An investigation into the effects of racial oppression and presentation of the struggle for equality in Maya Angelou’s And Still I Rise poetry collection and Obama’s A More Perfect Union speech
Isabel Rose Hay, May 2022, A Level English Language and Literature Non-Exam Assessment, awarded A*
Introduction and aims
The historic oppression of Black people remains influential in today’s world. America’s past slavery is deeply rooted in the modern experience of African Americans with prejudices, bias and guilt shaping current behaviours. This is evident throughout extensive cultural and literary material showing how racial inequality surpasses the thematic quality of a text and proves itself to have profound standing in society – it’s not just a theme in literature, it’s an issue in the real world. African American’s oppressive history meant art was one of the few vessels available to express their struggles. Consequently, there is a strong connection between the works which explore this theme and the real-life experiences of those facing racial prejudice, making them some of the most emotive and authentic literary pieces. Such texts are interesting to study to see how producers express the long-term impact of America’s history. In my investigation, I will examine how this issue is depicted in Maya Angelou’s And Still I Rise poetry collection and compare it to Barack Obama’s A More Perfect Union speech. These works reflect the effect an oppressive history has on modern society reaching equality.
I will analyse how Angelou used linguistic and structural devices in the poems And Still I Rise (1978), A Caged Bird (1983), A Georgia Song (1983), derived from the UK 1986 publication of And Still I Rise, including works from US collections And Still I Rise (1978) and Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? (1983). The poems were released during a time of unrest in America, charged by the assassination of civil right figures Malcom X (1965) and Martin Luther King Jr (1968). Angelou’s poetry reflects a change-driven period when the oppressed were rising up and demanding equality the ‘American Dream’ promised. Themes in Angelou’s poetry ‘deal broadly with the painful anguish suffered by Blacks forced into submission, with guilt over accepting too much, and with protest and basic survival’[1]. She balances the relationship between historic and modern oppression, and between Black strength and struggle, all in hopes of taking steps towards equality.
I chose to study Maya Angelou because she had a broad career as a playwright, performer, essayist and civil rights activist. Her activism, which began in the late 1950s when she was inspired by a speech King performed to the Harlem Writers Guild and joined him as northern coordinator for SCLC, included working with Malcom X and writing ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ for Bill Clinton’s inauguration. Both ML King and Angelou shared the ‘hope that their work (would) make the world more fair and free’[2]. Her involvement in the struggle to fight inequality influenced her work and gave it a unique perspective and authenticity. In turn, her work impacted society around her and evidences how literary pieces have been used proactively in the struggle for equality.
I will compare this to one of Barack Obama’s most famous speeches, a ‘speech that was unlike anything most Americans had heard before’[3]: A More Perfect Union, performed in 2008 in Philadelphia during his democratic presidential campaign[4]. The speech responded to the Reverend Wright, Obama’s pastor and campaign advisor, controversy. Audio of Wright’s sermons were leaked, highlighting inflammatory remarks he made such as suggesting the United States brought the 9/11 attacks on themselves by ‘the stuff’ (terrorism) they had ‘done overseas’[5]. These were subject to media scrutiny with many perceiving it as bitterness towards white Americans with Obama stating it had ‘the potential… to widen the racial divide’. The phrase ‘the chickens are coming to roost’[6] signified Malcom X and linked Wright’s perspective to the Black population, threatening Obama’s campaign that was based on reaching racial equality. Obama addressed this, framing it in connection to wider racism in America. His speech discusses similar themes to Angelou’s poetry regarding the historic oppression of Black people whilst shedding a contemporary light on the issue. The text also shares the same purpose; to incentivise equality.
Obama’s speech was performed three decades after my literary text, allowing me to explore the changes in representation of oppression and racial inequality. I will examine this through the scope of three techniques: nouns, figurative language and repetition. These devices allow me to examine the texts under a linguistic, syntaxial and structural lens giving me a holistic approach to analysis. They suit the texts’ contexts: repetition is significant in texts with spoken mode intentions; rhetoric is integral in the persuasive speech genre; and figurative language is evident in texts with the purpose to incite emotion in the receiver.
Review
‘By the early 1700s, European colonists had committed themselves to legal regimes that aligned freedom with whiteness, Blackness with enslavement. Yet enslaved people pushed back, claiming freedom in a variety of ways, creating openings for themselves in law and in politics’[7]. Despite the progress made since the abolition of slavery, America’s past still has ‘powerful echoes today’[8]. During the time of Angelou’s poetry, Black men were earning roughly 60% [9] less than white men – an economic reflection of inequality. Although change ought to have been made in the decades that followed, a 2019 survey suggests 84%[10] of Black people believe ‘the legacy of slavery affects the position of Black people in American society’ ‘a great deal’ or ‘a fair amount’, confirming Obama’s speech was still relevant in 2008.
Angelou is a writer with a close relationship to language and self-expression. In her words: ‘I really love language. I love it for what it does for us, how it allows us to explain the pain and the glory, the nuances and the delicacies of our existence’[11]. As her autobiography details: childhood trauma caused her to go mute, however she was encouraged to speak again at 12½ and ‘developed a love for language’[12] which would lead her to a career as a poet with a reputation of ‘transform(ing) much of the pain and disappointment of her life into lively verse’[13]. Green[14] emphasises that it is ‘essential to provide people with information that challenges stereotypes’ and that is what Angelou achieves through poetry which ‘challenge(s) Americans to re-examine their lives and to strive to reach the potential richness that has been compromised by self-interest since the beginnings of the country’[15]. Similarly, Obama’s speech addresses how the country has fallen short of the American Dream embedded within the Constitution – the ‘promise of our ideals’.
