essay on poem Maya Angelou

Poem- Why the cage bird sing

1.Students can choose either poetry or song lyrics for this
assignment. Students can use more than one work in
their papers (perhaps several works from one author, several
works on the same theme, or several works from the same time
period) or can focus on just one. You can use poems
that you discussed in class.
2.There are two goals of the essay:
a.To analyze the poem(s) / song lyric(s) using poetry
formalist elements.
b.To use outside research to expand the analysis /
discussion of the short story through either application of
a school of critical theory (if using reader-response, you
must use an additional school of criticism – you must
conduct research for this paper) or by using literary
criticism written about the short story (using the
Literature Resource Center as accessed through the PGCC
Databases). You must use academic resources for this
paper. Sparknotes, CliffsNotes, GradeSaver or any study
guides, nor Wikipedia or free essay websites cannot be used
as research for the papers in this class.
3.Do not use first person (I, my, me, we, us) or second
person (you, your) when writing the essay (unless quoting a
source that uses first or second person).
4.The audience for the paper is an academic audience.
Academic audiences expect very few (if any) sentence level
errors and a professional, formal tone.
5.Essays must follow MLA format, both in appearance (Times
New Roman 12 point font, double spacing, first page heading,
pagination, etc.) and citation (works cited AND in-text
citation). Refreshers on MLA format are in Week 2 of
the Blackboard and Chapters 6 & 7 in your textbook.
6.The minimum length of each essay is 1250 words.
Essays may exceed the minimum; however, do not go over ten
pages. Essays shorter than 1250 words or over 10 pages
will be penalized one grade (ten points). The works
cited does NOT count towards word count.
7.The minimum amount of sources required for each essay is
two. One must be the poem(s) / song lyric(s) and the
other is the student’s choice (see 2b above).
Students are encouraged to use more than this, but two is
the minimum.
Terms from Chapter 21 – Understanding Poetry

Sonnet A fixed form of lyric poetry that consists of
fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter. There
are two basic types of sonnets, the Italian and the English.
The Italian sonnet, also known as the Petrarchan sonnet, is
divided into an octave, which typically rhymes abbaabba, and
a sestet, which may have varying rhyme schemes. Common rhyme
patterns in the sestet are cdecde, cdcdcd, and cdccdc. Very
often the octave presents a situation, attitude, or problem
that the sestet comments upon or resolves, as in John Keats’
“On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer.” The English sonnet,
also known as the Shakespearean sonnet, is organized into
three quatrains and a couplet, which typically rhyme abab
cdcd efef gg. This rhyme scheme is more suited to English
poetry because English has fewer rhyming words than Italian.
English sonnets, because of their four-part organization,
also have more flexibility with respect to where thematic
breaks can occur.
Frequently, however, the most pronounced break or turn
comes with the concluding couplet, as in Shakespeare’s
“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”

Narrative poem A poem that tells a story. A narrative poem
may be short or long, and the story it relates may be simple
or complex.

Epic A long narrative poem, told in a formal, elevated
style, that focuses on a serious subject and chronicles
heroic deeds and events important to a culture or nation.
Milton’s Paradise Lost , which attempts to “justify the ways
of God to man,” is an epic.

Meditative poem A poem that abstractly ponders a concept or
idea.

Confessional poems Poems about personal experiences,
emotions, triumphs, and tragedies.

Lyric A type of brief poem that expresses the personal
emotions and thoughts of a single speaker. It is important
to realize, however, that although the lyric is uttered in
the first person, the speaker is not necessarily the poet.
There are many varieties of lyric poetry, including the
dramatic monologue, elegy, haiku, ode, and sonnet forms.

