Analysis of Theme in Maya Angelou's and Benjamin Zephaniah's Poems.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini akan membahas tentang empat buah puisi karya

Maya Angelou dan empat buah puisi karya Benjamin Zephaniah yang keduanya

adalah orang kulit hitam. Karya Maya Angelou yang dipilih untuk skripsi ini adalah

“Equality”, “Still I Rise”, “Million Man March Poem” dan “Touched by an Angel”.

Sedangkan empat puisi oleh Benjamin Zephaniah yang akan dibahas adalah

“Neighbours”, “SOS (Save Our Sons)”, “The Race Industry”, dan “White Comedy”.

Oleh karena kedua penulis adalah orang kulit hitam, maka akan

sangat menarik untuk membahas tema dari puisi-puisi tersebut. Walaupun mereka

berasal dari waktu dan tempat yang berbeda, Angelou lahir di jaman Civil Rights

Movement di Amerika dan Zephaniah dikenal di dunia sastra kontemporer dari

Inggris, tetapi tema dari puisi mereka tetap membahas tentang orang kulit hitam dan

bagaimana mereka berinteraksi dengan orang lain yang berbeda ras.

Setelah menganalisis tema dari delapan puisi tersebut, ternyata

mereka mempunyai kesamaan dan perbedaan. Tema dari puisi-puisi Angelou lebih

kepada diskriminasi yang dialami orang kulit hitam pada jaman dahulu, sedangkan

tema dari puisi-puisi Zephaniah lebih kepada bagaimana orang kulit hitam

diperlakukan di Inggris. Walaupun berbeda tema, namun mereka tetap membahas

subjek yang sama yaitu orang kulit hitam oleh karena itu bagi saya, sangat menarik

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APPENDICES

POEMS OF MAYA ANGELOU

1. “EQUALITY”

You declare you see me dimly through a glass which will not shine, though I stand before you boldly, trim in rank and making time.

You do own to hear me faintly as a whisper out of range,

while my drums beat out the message and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free.

You announce my ways are wanton, that I fly from man to man,

but if I'm just a shadow to you, could you ever understand?

We have lived a painful history, we know the shameful past, but I keep on marching forward, and you keep on coming last.

Equality, and I will be free. Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision, take the padding from your ears, and confess you've heard me crying, and admit you've seen my tears.

Hear the tempo so compelling,

hear the blood throb through my veins. Yes, my drums are beating nightly, and the rhythms never change.

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2. “STILL I RISE”

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame - I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain - I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear - I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear - I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise

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3. “MILLION MAN MARCH POEM”

The night has been long, The wound has been deep, The pit has been dark,

And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,

I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach. Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound, You couldn't even call out my name.

You were helpless and so was I, But unfortunately throughout history You've worn a badge of shame.

I say, the night has been long, The wound has been deep, The pit has been dark

And the walls have been steep.

But today, voices of old spirit sound Speak to us in words profound,

Across the years, across the centuries, Across the oceans, and across the seas. They say, draw near to one another, Save your race.

You have been paid for in a distant place, The old ones remind us that slavery's chains Have paid for our freedom again and again.

The night has been long, The pit has been deep, The night has been dark, And the walls have been steep.

The hells we have lived through and live through still, Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will. The night has been long.

This morning I look through your anguish Right down to your soul.

I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole. I look through the posture and past your disguise,

And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.

I say, clap hands and let's come together in this meeting ground, I say, clap hands and let's deal with each other with love,

I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference, Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts,

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Clap hands, let's leave the preening And stop impostering our own history.

Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge, Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation, Courtesy into our bedrooms,

Gentleness into our kitchen, Care into our nursery.

The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain We are a going-on people who will rise again.

And still we rise.

4. “TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL”

We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight

live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight

to liberate us into life.

Love arrives

and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold,

love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls.

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POEMS OF BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

1. “NEIGHBOURS”

I am the type you are supposed to fear Black and foreign

Big and dreadlocks

An uneducated grass eater.

