ipl-logo

The Lesson By Maya Angelou Essay

477 Words2 Pages

The poem “The Lesson” written by Maya Angelou is about the trials of life and death. In the poem Maya demonstrates that life needs to be embraced, even at its worst moments. Maya…..
The poem is about the hardships and the bitter sweet feelings of dealing with life and death. The poem begins with a hyperbole saying “I keep on dying again” meaning that she has already died, and has actually died more than once and that this will continue to happen. The speaker of the poem also uses imagery and a simile in the line “Veins collapse, opening like the small fists of sleeping children”. The speakers tone at the beginning of the poem is very gloomy and discouraging. In the fifth line of the poem the speaker mentions “old tombs”. These are imaginably …show more content…

The tone of the poem changes to more of a hopeful sense. The speaker is not being convinced to give up. The speaker is a very determined person that has faced many hardships but doesn’t let anything defeat her. The following lines of the poem are expressing the physical effect that their suffering has had by saying “The years And cold defeat live deep in Lines along my face. They dull my eyes”. The personification here helps the reader better comprehend what the speaker looks like. With the amount of hardships they have gone through and the “wrinkles” on their face, it is presumed to be an elder speaking. The last line of the poem brings a whole new aspect to the poem saying “I keep on dying, Because I love to live.” This is such a powerful line that gives reason to all of the sorrows through the speaker’s life. The speaker explains that she loves to live. That she will do whatever it takes to live because she treasures life. She is willing to go through the pain of dying over and over in order to live. The value of life is very important to the speaker. The speaker looks at death as being a part of the journey of life. Rather than

Open Document