Ballad Traditionally,a ballad is a song, transmitted
orally from generation to generation, that tells a story and
that eventually is written down. As such, ballads usually
cannot be traced to a particular author or group of authors.
Typically, ballads are dramatic, condensed, and impersonal
narratives, such as “Bonny Barbara Allan.” A literary ballad
is a narrative poem that is written in deliberate imitation
of the language, form, and spirit of the traditional ballad,
such as Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci.”
Ballad stanza A four-line stanza, known as a quatrain,
consisting of alternating eight- and six-syllable lines.
Usually only the second and fourth lines rhyme (an abcb
pattern). Coleridge adopted the ballad stanza in “The Rime
of the Ancient Mariner.”
All in a hot and copper sky
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.
Elegy A mournful, contemplative lyric poem written to
commemorate someone who is dead, often ending in a
consolation. Tennyson’s “In Memoriam,” written on the death
of Arthur Hallam, is an elegy. Elegy may also refer to a
serious meditative poem produced to express the speaker’s
melancholy thoughts.

Ode A relatively lengthy lyric poem that often expresses
lofty emotions in a dignified style. Odes are characterized
by a serious topic, such as truth, art, freedom, justice, or
the meaning of life; their tone tends to be formal. There is
no prescribed pattern that defines an ode; some odes repeat
the same pattern in each stanza, while others introduce a
new pattern in each stanza.

Dramatic monologue A type of lyric poem in which a character
(the speaker) addresses a distinct but silent audience
imagined to be present in the poem in such a way as to
reveal a dramatic situation and, often unintentionally, some
aspect of his or her temperament or personality.

Terms for Chapter 23 – Voice

Speaker The voice used by an author to tell a story or speak
a poem. The speaker is often a created identity, and should
not automatically be equated with the author’s self.

Persona Literally, a persona is a mask. In literature, a
persona is a speaker created by a writer to tell a story or
to speak in a poem. A persona is not a character in a story
or narrative, nor does a persona necessarily directly
reflect the author’s personal voice. A persona is a separate
self, created by and distinct from the author, through which
he or she speaks.

Tone The author’s implicit attitude toward the reader or the
people, places, and events in a work as revealed by the
elements of the author’s style. Tone may be characterized as
serious or ironic, sad or happy, private or public, angry or
affectionate, bitter or nostalgic, or any other attitudes
and feelings that human beings experience.

Epigram A brief, pointed, and witty poem that usually makes
a satiric or humorous point. Epigrams are most often written
in couplets, but take no prescribed form.

Irony A literary device that uses contradictory statements
or situations to reveal a reality different from what
appears to be true. It is ironic for a firehouse to burn
down, or for a police station to be burglarized. Verbal
irony is a figure of speech that occurs when a person says
one thing but means the opposite. Sarcasm is a strong form
of verbal irony that is calculated to hurt someone through,
for example, false praise. Dramatic irony creates a
discrepancy between what a character believes or says and
what the reader or audience member knows to be true. Tragic
irony is a form of dramatic irony found in tragedies such as
Oedipus the King, in which Oedipus searches for the person
responsible for the plague that ravishes his city and
ironically ends up hunting himself. Situational irony exists
when there is an incongruity between what is expected to
happen and what actually happens due to forces beyond human
comprehension or control. The suicide of
the seemingly successful main character in Edwin Arlington
Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory” is an example of situational
irony. Cosmic irony occurs when a writer uses God, destiny,
or fate to dash the hopes and expectations of a character or
of humankind in general. In cosmic irony, a discrepancy
exists between what a character aspires to and what
universal forces provide. Stephen Crane’s poem “A Man Said
to the Universe” is a good example of cosmic irony, because
the universe acknowledges no obligation to the man’s
assertion of his own existence.

Terms from Chapter 30 – Discovering Themes in Poetry

Theme The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary
work. A theme provides a unifying point around which the
plot, characters, setting, point of view, symbols, and other
elements of a work are organized. It is important not to
mistake the theme for the actual subject of the work; the
theme refers to the abstract concept that is made concrete
through the images, characterization, and action of the
text. In nonfiction, however, the theme generally refers to
the main topic of the discourse.

Carpe diem The Latin phrase meaning “seize the day.” This is
a very common literary theme, especially in lyric poetry,
which emphasizes that life is short, time is fleeting, and
that one should make the most of present pleasures. Robert
Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
employs the carpe diem theme.