I talk in tongues You will see my shadow In the bathroom window, My aromas will occupy Your space,

Our ball will be in your court. How will you feel?

You should feel good You have been chosen.

I am the type you are supposed to love Dark and mysterious

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2. “SOS (SAVE OUR SONS)”

We Black men of England Too proud to cry for shame, Let's cry a sea

Cry publicly,

Expose our very pain, For Babylon the bandit Is on our sisters trail, The bad talk

And the cool walk

Will not keep us out of jail.

We Black men of England Our guns are killing us, How dare we?

Now hear me

How great is dangerous? There's a fascist and a druggist Out to get our kith and kin, Let silent guns

Save our sons The power is within.

We Black men of England Excel as if in sport

For our people,

Because some people

Want to see our face in court, When we Black men of England Look the mirror in the face, Through our sisters eyes We men shall rise

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3. “THE RACE INDUSTRY”

The coconuts have got the jobs. The race industry is a growth industry. We despairing, they careering.

We want more peace they want more police. The Uncle Toms are getting paid.

The race industry is a growth industry. We say sisters and brothers don't fear. They will do anything for the Mayor. The coconuts have got the jobs. The race industry is a growth industry. They're looking for victims and poets to rent. They represent me without my consent. The Uncle Toms are getting paid. The race industry is a growth industry. In suits they dither in fear of anarchy. They take our sufferings and earn a salary. Steal our souls and make their documentaries. Inform daily on our community.

Without Black suffering they'd have no jobs. Without our dead they'd have no office. Without our tears they'd have no drink. If they stopped sucking we could get justice. The coconuts are getting paid.

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4. “WHITE COMEDY”

I waz whitemailed By a white witch, Wid white magic An white lies,

Branded by a white sheep I slaved as a whitesmith Near a white spot

Where I suffered whitewater fever. Whitelisted as a whiteleg

I waz in de white book As a master of white art, It waz like white death.

People called me white jack Some hailed me as a white wog, So I joined de white watch Trained as a white guard Lived off the white economy.

Caught and beaten by de whiteshirts I waz condemned to a white mass, Don't worry,

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BIOGRAPHY OF THE POETS

MAYA ANGELOU

Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson 4 April 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri.

She is an American poet, memoirist, actress and an important figure in the American

Civil Rights Movement. She is known for her series of six autobiographies, starting with

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, (1969) which was nominated for a National Book

Award and called her "magnum opus." Her volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool

Drink of Water 'Fore I Die (1971) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Dr. Angelou has been honored by universities, literary organizations,

government agencies, and special interest groups. Her honors include a National Book

Award nomination for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,a Pulitzer Prize nomination for

her book of poetry, Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die, a Tony Award

nomination for her role in the 1973 play Look Away, and three Grammys for her spoken

word albums. In 1995, Angelou's publishing company, Bantam Books, recognized her

for having the longest-running record (two years) on The New York Times Paperback

Nonfiction Bestseller List. She has served on two presidential committees, and was

awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000.Musician Ben Harper has honored Dr.

Angelou with his song "I'll Rise," which includes words from her poem, "And Still I

Rise." She has been awarded over thirty honorary degrees.

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BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH

Zephaniah was born on 15 April 1958 in Cole's Hill, Birmingham, England. He is

a British Rastafarian writer and dub poet, and is well known in contemporary English

literature. Zephaniah spent part of his childhood in Jamaica. In November 2003,

Zephaniah wrote in The Guardian that he was turning down the invitation to accept the

honour of the position of Officer of the Order of British Empire (OBE) award from

Queen Elizabeth II since it reminded him of "how my foremothers were raped and my

forefathers brutalised". He continued to say "Stick it, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen, stop

going on about empire." It was unusual to do so publicly, since the convention for

rejecting the award is to do so privately. Zephaniah currently lives in the small village of

Moulton, Lincolnshire, and is a self-described passionate vegan. He is an honorary

patron of The Vegan Society. He is also the patron of the east London based anti-racist

organization Newham Monitoring Project. Benjamin is also a fan of Aston Villa Football

Club.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Maya Angelou and Benjamin Zephaniah are two of the black poets

whose works have been known in the literary world. I choose both poets because

they have something in common: they are both black and dream of equality without

having to lose their identities and their roots as Blacks.

