Woman Work

By: Maya Angelou

#200 pg 271

I've got the children to tend

The clothes to mend

The floor to mop

The food to shop

Then the chicken to fry

The baby to dry

I got company to feed

The garden to weed

I've got shirts to press

The tots to dress

The cane to be cut

I gotta clean up this hut

Then see about the sick

And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine

Rain on me, rain

Fall softly, dewdrops

And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here

With your fiercest wind

Let me float across the sky

'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes

Cover me with white

Cold icy kisses and

Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky

Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone

Star shine, moon glow

You're all that I can call my own. 

Analysis:

Maya Angelou sets up the poem using five stanzas; the first has an end rhyme of AABBCCDD, ect. She recites a list of her everyday duties, and the flow of the end rhyme adds to the predictable structure and repetition of this woman’s life. Her life is monotonous with no indication of happiness, joy or fulfillment. The structure of the poem is reflective of the freedom she longs for. This strict structure in the first stanza with end rhyme, also being enhanced with short abrupt lines or (duties) shows the confinement and restriction of this woman; who we can see is a slave by the jobs she must accomplish. Tending to the fields of cotton and sugar cane, the lack of emotion put into the caring for the sick; there is no personal recognition of family that she is doing these things for. Also a big give away is her living in a hut. This cycle is broken in the next four stanzas where she longs for freedom through free verse of thought.

            The rhythm in the first stanza signifies a negative attitude towards work, although the next four stanzas portray an optimistic image. It too is separated into two parts. This first stanza presents a woman pictured as hard working, robust with strength and endurance, yet with little time to rest. She is up to her elbows in dirt, children, food and work. Though the complexity of the lines is simple and abrupt, it clearly paints a busy, sweaty, tough woman. Being able to see this image in your mind now brings emotion. Sadness and sympathy comes to mind. We can feel her unhappiness and stress through this busy image. The pace is once slowed down, so that a greater contrast can be made between stanzas, where the imagery is much more gentle, suggesting that nature is being benevolent towards the woman. Angelou used natural imagery to describe the woman's relationship with nature. In this poem, however, nature is benevolent towards the woman and does not antagonize her. Gentle imagery is used to describe the woman floating during the storm and resting in nature's arms. Nature is described in that way, as it is the only escape from the woman's daily routine. This expresses a vast amount of pessimism towards work, but some optimism towards her life as well.

Reflection:

            At first glance, the title of the poem reminded me of our many controversial arguments in class about the place of a woman in society. But while reading the five short stanzas, I realized it was no longer just speaking of a woman; it was referring to the life of a black woman slave. Like many slavery poems, this one spoke of the troubles they faced and the freedom they prayed for. But this one caught my eye because it creatively spoke of freedom through peace of nature. It swiftly shifted from the routine of a slave to the progression of seasons. Not only did this woman want freedom, but she felt the only way to obtain it was through death. “Let me float across the sky ‘til I can rest again.” She is asking, she is pleading to Mother Nature or to God to release her like a bird from its cage. “Fall gently, snowflakes cover me with white cold icy kisses and let me rest tonight.” Winter usually brings death, and Maya personifies winter snow to give this woman kisses, a peaceful death. Finally the last stanza reveals no matter how hard you try to take things away from her, like her freedom, you cannot take away what doesn’t belong to you. She can still enjoy the sun and rain on her face, the beautiful pleasures of mountains and unending sky. Its beautiful rhythm adds a final pick-me-up leaving me with a combination of hope and sympathy for this working woman.