Maya Angelo, describes herself from her own point of view. It shows us her strong self-confidence when expressing the way she feels personally about herself. She may lead us to think that she does believe to be unattractive when she describes in the poem, “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies” (1). “Men themselves have wondered what they see In me” (30). She shows that even though she Is not the cute, petite women, she is beautiful and can attract attention in any circumstance. She is not only speaking for herself but speaking for all women.
Women can do or be anything they want if they have the confidence to prove it. In the poem, she introduces to us Just that. She tells them what it is about her and they Just simply think she’s lying. It’s in the reach of my arms, The span of my hips, The stride of my step, The curl of my lips. I’m a woman, Phenomenally, Phenomenal woman, That’s me. (6-13) Every action she makes, from the dazzle in her eyes, to the twist in her hips when she walks, shows that she moves about a room like she has complete control.
Another place in this poem that shows this is when she says it’s “the flash of my teeth… And the Joy in my feet” (23-25). She truly shows her happiness, in general, and with who she is. Men have a hard time understanding of what it truly is that stuns them about her. Pretty women have a hard time wondering what it is about her too. She’s not cute or skinny like them, so why do guys choose her over the pretty woman? She begins to tell them but they still don’t see it. It’s the way she stands straight and proud with her bright noticeable smile.
She seems like a nice happy person and has a positive outlook on life. Her personality Is filled with potential. In other words, there Is much more to see then what meets the eyes. In the last stanza she expresses that It Is time for them to understand why I don’t look down on myself and why I keep my head up or I don’t do anything spectacular to get peoples attention? When I pass by I don’t shout or Jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing It ought to make you proud. (46-50) In our society we tend to Judge by means of face value.
People may only look on the outside and never searching for what may be on the inside. But that will not stop Maya from feeling any different. She helps us come to a realization that actions, though passionate at times may be of real value. The way we are towards each other, through conversation or written word, we can all relate to each other as human beings. We all have something to gain from one another. We see only what our eyes allow us to see. We should look beyond our first impression and go to the next level.
As we educate ourselves we can all be more articulate as Ms. Angelo is trying to show us. There is another way of looking at Mama’s influences of writing this poem that should be taken in consideration. She was born in a devastating decade that suffered from numerous of tragedies. Not only has society shaped her as a woman, she has also heaped our society and had a big impact on our lives. It was what motivated her to write, to speak her mind and help others. Maya Angelo was born on April 4, 1928, a year before the stock market crashed.
This was the start of depression, a nation wide economic tragedy that took place until the late sass’s. Many workers were laid off, people were dieing from starvation. It was a terrible time in society. Women were treated poorly. Colored people suffered from racial prejudice, social and sexual discrimination. Despite of these setbacks she was still able of being successful in the oral by having these life experiences and sharing it to others by her writing, helping them to keep a positive mind. Maya Angel’s poem “Phenomenal Woman” suggests that women have always had an essential role in society.
What Maya is trying to reflect to us in her writings is that we need to be open minded. With this open mind attitude we can be observant of the things around us. We can learn to feel things to the fullest. To be able to look at the beautiful sky and a bird flying and to learn to love the simple things around that we may take for granted. Having this positive feeling about her connects with a positive feeling for everything else, whether it’s the people around you, family, marriage, a painting or a poem. Your attitude affects everything around you.
So with her self-confidence she affected both men and woman into thinking that she is beautiful and an attractive person. The way she walked to the way she talked. To the way she flaunted her style and personality. The poem was encouraged and may have felt better about them self. Maybe they read the poem to someone they knew and that influenced them as well. Maya wasn’t anything special when it came to physical appearance, but she shined like the sun and people noticed that. Her confidence showed in many ways, people were impressed by it.
That was her secret all alone Just to be herself and not anyone else. Beautiful women couldn’t figure it out and men could not understand why they were so fascinated by her. There is so much more than Just the looks and she expresses just that in this poem. To stand up and be proud of who you are whether your weight or your looks. She is an inspiring woman with her positive poems and she makes people think more closely about their inner self. By developing a deeper relationship with the author and her work, we can appreciate the value of her words and take it into consideration.