I purposefully choose poets from different nationalities. Angelou is an

Afro-American and Zephaniah is a black Englishman. What interests me most about

Angelou’s works are partly because she is an important figure in the American Civil

Rights Movement. She experienced discrimination against African-Americans and

racial segregation in the United Stated of America. However, since Angelou is a

woman there is a strong sense of feminism in some of her poems. While Zephaniah

is a British dub poet who once grew up in Jamaica but now lives in England and

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Maranatha Christian University different genders so it will be interesting and tempting to get their viewpoints about

Blackness through their poems from their sex perspectives.

I choose four out of many Angelou’s poems as well as Zephaniah’s.

Angelou’s “Equality”, “Still I Rise”, “Million Man March Poem”, and “Touched by an

Angel” are poems which have a strong sense of discrimination. Two of the four

poems convey feminism as well. Angelou’s way of writing these two poems is so

special, that is by combining the two senses into one without losing the points she

wants to convey. In Zephaniah’s “Neighbours”, ”SOS (Save Our Sons)”, ”The Race

Industry”, and ”White Comedy”, he shows his points of view about the feelings of

being black in an explicit way. It makes the readers easily understand his poems

which are mostly about the black people in England. Each of Angelou’s and

Zephaniah’s poems has its own special issues which make it different from another,

even though they keep the same subject which is talking about black people.

What I am going to analyze is the theme of those poems. I choose theme

as the subject to be analyzed because I think it is interesting to try to get the ideas

and find the similarities from the eight poems which come from two different poets,

different nationalities, different genders, and different eras. I think it will be interesting

to find out the notions and ideas about black people in this study by revealing the

theme. According to Edgar V. Roberts, a theme “… should be a short, accurate, and

forceful presentation of ideas or descriptions, well contrived as a totality or unity” (8).

It is expected that the theme itself will give insight about what happens with black

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Maranatha Christian University In analyzing the poems, I am going to use formalism. The reason why I

choose this approach is because I think that this approach is representative in this

study of analyzing the theme. Since I use the formalism, I will analyze these poems

through the diction and other intrinsic elements.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problems I will discuss in this thesis are as follow:

1. What is the theme of each poem?

2. How is the theme revealed in each poem?

3. What is the purpose of the poets in writing the poems?

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

There are three purposes of this study:

1. To show the theme of each poem.

2. To show how the theme is revealed.

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Maranatha Christian University METHOD OF RESEARCH

In doing my analysis, I do library research and consult book altogether

with the reliable internet websites as my references.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS

In organizing my thesis, I put first the Acknowledgment and Abstract in

Indonesian. After that, there will be Chapter One that consists of the Introduction,

Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study, Methods

of Research, and the Organization of the Thesis. It is followed by Chapter Two which

is the Analysis of Maya Angelou’s Poems and Chapter Three, the Analysis of

Benjamin Zephaniah’s Poems. Chapter Four is the Conclusion, followed by the

Bibliography and the Appendices, in which I put the Biographies of the poets and

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

Having analyzed the theme of the poems of both writers, I come to a

conclusion that both writers are talking about black people and their interaction with

other people with different race at their particular time. Both writers describe that the

bad treatment and inequality are the major problems that the black people face. Both

Angelou’s and Zephaniah’s purposes through their poems are more to encourage

the black people and also criticizing the white people for doing such treatment

towards the black people. Through their poems, both are also describing that the

black people have the pride and power within themselves in order to fight the bad

treatment.