Paradox A statement that initially appears to be
contradictory but then, on closer inspection, turns out to
make sense. For example, John Donne ends his sonnet “Death,
Be Not Proud” with the paradoxical statement “Death, thou
shalt die.” To solve the paradox, it is necessary to
discover the sense that underlies the statement. Paradox is
useful in poetry because it arrests a reader’s attention by
its seemingly stubborn refusal to make sense.

Terms for Chapter 24 – Word Choice, Word Order

Diction A writer’s choice of words, phrases, sentence
structures, and figurative language, which combine to help
create meaning. Formal diction consists of a dignified,
impersonal, and elevated use of language; it follows the
rules of syntax exactly and is often characterized by
complex words and lofty tone. Middle diction maintains
correct language usage, but is less elevated than formal
diction; it reflects the way most educated people speak.
Informal diction represents the plain language of everyday
use, and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang,
contractions, and many simple, common words. Poetic diction
refers to the way poets sometimes employ an elevated diction
that deviates significantly from the common speech and
writing of their time, choosing words for their supposedly
inherent poetic qualities. Since the eighteenth century,
however, poets have been incorporating all kinds of diction
in their work and so there is no longer an automatic
distinction between the language of a poet and the language
of everyday speech.

Connotation Associations and implications that go
beyond the literal meaning of a word, which derive from how
the word has been commonly used and the associations people
make with it. For example, the word eagle connotes ideas of
liberty and freedom that have little to do with the word’s
literal meaning.

Denotation The dictionary meaning of a word.

Syntax The ordering of words into meaningful verbal
patterns such as phrases, clauses, and sentences. Poets
often manipulate syntax, changing conventional word order,
to place certain emphasis on particular words. Emily
Dickinson, for instance, writes about being surprised by a
snake in her poem “A narrow Fellow in the Grass,” and
includes this line: “His notice sudden is.” In addition to
the alliterative hissing s-sounds here, Dickinson also
effectively manipulates the line’s syntax so that the verb
is appears unexpectedly at the end, making the snake’s
hissing presence all the more sudden.

Terms for Chapter 25 – Imagery

Imagery A word, phrase, or figure of speech (especially a
simile or a metaphor) that addresses the senses, suggesting
mental pictures of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings,
or actions. Images offer sensory impressions to the reader
and also convey emotions and moods through their verbal
pictures.

Static Frozen, no movement, giving a timeless quality.

Kinetic Conveys a sense of motion or change.

Synesthesia One sense is described in a way that is more
appropriate for another.

Terms for Chapter 26 – Figures of Speech

Figures of speech Ways of using language that deviate from
the literal, denotative meanings of words in order to
suggest additional meanings or effects. Figures of speech
say one thing in terms of something else, such as when an
eager funeral director is described as a vulture.

Simile A common figure of speech that makes an explicit
comparison between two things by using words such as like,
as, than, appears, and seems: “A sip of Mrs. Cook’s coffee
is like a punch in the stomach.” The effectiveness of this
simile is created by the differences between the two things
compared. There would be no simile if the comparison were
stated this way: “Mrs. Cook’s coffee is as strong as the
cafeteria’s coffee.” This is a literal translation because
Mrs. Cook’s coffee is compared with something like it:
another kind of coffee.

Metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike things, without using the word
“like” or “as.” Metaphors assert the identity of dissimilar
things, as when Macbeth asserts that life is a “brief
candle.” Metaphors can be subtle and powerful, and can
transform people, places, objects, and ideas into whatever
the writer imagines them to be. An implied metaphor is a
more subtle comparison; the terms being compared are not so
specifically explained. For example, to describe a stubborn
man unwilling to leave, one could say that he was “a mule
standing his ground.” This is a fairly explicit metaphor;
the man is being compared to a mule. But to say that the man
“brayed his refusal to leave” is to create an implied
metaphor, because the subject (the man) is never overtly
identified as a mule. Braying is associated with the mule, a
notoriously stubborn creature, and so the comparison between
the stubborn man and the mule is
sustained. Implied metaphors can slip by inattentive
readers who are not sensitive to such carefully chosen,
highly concentrated language. An extended metaphor is a
sustained comparison in which part or all of a poem consists
of a series of related metaphors. Robert Francis’ poem
“Catch” relies on an extended metaphor that compares poetry
to playing catch. A controlling metaphor runs through an
entire work and determines the form or nature of that work.
The controlling metaphor in Anne Bradstreet’s poem “The
Author to Her Book” likens her book to a child. Synecdoche
is a kind of metaphor in which a part of something is used
to signify the whole, as when a gossip is called a “wagging
tongue,” or when ten ships are called “ten sails.”
Sometimes, synecdoche refers to the whole being used to
signify the part, as in the phrase “Boston won the baseball
game.” Clearly, the entire city of Boston did not
participate in the game; the whole of Boston is being used
to signify the individuals who played and won the game.
Metonymy is a type of metaphor in which something closely
associated with a subject is substituted for it. In this
way, we speak of the “silver screen” to mean motion
pictures, “the crown” to stand for the king, “the White
House” to stand for the activities of the president.

Personification A form of metaphor in which human
characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.
Personification offers the writer a way to give the world
life and motion by assigning familiar human behaviors and
emotions to animals, inanimate objects, and abstract ideas.
For example, in Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” the speaker
refers to the urn as an “unravished bride of quietness.”

Hyperbole A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis
without intending to be literally true, as in the statement
“He ate everything in the house.” Hyperbole (also called
overstatement) may be used for serious, comic, or ironic
effect.

Understatement The opposite of hyperbole, understatement (or
litotes) refers to a figure of speech that says less than is
intended. Understatement usually has an ironic effect, and
sometimes may be used for comic purposes, as in Mark Twain’s
statement, “The reports of my death are greatly
exaggerated.”

Terms for Chapter 27 – Sound

Rhythm A term used to refer to the recurrence of stressed
and unstressed sounds in poetry. Depending on how sounds are
arranged, the rhythm of a poem may be fast or slow, choppy
or smooth. Poets use rhythm to create pleasurable sound
patterns and to reinforce meanings. Rhythm in prose arises
from pattern repetitions of sounds and pauses that create
looser rhythmic effects.

Open form Sometimes called “free verse,” open form poetry
does not conform to established patterns of meter, rhyme,
and stanza. Such poetry derives its rhythmic qualities from
the repetition of words, phrases, or grammatical structures,
the arrangement of words on the printed page, or by some
other means. The poet E. E. Cummings wrote open form poetry;
his poems do not have measurable meters, but they do have
rhythm.

Meter When a rhythmic pattern of stresses recurs in a poem,
it is called meter. Metrical patterns are determined by the
type and number of feet in a line of verse; combining the
name of a line length with the name of a foot concisely
describes the meter of the line. Rising meter refers to
metrical feet which move from unstressed to stressed sounds,
such as the iambic foot and the anapestic foot. Falling
meter refers to metrical feet which move from stressed to
unstressed sounds, such as the trochaic foot and the
dactylic foot.

Scansion The process of measuring the stresses in a line of
verse in order to determine the metrical pattern of the
line.

Foot The metrical unit by which a line of poetry is
measured. A foot usually consists of one stressed and one or
two unstressed syllables. An iambic foot, which consists of
one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable
(“away”), is the most common metrical foot in English
poetry. A trochaic foot consists of one stressed syllable
followed by an unstressed syllable (“lovely”). An anapestic
foot is two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed
one (“understand”). A dactylic foot is one stressed syllable
followed by two unstressed ones (“desperate”). A spondee is
a foot consisting of two stressed syllables (“dead set”),
but is not a sustained metrical foot and is used mainly for
variety or emphasis.

Iambic pentameter A metrical pattern in poetry which
consists of five iambic feet per line. (An iamb, or iambic
foot, consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable.)

Blank verse Unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse is
the English verse form closest to the natural rhythms of
English speech and therefore is the most common pattern
found in traditional English narrative and dramatic poetry
from Shakespeare to the early twentieth century.
Shakespeare’s plays use blank verse extensively.

