Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes, pillars of society

Essay by neasy14High School, 10th gradeF, January 2006

download word file, 4 pages 0.0

Neither Langston Hughes nor Maya Angelou were just poets in the world of the twentieth century but instead heroes and leaders who showed the world that race wasn't what made you but whom you are instead. Though both grew up during times and events in the world, both have similar ideas while also different.

Though both poets were put down by society, neither let what people said get to them. Both instead wrote poems about how what people say doesn't matter. Maya told those people that despite what you say, I will still 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.

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....

While Langston Hughes told them that know matter what you say or think that he is just as good at all of them and that what they say makes him even stronger in the end.

I, too, sing America

I am the darker brother

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes

But I laugh

And grow strong

But Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes are not just known as poets but as two people out of many who helped shaped not only the black community but the entire world. For example Maya Angelou's poem Phenomenal Woman was a poem that inspired any woman to believe that they are phenomenal no matter what they looked like.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the...