39 pages • 1 hour 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. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Angelou uses the image of dust to symbolize resilience. Being “trod” (Line 3) into the dirt suggests the image of a funeral or burial ceremony; the speaker refuses to be buried, and, instead, becomes like “dust” (Line 4). The dust is also a biblical reference; the Bible describes how people are created from dust and will return to dust. With this image, Angelou alludes to the spiritual salvation that offers many people a sense of relief from earthly suffering. Finally, though dust is insubstantial, dust has the power to irritate and to cause problems. In six stanzas of the poem, the speaker becomes this metaphorical irritant, choosing deliberately to upset the target of their questions.
In stanzas two, five, and seven, the speaker equates their self to valuable natural resources. The speaker exclaims that they walks as if they have “ oil wells” (Line 7), laughs as if they have “gold mines” (Line 19), and dances as if they have “diamonds” (Line 27) between their legs. These comparisons subvert the objectification that they, and other Black people, experience. By saying that their physical body and self-esteem are worth more than materials, they dismiss the oppressive system’s attempts to define and limit Black people.
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
On the Pulse of Morning
On the Pulse of Morning
Maya Angelou
Phenomenal Woman
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou
The Heart of a Woman
The Heart of a Woman
Maya Angelou
The Lesson
The Lesson
Maya Angelou