Say What You Want to Say in the Maya Angelou’s poem “Sounds like Pearls”

Say What You Want to Say in the Maya Angelou's poem "Sounds like Pearls"

Sounds, as written in the first line of the first stanza in the Maya Angelou's poem "Sounds like Pearls", start to emerge in the mind as we start to read the poem. Sounds are something that we can hear, enabling people to communicate, socialize, interact with other people. Moreover, the art of spoken communication had been invented long before the written communication was invented.

In the first stanza, by comparing sounds which are nonphysical phenomena with the pearl which is physical object, Maya Angelou tries to give sounds physical shape of pearl, perfectly round and easily rolling. By the second stanza, the doubt and fear was implicitly likened to people by having the quality of ungainly or clumsy/awkward, and they do blush! Angelou does the comparing and likening not without reason, she tried to share her imagery of what sounds are and what doubt and fear are.

Martin Luther King leaning on a lectern. Deutsch: ...

English: Maya Angelou reciting her poem, "On the P...

Maya Angelou with Bloomberg and Nadler

The first and second line in the first stanza, Sounds/Like pearls, written by using simile. Sounds and pearls, people enjoy the beauty of the pearl by its lustrous color, smooth and perfect round. Obviously, pearl is a gemstone and it is not strange that people metaphor it for "admirable", "valuable". In other hand, sounds has its own beauty, for example note, rhythmic, or even, to speak and say people's feelings, opinions, arguments, needs, etc. Then, in Doubt and fear/ Ungainly things/ With blushing, Maya Angelou moves to other things, Doubt and fear, which are given quality of ungainly or clumsy. Why? Well, clumsiness sometimes makes people won't do anything, moreover doubt and fear blush, looks like people who are ashamed of what they have done or even what they don't even try yet.