Existentialism: A Strive for Identity in the Select Poems of Maya Angelou

Abstract

Existentialism is an approach that emphasizes human existence. It opposes rationalist tradition and culture by emphasizing action, and freedom, and choosing them as important to human existence. This study is an attempt to unveil Maya Angelou’s existential themes in her poems. Angelou, as an African-American poet naturally possess the existentialistic attitude and fought for the freedom of her community. The selected poems for this study are: “Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition”, “Harlem Hopscotch”, and “Africa”. Most of her poems are found with the themes of pain, hope, quest for freedom and self-love. This paper examines an in-depth analysis of Angelou’s select poems which aids to explore the world of Angelou where she lives with her own perspectives of life and strives for the freedom of humanity. Her writings are the mirror of herself. The paper concludes by showing how Angelou has turned all of her struggles into victories and how she has battled for black liberation and became an icon among the blacks’.