However, there are still some differences that can be seen through their

purposes in creating the poems. Angelou’s focus is more to the pure discrimination

towards black people while Zephaniah’s is more to the attitude of the black people in

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Maranatha Christian University Rights Movement was still going on. Based on it, I can say that Angelou was raised

in the situation where black people were fighting for their freedom and rights. That

mainly affects her works and through her four poems that I already analyzed, I find

that the issue of discrimination is very strong. Through the diction she conveys the

discrimination issue explicitly by addressing the narrators’ identity with the words

“painful history” and “shameful past” in the poem “Equality”, “history’s shame” and

“past… in pain” in the poem “Still I Rise”, and “slavery’s chains” in the poem “Million

Man March Poem” which draw back to the history of the black people as slaves. Yet,

since she is a woman there is sense of feminism in some of her poems. Inspired by

her and black people’s experiences in the segregation era, all of her four poems

describe about the pain and suffering the black people had in order to fight the

segregation and to get their rights.

Her “Equality” and “Still I Rise” are about the black people’s hope to get

equality, “Million Man March Poem” is about the power they had to fight the

discrimination, and “Touched by an Angel” is telling that the power of love which can

do anything including to stop discrimination. Therefore, I can conclude that all of her

four poems are the description of what had happened to the black people and what

the black people had done to fight the discrimination at that time.

While Zephaniah is a British dub poet who once grew up in Jamaica but

now lives in England and become well known in contemporary English literature.

Different from Angelou’s, Zephaniah’s poems are rather vivid delivering the issue of

discrimination, focusing more on the attitude of the black people and how they relate

to other people of different race. However, the bad treatment towards the black

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discrimination but in the form of social injustice. His “SOS (Save Our Sons)” is talking

about the violent culture that has been considered as part of the black culture.

“Neighbours” is talking about the pride and changing attitude of the black people in

looking at themselves. “The Race Industry” is about the history of the black people a

long time ago while “White Comedy” is about the power the black people have within

themselves to face the bad stereotype of the blacks.

Angelou is from the United States of America and these poems are all

about what happen in the segregation era a long time ago while Zephaniah is from

England and his four poems are all about what happen to the black people in present

time. Based on that and based on what I have analyzed, I can conclude that the bad

treatment towards black people does still occur from a long time ago until now. It was

in the form of discrimination in the United States of America but it is now in the form

of social injustice in the daily life of the black people in England.

I personally prefer Zephaniah poems because they have so many issues

about the black people nowadays. This is interesting because many people would

also think the way I did, that there is no such thing as discrimination towards black

people that occurs at present but the truth is, there is, and of course not in the form

of mere discrimination. It can be in the form of social injustice or bad stereotypes

addressed to them. Zephaniah is living in today’s era but he still can bring back the

old memories and history of the black people through one of his four poems and his

other three poems are also really portraying the real life of the black people in

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Text:

Angelou, Maya. “Equality.” Poet Seers. 16 April 2008 <http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/maya_angelou_poe ms/equality>

“Still I Rise” Poet Seers. 16 April 2008

<http://www.poetseers.org/contemporary_poets/maya_angelou_poe

ms/still_i_rise>

“Million Man March Poem” Poet Seers. 16 April 2008

ms/million_man_march_poem>

“Touched by An Angel” Poet Seers. 16 April 2008

ms/touched_by_an_angel>

“Neighbours” Benjamin Zephaniah. 16 April 2008 <

http://www.benjaminzephaniah.com/content/244.php>

“SOS (Save Our Sons)” Benjamin Zephaniah. 16 April 2008 <

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Maranatha Christian University “The Race Industry” Benjamin Zephaniah. 16 April 2008 <

“White Comedy” Benjamin Zephaniah. 16 April 2008 <

References:

Roberts, Edgar V. Writing Themes About Literature. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1977

Wikipedia.com: Maya Angelou. 2008. 10 September 2007

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_angelou>

Wikipedia.com: Benjamin Zephaniah. 2008. 10 September 2007

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Zephaniah>

Zephaniah, Benjamin. Benjamin Zephaniah. 16 April 2008

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