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READ THIS
The poet looks at the process of aging. She calls for understanding, not pity. The person beneath the
aging body, she says, is still the same person who was always there, even though her body is slowing.
Nevertheless, the sense should be one of gratitude and not sympathy.
A NOTE ON THE POET
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in April 1928. Her life story is a remarkable one, growing
up in poor circumstances and a victim of a shattered home.
She was raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was just eleven years old, an incident which caused
her to become selectively mute for many years until she had her self-confidence and honour restored to
her through the help of a friend.
Her shocking childhood, however, led to a struggle to maturity and she fell pregnant because of her efforts
to prove she was a woman. Her marriages to both Tosh Angelou and Paul Du Feu ended in divorce.
She nevertheless overcame all these disadvantages and found a niche on the stage and later on the
screen, acting in several award-winning productions. She has also made a name for herself in the area
of film directing.
Today Maya Angelou is renowned as a poet and writer, an actress and director, and was an important
figure in the American Civil Rights Movement.
She is the author of 12 best-selling books and innumerable poems. Indeed, she is one of the most prolific
Black authors of the modern day, and the recipient of numerous top awards. She also speaks several
languages fluently.
She has been described as one of the great voices of contemporary literature and as a remarkable
Renaissance woman because of her ability to overcome all obstacles and utilize her talents to the full.
Despite her lack of any form of college education, she has lectured at several universities. In 1981 she
assumed a lifetime position as the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest
University. She has subsequently been awarded Honorary Doctorates from several leading American
universities.
In January 1993 she was asked to read one of her poems at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, an
honour only happening once before and that to the great American poet, Robert Frost.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
"When you see me sitting quietly,
Like a sack left on the shelf,
Don't think I need your chattering.
I'm listening to myself."
- Comment on the simile, "Like a sack left on the shelf". (4)
[Need help?]
There are at least two ways in which to look at this simile. The first is visual. A sack is something which
lacks any form of aesthetic shape. If a person is compared to a sack, it means he or she is shapeless
-- and probably fat.
The sack also has very little value. Indeed, its only value lies in its contents. In this simile, therefore, the
sack has been "left on the shelf" which indicates that it is regarded as having no intrinsic value at
all and has therefore been discarded as useless and shapeless.
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- Why does the woman say that she doesn't need your chattering? (4)
[Need help?]
The woman is arguing against the idea that she needs entertaining. The common opinion about aging
people is that they have little else to do in life but sit idly and be entertained. They also have no value of
themselves. They even need external help to be entertained.
This woman, however, counters that argument by asserting that she is perfectly capable of being alone
with her thoughts. Her thoughts are indeed very valuable to her.
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- What is meant by, "listening to myself"? (4)
[Need help?]
The aging woman has a brain that is still very active. She is still full of thoughts and memories, and she
enjoys listening to those thoughts and memories. Anyone attempting to talk to her would therefore be
disrupting her as she listened to herself, as she thought her thoughts.
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"Hold! Stop! Don't pity me!
Hold! Stop your sympathy!
Understanding if you got it,
Otherwise I'll do without it!"
- Explain what it is that the aging person is asking. (4)
[Need help?]
Is she not asking to be recognised has having value? She does not want to be pitied like someone who
has exhausted her life and is simply waiting for death. She does not want sympathy.
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- Comment on the use of repetition in the first two lines above. (4)
[Need help?]
Repetition always spells out the message more clearly. If you want someone to notice what you are
saying, repeat it. It is used for emphasis.
The poet therefore repeats the word, "Hold! Stop!". Notice too that she uses two expressions
which mean precisely the same thing: "Don't pity me!" and "Stop your sympathy!"
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- What does the aging person mean when she says, "Understanding if you got it, | Otherwise I'll do
without it!"? (4)
[Need help?]
What she would like is understanding, for someone to realise that even in old age she still has value.
She also needs understanding that she is slowing down and can no longer move as fast as she once did.
If, however, the person is unable to understand, then she wants nothing else from that person -- certainly
not pity or sympathy.
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"When my bones are stiff and aching,
and my feet won't climb the stair,
I will only ask one favor:
Don't bring me no rocking chair."
- Why does the poet speak of "my bones" and "my feet" instead of referring directly to
herself: e.g. "When I am stiff and I can no longer climb the stair"? (4)
[Need help?]
It all comes down to the spirit versus the aging body. Her spirit is not aging. Indeed, it is still young and
supple.
It is her body -- her bones and her feet -- which are aging, but she does not associate herself with them.
On the contrary, her spirit is her real self and, for this reason, she makes a clear distinction between her
spirit and her body.
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- Quote one word which indicates that this is an American poem. Explain your
answer. (2)
[Need help?]
The word "favor" is the American way of spelling. Standard English would spell the word
"favour".
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- What is this "one favor" to which the poet refers? (4)
[Need help?]
Somehow a rocking chair is synonymous with the uselessness of old age. The aging person sits in her
rocking chair, snoozing, waiting for death.
The poet fights against this concept. She wants no rocking chair. She wants only recognition that she
is still a living person, capable of thought and action.
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