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Phenomenal Woman Analysis and Explanation by Maya Angelou

Hello Everyone and Welcome to this new video on Beaming Notes. Today we are going to look at the Poem Analysis of Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. Voice-Over and Narration : Anushree Sen Video Editing : Sukhamita Paul CRITICAL ANALYSIS: --------------------------------- The poem starts in a conversational fashion where a flock of women, intrigued by poet’s popularity amidst male suitors, want to know from her the secret of her success. Despite her strong refusal to fit into beauty paradigm, the poet gets maximum male attention. By her own admission, she is neither cute, nor she has a bottleneck figure. Her physical incongruity makes the questioning women more curious and they have a strong feeling that the poet conceals the secret of her success. The poet proudly asserts that she is very happy with whatever she has and definitely is not going to take a plunge to beautify herself. Her real appearance, the reach of her arms, the span of her hips, and the curl of her lips make her such a phenomenal woman. What she intends to highlight is that there is no falsity about her appearance. She appears the way she exists. Such honesty of her appearance exudes tremendous confidence which makes men swarm around her like bees. Every time she enters the room, she becomes the cynosure of present contingent of men. Helpless men used to stoop flock after her just the way bees swarm around their hive. Hive of honey bees is an interesting metaphor. As bees find shelter in a hive, helpless men seek refuge in the not-so-glamorous body of the poet. Maya Angelou now takes initiative to decode the mystery further for the bewildering women. She is confident and that shows in spark of her eyes. She has a proud smile which exudes optimism. Her swinging waist and joyous feet show she is in firm control over the situation. This firmness, this confidence makes her a phenomenal woman who refuses to mould herself according to male desire. The repeated proud assertion of being a phenomenal woman is a celebration of womanhood. Now, she remains a mystery to her male admirers. This ordinary looking woman sparks a desire in them and they fail to pin down the reason. Maya Angelou tries to reveal the mystery but the myopic men fail to see it. Actually, male doctrine believes in specificity. They cannot stand the idea of totality. When Maya Angelou’s entire appearance wins them over, they leave no stone unturned to fix a point. Male hegemony demands stability, a hierarchy of things which Maya Angelou’s body savagely defies. Her arch of the back, her glorious smile, rhyming motion of her breasts remains a jigsaw and single-minded men will never find the final piece of this jigsaw. The poet again reasserts her phenomenal existence. She says that she never does anything outrageous to draw attention. She does not need to talk aloud or to jump here n there to get attention. She wins attention just to be what she is. The click of her heel, bend of her hair, her caring palm make her self-sufficient. She is complete since she is a woman and she needs not to gloss up herself to soar above. This audacity of thought, this proud claim, this supreme confidence makes her a phenomenal woman. POETIC DEVICES: ---------------------------- Metaphor: “Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees.” In the above line poet compares desiring men to bees flocking after the poet for her unique charm. “It’s the fire in my eyes.” The poet here uses a very commonplace metaphor of fire that defines poet’s passion. “The sun of my smile.” Here, Maya Angelou has compared the warmth of her smile to that of the sun. Refrain: “I am woman, Phenomenally.” This line gets repeated in all the stanzas of the poem which asserts and reasserts the poet’s unflinching confidence about her phenomenal identity. *A refrain is a line, a part of line or a group of lines which is repeated in the course of a poem, sometimes with little changes usually at the end of a stanza. The last four lines of the first three stanzas of the poem, “Phenomenal Woman” should be noted,- Personification: “And the joy in my feet” In the above phrase, joy is compared with a subservient person throwing himself at the feet of the poet. Alliteration: The repetition of the consonant sounds at the beginning of words is called alliteration. Examples of alliteration from the poem are- “pretty woman wonder” “they say they still can’t see” “the sun of my smile” Want to learn more about this Poem? Just go to www.beamingnotes.com or simply click on the links below: https://beamingnotes.com/2014/05/14/p... https://beamingnotes.com/2014/05/14/m... https://beamingnotes.com/2013/10/22/s...