18 pages • 36 minutes read
Maya AngelouA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Each natural element in this poem acts as a symbol for a quality that Angelou argues is important for the future of America. While all the elements have some crossover, including representing, to a degree, where humanity comes from, they also have their own distinct symbolic meanings.
The first symbol she utilizes is the rock, which represents the strength and courage necessary to face the future. The rock offers the potential for the listener to stay stagnant, and it acknowledges this, saying people “have crouched too long in / The bruising darkness / Have lain too long / Face down in ignorance” (Lines 15-18). But to linger in this state is to suffer the same fate as those creatures that once dominated the earth and are now extinct. If the reader accepts this stagnation, they risk the rock becoming host to the body and memories.
Instead, the rock implores the reader to “stand upon me, / But do not hide your face” (Lines 21-22). The rock offers solid ground to stand upon–ground that one must take advantage of and use to face the future. To do this, one must be courageous and step out of the darkness and into the light.
By Maya Angelou
A Brave And Startling Truth
A Brave And Startling Truth
Maya Angelou
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
Maya Angelou
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
Maya Angelou
Caged Bird
Caged Bird
Maya Angelou
Gather Together in My Name
Gather Together in My Name
Maya Angelou
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Letter to My Daughter
Letter to My Daughter
Maya Angelou
Mom & Me & Mom
Mom & Me & Mom
Maya Angelou
Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me
Mother, A Cradle to Hold Me
Maya Angelou
Phenomenal Woman
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
Still I Rise
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou
The Heart of a Woman
The Heart of a Woman
Maya Angelou
The Lesson
The Lesson
Maya Angelou