Bar-Hopping with Maya Angelou and Walt Whitman
by Andrew Michael Flynn
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“And I Still Rise” by Maya Angelou
Interpreting Literature
In Maya Angelou’s harrowed and famous text, “And I Still Rise”, there is a ferocious undercurrent of the African-American culture that has been subjugated and outright dumped upon for hundreds of years in America, to say nothing of their struggles throughout the course of history in Colonized Africa and elsewhere. She takes the mantle of her ethnic group, as Angelou is African-American, and makes the steadfast decision to plow through anything that may come against her or her downtrodden kind from the very beginning: this is a fight song which bursts through the bones of its poetic form. Through the lens of Ethnic Studies, the author’s viewpoint can be understood via her life experiences and sheer passion for communicating particular pain of being slighted for her skin color and cultural identity.
Choosing a Lens
Taking in Angelou’s “And I Still Rise” honestly is not for the faint of heart, especially because of the nuance of sheer rage that boils from it. The author wants you to absolutely take her words in and learn about a perspective that may not be yours (Schmoop, Ethnic Studies Basics), and maybe even be changed by the time you’re done with it, certainly after reading it more than a few times to get its true intentions. The advantage of seeing this work through Ethnic Studies is that it brings the personality and viewpoints of an African-American woman to the forefront, and maybe even bludgeoning you a little bit just to make sure you don’t soon forget what Angelou leaves you with, and that is to increase the diversity of voices that we encounter when reading literature (Gonzagowski, Module Seven Lecture Notes). A downside to using Ethnic Studies as the primary lens would be that it could be seen as dividing people since some folks just don’t want to be bothered with anything challenging or potentially racial. The lens of Feminist Theory is also effective when viewing Angelou’s work here, as she demonstrates Liberal Feminism, which aims to break doors down and break through any glass ceiling (Gonzagowski, Module Six Lecture Notes) that would possibly be in the way. Feminism as a critical approach promotes the idea that women’s everyday lives were impacted by larger, sexist power structures (Gonzagowski, Module Six), as the author here eats the lunch of anyone who may be in charge of those structures. Angelou is striving for reclamation here as she rockets into the stratosphere and past any proverbial roadblocks with this passage:
“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.” (Angelou, 21-24)
Close Reading
From the outset of “And I Still Rise”, Angelou takes issue with how African-Americans are conquered and left to somewhat waste in the annals of history “With your bitter, twisted lies” (Angelou, 1). Engaging with Ethnic Studies as the lens to view this work allows the voice of an African-American woman to be featured when otherwise she may not be viewed as canon and swept under the rug, not being given the forum or the eventual reach that Angelou did with her life’s work. Going with Feminist Theory for a moment allows for exploration of Womanism, as noted poet and novelist Alice Walker coins this term in describing a black woman’s unique brand of feminism, a glove worn classically by Angelou. Further, there is an example of Écriture Féminine, referring to women taking pleasure in their bodies and their writing (Shmoop, Feminst Theory Buzzwords), letting that pleasure come out loud and clear:
“Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?” (Angelou 25-28).
Making Connections
For all that has been written about Ethnic Studies and Feminism, it is crucial to recognize that both are fairly new in the human timeline of literature and literary theory. Having the liberation to recognize the abject horror of racism and the suppression of an entire people (and female gender) is only something that can get stronger and better defined in the coming decades as both African-Americans and women take further prominence in society. Also, if they have the ability to be on equal footing should radical feminism have its day in the sun, which claims that the patriarchy underlies the whole way society is structured (Shmoop, Feminist Theory Introduction). Second-wave feminism came along only in the 1960s and 1970s, widening the road of literature into a superhighway with more than a few extra lanes being opened for bringing to light unknown and underappreciated authors due to the old thinking of what used to just be potent, white men. Maya Angelou is one of many now-prominent, influential mainstream voices that finally got somewhere because she decided she was “leaving behind nights of terror and fear” (Angelou, 33).
