"A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” - Maya Angelou Many might say that’s an extremely memorable quote by Mrs. Angelou. Although it’s definitely not the only one, some might say it speaks to them in ways they cannot describe. Maya Angelou was roughly one of the very best poets of her generation. Her poems have touched the hearts of many, and continue to leave a mark on this world. Maya was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou was the baby, although she only had one other sibling. She was born, in a way, as a completely different person. Her original name was Marguerite Johnson. Her parents’ names are Bailey and Vivian Baxter, and her only and older brother’s name is Bailey Jr. Their parents later divorced (Benbow 31). After their parents divorced, Maya and Bailey were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps Arkansas. When Maya was 7 or 8, her mother’s boyfriend sexually abused and raped her while she had come back to visit her mother in St. Louis because it had been too long for them to have been apart. Maya lived with her grandmother until she graduated from Lafayette County Training School in 1940, with honors. She then went to live with her mother in San Francisco. She graduated from Mission High School when she was 16, and in the same year, gave birth to a baby boy. She named him Guy, and he was just the result of and unprotected fling with a neighbor’s son. Angelou, even as a teen mom, found a way to study dance as well. Although she her relationship with that boy didn’t go much further, she did end up marrying. She married Paul du Feu in 1973, also in San Francisco (Rowe 31). Maya joined what was called the Theatre of Being in Hollywood in the year of 1966. By 1970, she was a lecturer at Yale University, and a writer-in-residence at the University of Kansas. In this year also, she published first autobiographical piece, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This was a novel of verification and hope. It focused on the rape of her childhood, and the progress she showed growing from an awkward child to an independent teenage mom. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ended up being on the New York Times list of best sellers for a little over two years (Rowe 31). Angelou wrote a second autobiographical piece in 1974; Gather Together in My name. This was a basically the continued story of the first novel she wrote. Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas was her third novel. This one was published only two years after her second book. The third manuscript was written not about that awkward growing up stage, but it was more about her rise to fame as a performer (Rowe 32). In 1978 Maya wrote Woman Work. Angelou wrote this poem as the voice of a slave woman. The first stanza is what gives readers the feel of what this poem is about. “I’ve got children to tend; The clothes to mend; The floor to mop; The food to shop,” etc. Although these chores could belong to anyone, readers know she is a slave when she says she lives in a hut (line 12). The first stanza is almost 2 times longer than the following four stanzas. That’s probably the case because the first stanza is the most significant. Readers are being introduced to this slave woman, the life she lives, and the hardships she has to face. Some might say that the last four stanzas could just be grouped together. They go hand-in-hand with each other. Those stanzas all talk about finding some kind of release and comfort (Contantakis 289). Maya talks about wanting the rain to cool down her brow in lines 15 through 18. In lines 19 through 22, it talks about how she’d like a storm powerful enough to just take her away; far away, so she can have rest. She wants to rest in lines 23 through 26 also; she wants it to snow gently. In the last stanza, she’s basically saying that all she has to rely on in nature. After a long day at work, all that’s left is the different elements of the earth(Constantakis 289-290). Slavery is obviously the biggest theme of this poem. Lines 12 and 30 are what let the readers know of the way she lives. To tag along with slavery, African American culture is another theme. Slavery was and is such a big part of the African American culture that it just makes sense for them to tie together. Self-identity, gender roles, exploitation, and nature are all other themes that are expressed in this poem (Contantakis 290-292). There are a lot of poetic elements in this poem that just might be a good reason as to why it isn’t always so hard