Thematic and Stylistic Analysis of Maya Angelou Poems: A Review of Literature

Poetry is a form of creative art, through which many writers express their emotions, feelings, and also their bitter experiences to the world. Poetry, along with autobiography helped in the revelation of self, especially among African-Americans. Black women writers, in particular, have experienced many trials and tribulations while struggling for identity and freedom in the land of America. As women were considered inferior since the early period, their writings reflect deeply on their life stories and create a positive self-identity. Qualitative descriptive method is commonly used in the reviewed articles. This article examines the existing research on Angelou’s poems with the explored areas such as racism, gender issues, figurative analysis, feminism, stylistics, etc., and identifies the characteristics of self-portrait in them.