Song of Myself by Walt Whitman
Interpreting Literature
Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself lends itself to be viewed through the lens of a New Historicist considering the time period (1890s) that it was written and the subject matter it contains. Culture is the text to a New Historicist, meaning that no matter what occurred in a particular time in history, it’s part of the mosaic: every patchwork of each little text serves the “big text that is culture” (Shmoop, New Historicism Buzzwords). That being said, this is Walt Whitman we’re discussing here, so little is going to be sparsely used from this point so as to give credit where it’s due. This longform poem uses Representation, which is a literary work that depicts aspects of social or cultural life just like in real life (Shmoop, New Historicism Buzzwords), and it is on display in scenes you would find in the Midwest and Western United States in the 1890s. The mentions of Native Americans (trapper, the bride was a red girl) and a “runaway slave” (Whitman, Part 10, Sections 5-6) and their respective presences in the poem are small threads of the Historical American fabric of the time. New Historicists are fervent in their search for historical context in literary works (Gonzagowski, Module Four Lecture Notes), and they consider history something we cannot avoid when reading them.
Choosing a Lens
A reader who views Song of Myself through the lens of New Historicism sees the world as it is then: the dominant attitudes, beliefs, and biases (Module Four Lecture Notes) of the given period, however uncouth and politically incorrect they may be in contemporary times. For example, you would not refer to a Native American woman as a “red girl” or even mention an African-American as a “runaway slave” today, but these terms were so widely used in the 1890s that they were seen as entirely appropriate nomenclature, with likely no recoil from anyone living then. New Historicism’s advantage is that it views literature as an archived record, taking all emotion out of it to remain loyal to the time where that work is from, reflecting its historical and sociocultural context. This can also be disadvantageous since New Historicists don’t see literature as special (Module Four Lecture Notes). Most people of today’s world would take issue with the outdated racial references, yet the circumstances presented matter the most to New Historicists. Turning that method somewhat sideways, New Criticism is another lens to examine Song of Myself through, directing full attention to the literary work itself. Whitman’s poem makes it available to do this via ontological means, which is a particular way of studying human life (Shmoop, New Criticism Buzzwords) through the poem’s form in a close reading, hashing out the relations between that form and the text’s meaning. Conversely, a disadvantage of New Criticism is that does not care what was happening with the author’s life or biography (Gonzagowski, Module Two Lecture Notes), this lens looks at text only to figure out the world of the specific piece.
Close Reading
Whitman’s Song of Myself contains numerous characters, but in this passage the aforementioned trapper, his bride, and a “runaway slave” are featured in the first half. Through the lens of New Historicism, their corresponding vignettes describe some of their personal attributes, such as the trapper’s “luxuriant beard and curls” and his bride’s “voluptuous limbs” (Whitman, Part 10, Sections 5-6). While these descriptions could apply to many other folks of numerous time periods, the author is careful to zoom into exactly what they appear like since that’s really the only exposure he had with the Native Americans. It seems that Whitman was traveling in “the open air in the far West” (Whitman, Part 10, Section 5) and deemed it necessary to include them. The “runaway slave” is closer-up affair with a more detailed story inside the larger poem about how a guy down on his luck needed a helping hand and got one, a restorative and welcomed short narrative for certain. It’s easy enough to imagine these scenes while being part of a wagon train or on horseback. Further, the form of Section 6 with five straight lines beginning with “And” demonstrates a repetition and purposeful tempo in telling this story, and is one of New Criticism’s central tenets.