Caesura A pause within a line of poetry that contributes to
the rhythm of the line. A caesura can occur anywhere within
a line and need not be indicated by punctuation. In scanning
a line, caesuras are indicated by a double vertical line
(||).
End-stopped line A poetic line that has a pause at the
end. End-stopped lines reflect normal speech patterns and
are often marked by punctuation. The first line of Keats’
“Endymion” is an example of an end-stopped line; the natural
pause coincides with the end of the line, and is marked by a
period:
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Enjambment In poetry, when one line ends without a
pause and continues into the next line for its meaning. This
is also called a run-on line. The transition between the
first two lines of Wordsworth’s poem “My Heart Leaps Up”
demonstrates enjambment:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky
Euphony Euphony (“good sound”) refers to language that is
smooth and musically pleasant to the ear.

Cacophony Language that is discordant and difficult to
pronounce, such as this line from John Updike’s “Player
Piano”: “never my numb plunker fumbles.” Cacophony (“bad
sound”) may be unintentional in the writer’s sense of music,
or it may be used consciously for deliberate dramatic
effect.

Onomatopoeia A term referring to the use of a word that
resembles the sound it denotes. Buzz, rattle, bang, and
sizzle all reflect onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia can also
consist of more than one word; writers sometimes create
lines or whole passages in which the sound of the words
helps to convey their meanings.

Alliteration The repetition of the same consonant sounds in
a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word or
stressed syllable: “descending dew drops”; “luscious
lemons.” Alliteration is based on the sounds of letters,
rather than the spelling of words; for example, “keen” and
“car” alliterate, but “car” and “cite” do not. Used
sparingly, alliteration can intensify ideas by emphasizing
key words, but when used too self-consciously, it can be
distracting, even ridiculous, rather than effective.

Assonance The repetition of internal vowel sounds in nearby
words that do not end the same, for example,”asleep under a
tree,” or “each evening.” Similar endings result in rhyme,
as in “asleep in the deep.” Assonance is a strong means of
emphasizing important words in a line.

Consonance A common type of near rhyme that consists of
identical consonant sounds preceded by different vowel
sounds: home, same; worth, breath.
Rhyme The repetition of identical or similar concluding
syllables in different words, most often at the ends of
lines. Rhyme is predominantly a function of sound rather
than spelling; thus, words that end with the same vowel
sounds rhyme, for instance, day, prey, bouquet, weigh, and
words with the same consonant ending rhyme, for instance
vain, feign, rein, lane. Words do not have to be spelled the
same way or look alike to rhyme. In fact, words may look
alike but not rhyme at all. This is called eye rhyme, as
with bough and cough, or brow and blow.
End rhyme is the most common form of rhyme in poetry; the
rhyme comes at the end of the lines.
It runs through the reeds
And away it proceeds,
Through meadow and glade,
In sun and in shade.
The rhyme scheme of a poem describes the pattern of end
rhymes. Rhyme schemes are mapped out by noting patterns of
rhyme with small letters: the first rhyme sound is
designated a, the second becomes b, the third c, and so on.
Thus, the rhyme scheme of the stanza above is aabb. Internal
rhyme places at least one of the rhymed words within the
line, as in “Dividing and gliding and sliding” or “In mist
or cloud, on mast or shroud.” Masculine rhyme describes the
rhyming of single-syllable words, such as grade or shade.
Masculine rhyme also occurs where rhyming words of more than
one syllable, when the same sound occurs in a final stressed
syllable, as in defend and contend, betray and away.
Feminine rhyme consists of a rhymed stressed syllable
followed by one or more identical unstressed syllables, as
in butter, clutter; gratitude, attitude; quivering,
shivering. All the examples so far have illustrated exact
rhymes, because they share the same stressed
vowel sounds as well as sharing sounds that follow the
vowel. In near rhyme (also called off rhyme, slant rhyme,
and approximate rhyme), the sounds are almost but not
exactly alike. A common form of near rhyme is consonance,
which consists of identical consonant sounds preceded by
different vowel sounds: home, same; worth, breath.
Couplet Two consecutive lines of poetry that usually rhyme
and have the same meter. A heroic couplet is a couplet
written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

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