print the unit along with the poem In the final stanza, the speaker adds a touch of magic to her fearlessness by mentioning a “magic charm” she keeps up their sleeve and her ability to walk the ocean floor without breathing. This use of magical elements adds a sense of fantasy and wonder to the poem and further reinforces the idea that the speaker is not afraid of anything. Conclusion There is in the second stanza a reference to the barking dogs and “big ghosts in a cloud”. None of these things frighten her either.

The poem begins with imagery of shadows on the wall and noises down the hall, setting a tone of eerie and unsettling surroundings. The poem’s imagery and repetition create a firm conviction in the speaker’s words. For instance, the use of vivid imagery helps her describe her actions in response to these supposed scares, such as “I go boo, make them shoo” and “I won’t cry, so they fly.” This imagery adds a playful and childlike tone to the poem, further emphasizing the speaker’s fearlessness. Angelou herself was a major figure in the civil-rights movement and a clandestine understanding between the two distinct personalities seems to span a generational and personality-gap, which is highlighted through the blending together of both of their works. The marginalization and trauma experienced by Maya’s early life and the urban-decay that so fascinated Jean-Michel in the 1970s and 1980s also comes to epitomise the hardships and difficulties faced by people across all demographics. Basquiat grew up in prosperous home but ran away at 15 and commenced his life of sex n drugs n ... rap. He was a grafitti artist, defacing or enhancing New York with his spray paint under the name of SAMO. He became associated with several galleries and patrons, most famously Andy Warhol's Factory. He'd always lived up on drugs and alcohol, but limited means bought limited supplies. The bounty that was fame brought money enough for excess, and at 27 he died from a heroin overdose. His paintings, all his mixed-media art, reflected his harsh view of the world. The poem is very typical of Maya Angelou and reads especially well out loud. I don't think though it is a good pairing with the paintings, but that said, it's a wonderful art book, 5 stars.

Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same sound. For example, “Bad,”“barking,” and “Big” in lines one and two of the second stanza and “Mean” and “Mother” in line one of the third stanza. And then there is the end of the poem. What is the ‘magic charm’ kept up the speaker’s ‘sleeve’? Is it nothing more than the message of the poem itself: that life cannot and will not frighten her, something that she repeats to herself so that it becomes true? And is she repeating it to herself so often because she is trying to convince herself, but, despite the poem’s reassurances, her fearlessness is not quite so secure as she is making out?Mayas’ “Big ghosts in a cloud”, her “loud, barking dogs” and the hair-pulling, teasing school-girls that she speaks of are represented by Jean-Michel’s crude ‘scribbles’: the message is clear and simple. It is a tough world out there but no one should shy away from it.