On the New Criticism side of the coin, there is a small helping of contradictory language in the 11th part of Whitman’s Song of Myself. This is known as a paradox, one of the sterling examples of this specific literary theory. This section is about rich woman in the market for a suitor, and she’s shopping her myriad choices with the “twenty-eight young men” (Whitman, Part 11, Section 1) cleaning themselves nearby. As it pertains somewhat to form, which is another mainstay of New Criticism, the number “twenty-eight” is repeated in consecutive lines in the beginning of Part 11. The lens of New Historicism is one more of a wide-angle view, and recognizes the rich lady as controlling her own destiny in a time where such a thing is more than rare. Anyway, the previously mentioned paradox is here, and is a device that Whitman also employs successfully:
“Where are you off to, lady? for I see you,
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.” (Whitman, Part 11, Section 4)
Making Connections
New Historicism studies and understands the way power circulates in a society (Shmoop, New Historicism Buzzwords) and is much more than just the facts. The adage of history is told by the winners plays into this, even though most people realize that actual history has more than just the victor’s side. The desire of New Historicists is also how a literary work comments on and relates to its context (Module Four Lecture Notes), and was a specific reaction against the New Critical approach of viewing the text without context.
Now, it’s true that New Criticism has fallen by the wayside as of the 1970s by the more popular Reader-Response Theory. New Criticism was made to be for everyone to interpret and enjoy literature without having to basically work in academia to begin with. With this theory, more windows were opened in going forward for other theories to become prevalent, such as feminist theory. Down the road a tad would allow for Gender Studies and Queer Theory to have their days in the sun, and they’re still around today, giving their own more-than-adequate light to a great future for other, new literary theories.
Why Theory Matters
Literary Theory matters a great deal and should never be discounted. As we march toward having eight billion people on our shared planet, the written word contains a power like few other things in human history. It allows this reader and writer to have more tools in my toolbelt when attempting to understand a particular text. And since there are endless stories and literature to read, being able to decipher what is in front of you is wildly important. What the author intends us to know and appreciate is crushingly necessary, both at the time it is written and what it’ll mean generations from now in the available literary theory lenses of past and present.
The world via literature thrives when literary theories are used, and it is vital to choose the right ones since not every one can apply to a particular work. As human thought and possibility evolves into the dawn of the 22nd century, interpersonal communication and efficient cooperation will be better served when modern literary theories such as feminist theory and queer theory are utilized, as they break apart the old standards and challenge readers to view things through a more progressive lens that allows for better possibilities for the future.
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Works Cited
Angelou, Maya. “And Still I Rise.” LIT-200 Final Project Passages. Southern New Hampshire University, learn.snhu.edu/d2l/lor/viewer/viewFile.d2lfile/337261/9083,1/. Accessed 10 December 2021.
Gonzagowski, Steven. “LIT-200 Module Two Lecture Notes, Formalism and New Criticism: The Text, the Whole Text, and Nothing but the Text.” Literature-200. Southern New Hampshire University, New Hampshire. 2021.
Gonzagowski, Steven. “LIT-200 Module Four Lecture Notes, New Historicism and Cultural Studies: All About the Context.” Literature-200. Southern New Hampshire University, New Hampshire. 2021.
Gonzagowski, Steven. “LIT-200 Module Six Lecture Notes, Feminist Theory, Gender Studies, and Queer Theory: Working for Change.” Literature-200. Southern New Hampshire University, New Hampshire. 2021.
Gonzagowski, Steven. “LIT-200 Module Seven Lecture Notes, Feminist Postcolonial Theory and Ethnic Studies: Perspective Matters.” Literature-200. Southern New Hampshire University, New Hampshire. 2021.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Ethnic Studies Basics.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/ethnic-studies/basics.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Feminist Theory Buzzwords.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/feministtheory/buzzwords.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “Feminist Theory Introduction.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/feministtheory.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “New Criticism Buzzwords.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/newcriticism/buzzwords.
Shmoop Editorial Team. “New Historicism Buzzwords.” Shmoop, Shmoop University, 11 Nov. 2008, https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literary-schools-of-theory/new-historicism/buzzwords.
Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself”. LIT-200 Final Project Passages. Southern New Hampshire University, learn.snhu.edu/d2l/lor/viewer/viewFile.d2lfile/337261/9083,1/. Accessed 10 December 2021.
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