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- American, wrote 'I know why the cage bird sings'- autobiography, born 1928
- Black women, active during Civil Rights Movement
- spokesperson of black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture
- Sexually abused and ***** by Mother's boyfriend, became mute
- written during feminist era 1978, depicts life of many black women at time
- Raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas, experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.
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- 'woman work'- derogatory statement, sexist, male label, order, sttement, empowering tone), not broken, can do what men can do- absence of men in poem, this implies their involvement
- “ Shine on me, sunshine” -strength of woman taking on all that is thrown whether it be the pleasant feel of the sunshine to the miserable rain. Personification-, “ Storm, blow me from here with your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky “Til I can rest again”- exhausted- speaks to the storm of just allowing her to float peacefully; get away from all the hard work- idealism, trying to escape through nature, slave plantation link, solidarity feel, link to her being mute
- ‘gotta’, ‘cane’, ‘cotton to pick’, ‘chicken to fry’- southern dialect, slave plantations, reference to her childhood and racial discrimination she experienced
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- The struggle of work-maintain a home and family
- woman in the poem is an idealist, trying to escape her wolrd through nature to give her strength and comfort
- Nature
- Empowered woman
- Feminism
- Racism
- Personal to her- cover both gender and race issues- *****
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- Rhythm- stead beat- active, continuous, work never stops, reflects slave plantations and how they sung- compare their lives, show how women still oppressed, African american cultural tradtion, tying to her roots and childhood, arouses breathlessness and exhaustion in reader, overworked
- AABB rhyme pattern, iambic, regular, changes at end- asking for change, rest?
- repetition- reflect how large her struggle is, how much their is to do, constant cycle of work, oppression of woman,
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