Kayla Willis

Curmano 7
Adv. Language Arts
17 Feb 2016
Phenomenal Woman Essay
A voice for the weak, the needy, and the oppressed Maya Angelou was a poet from the
1950s until 2014 when she passed. After being sexually abused Angelou decided to speak out
and use her voice for the empowerment of topics like civil rights, single parenting, overcoming
poverty, seeking higher education. gender equality, and expectations/stereotypes. In her poem,
Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou uses refrain, rhyming, and personification to develop the
theme that no matter how attractive a woman's face or body is, it is the content and the
confidence of a woman that makes her beautiful.
Angelou truly uses the poetic devices, refrain, rhyming, and personification to develop
the theme of beauty being more than just the physical looks of a woman and that true beauty
relies more in her confidence. Refrain is the most noticeable and most oftenly used poetic device
in the poem Phenomenal Woman, it is shown in the verses, Im a woman/ Phenomenally./
Phenomenal Woman,/ That's me. (Lines 10-13, 26-29, 41-44, and 57-60). The line, Im a
woman, puts an expectation in the mind of the reader, whether it be positive or negative, but
Angelou is saying those words as a symbol of strength, a badge of honor, so she says those lines
at the end of each stanza to remind the reader of the fact that she is proud to be a woman.
Angelou says that not as negative shameful words but as though she wants to remind the readers
of the confidence and strength of women, with her use of refrain, to make these lines more
pronounced and truly develop the confidence she has in herself which aids in making her more
beautiful. Also, Angelou uses an inconstant rhyming scheme to put emphasis on the rhyming
lines, in a way that makes them memorable and more pronounced like these lines, The sun of

my smile,/ the ride of my breasts,/ The Grace of my style( Lines 39-41). She wants the reader to
realize her bright and beautiful smile and the fact that she is graceful and smooth not the ride of
her breasts, so she chooses to put the rhyme on smile and style to make them stand out more than
the word breast. Angelou chooses to use rhyming to make sure that men see her beautiful smile
and the other things that she has to offer besides just her body, she wants them to see her as a
confident, strong, beautiful woman not an object to be won or something to be conquered and
claimed. The other poetic device that plays a large role in the poem is personification which
Angelou uses in the line, And the joy in my feet. (Line 25) to truly express the joy in her feet.
Which puts a lighter view on Angelous personality because she uses the word joy to describe
feet suddenly making Angelou seem more light and relaxed; Whereas, if she had just said feet,
and not used personification, the reader would not have been able to see into Angelou's happier
and my excited part of her personality. The use of personification, for that line at least, creates a
slight tone of happiness in an otherwise serious poem. Although, not always decided the poetic
devices laid a very large role in the developing of the theme of confidence making a woman
beautiful not just her looks.
The attitude of the poem, Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou is a
positive/neutral attitude with a powerful sense of confidence. The whole poem is about Maya
Angelou being a phenomenal woman which creates a sense of power and strength such as lines
14 and 15 where it says, I walk into a room/ Just as cool as you please, (Lines 14-15). These
lines show that she, as a woman, has the ability to be completely comfortable and confident with
herself even in a room full of people that she doesn't know. Also, the words phenomenal, fire,
inner mystery, proud, and woman are all used, these words and lines seem to have a ton of
confidence that aids in creating a poem saturated with confidence. In line 1 where it says Pretty

women wonder where my secret lies. (Line 1)this line helps develop a tone of confidence. This
line also has a tone and attitude of confidence because it is talking about how she is beautiful and
she believes she is beautiful but women who are classified as pretty dont understand what
makes her so unique. When ironically what makes her beautiful is not her body or face it is the
way she carries herself, how she acts, and her confidence which is the theme and tone of the
poem. Some of the strongest tone defining lines are lines 45 through 48, Now you understand/
Just why my head's not bowed. /I don't shout or jump about/ Or have to talk real loud. the shift
of the poem is here because Angelou goes from just talking about why people think she is
beautiful to saying that she is beautiful because of her confidence. The line. Now you
understand (line 45) really provides a powerful image, no longer is she beautiful because of the
physical things people see but now the reader knows that Angelou's views her beauty in her
confidence. Now the reader knows that she is confident in herself, it is no longer just a vague
idea, it is the truth. Therefore, the tone of Phenomenal Woman is a tone of power,
independence, and confidence.
The poem Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou is a poem that uses refrain, rhyming,
and personification to talk about confidence and empowering women. After being sexually
abused Angelou decide to use her voice to express world wide issues surrounding inequality in
women. This poem really tells all women that beauty is not in what they look like or how they
are shaped, beauty is in their confidence.Therefore, if it is empowering and strengthening women
that Angelou was trying to succeed, she did that in the poem Phenomenal Woman .

Works Cited
Hunter, Maya Angelou - Poem. "A Brave And Startling Truth Poem."
Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

Hunter, Maya Angelou - Poem. "Caged Bird Poem." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web.
18 Feb. 2016.

Hunter, Maya Angelou - Poem. "Phenomenal Woman Poem." Poemhunter.com.

N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.

"18." Caged Bird Legacy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2016.