A key theory underpinning my investigation is Tajfel and Turner’s Social Identity Theory[16] which observes the psychological roots of discrimination. It conceptualises a society made from inferior and superior groups. ‘Social mobility’ describes the possibility to move between groups, however the opposing belief system suggests it is ‘very difficult’ to move from an ‘underprivileged… group’ and the ‘impossibility of “getting out”’ creates intergroup conflict and a sense of ‘them’ and ‘us’. The theory also indicates methods used by both producers to combat group inequality. It suggests when ‘social mobility’ is not possible, marginalised groups may seek to ‘(change) the values assigned to the group’ in order to decrease inferiority and recover self-esteem. This was coined ‘social creativity’. As Du[17] notes, ‘by redefining Blackness and eulogizing the self-accepted Black people, Angelou encourages African Americans to… affirm their Black identity’, suggesting Angelou uses ‘social creativity’ to redefine racial groups during a time of group separation. And Still I Rise ‘contains a hopeful determination to rise above discouraging defeat’[18], with a confident narrative voice rejecting current systems. Contrarily, Obama persists ‘social mobility’ is possible and individuals can become one group. In a recent interview, Sanders reflects Obama’s objective was for ‘America… to forgive each other and come together’[19].
Nouns are crucial in representing the topic and crafting relationships between producer and receiver. Rees[20] developed a scale illustrating the relationship distancing of the pronounal system with the 1st person ‘I’ being closest to self and 3rd person ‘they’ the furthest. Angelou explains she was following ‘the slave narrative—speaking in the first-person singular talking about the first-person plural, always saying I meaning we’[21] suggesting she had ‘become recognized not only as a spokesperson for Blacks and women, but also for all people who are committed to raising the moral standards of living in the United States’[22]. Obama’s pronounal selection creates separation and unification favourable in aligning the receivers’ ideologies with his own, representing a positive and inclusive ‘us’ to unite his voters despite race. This is typical of political discourse and serves the Constitution’s message of ‘we the people’[23].
Jakobson[24] suggest verbal messages contain an ‘expressive function’ which create ‘certain emotion’ within the receiver. Angelou and Obama achieve this through figurative language to appeal to the receiver’s humanity and highlight the effects of inequality. Metaphors are defined in Cognitive Linguistics[25] as ‘surface manifestations of deeply entrenched underlying mappings of one domain… onto… the target domain’ – lexis or narrative that represent a larger concept. Barthes’ Semiotic Theory defines symbols as ‘standing for some quality of reality’[26]. Angelou uses metaphors to reflect the tricky theme of racial oppression in a palatable way. In political debate, the message is delivered to a broad receivership, amplified when digital convergence allows speeches to be televised. Therefore, metaphors can be ‘instruments that embody otherwise remote concepts in ways that the public can readily understand’[27]. Additionally, they are a ‘common method’ to manipulate the ‘audience to view reality the way the speaker views it’[28].
I will also investigate how repetition, ‘a major rhetorical strategy for producing emphasis, clarity, amplification, or emotional effect.’[29], is used to deliver and emphasise meaning in both spoken and written texts. Hopkins[30] states that ‘the structure of poetry is that of continuous parallelism’ and Jakobson[31] informs that ‘any conspicuous similarity in sound is evaluated in respect to similarity and/or dissimilarity in meaning’ suggesting repetition will be crucial in Angelou’s delivery of meaning.
Analysis
The use of nouns in encouraging equality through unification and demanding responsibility to be taken
In And Still I Rise, Angelou uses pronouns in the anaphoric independent clauses ‘you may write me down in history’ and ‘you may trod me in the very dirt’ to create juxtaposition between voice and reader. As Angelou explained, the 1st person object pronoun ‘me’ symbolises all Black readers, her narrative voice a spokesperson for those facing oppression. This contrasts the 2nd person pronoun ‘you’ which signifies white oppressors, creating binary opposition and a negative ‘them’. Angelou uncomfortably addresses the 1978 receiver, challenging them to reflect on their ideologies when much of the population was racially prejudice. Angelou demands inequality to be acknowledged in stanza five which brings the issue of oppression to a climax. By combining abstract and concrete nouns (‘words’, ‘eyes’, ‘hatefulness’), Angelou indicates the varying forms of racial oppression – physical and overt, and insidious and systemic – Black Americans face. Paired with the possessive 2nd person determiner ‘your’, the noun phrase places fault onto the reader, encouraging them to reassess their actions.
The poem’s repeated mantra ‘I rise’ gives a hopeful voice to the oppressed. The dynamic verb ‘rise’ reflects their journey towards equality which was once a far off ‘dream’ for ‘the slave’. The abstract noun ‘dream’ signifies ML King’s speech whilst evoking ideas of the American Dream, a source of national pride denied to slaves and modern African Americans. In A Georgia Song the proper noun ‘Columbus’ repeats the motif of the American Dream evident across the collection. The polysemic noun denotes the Southern city and alludes to the explorer who conquered America, promising the American Dream. Ironically, it was not universally attainable due to the slave trade, evidencing Black oppression is rooted deeply in the past. This emphasises the strength of the Black voice as they continue to ‘rise’, creating a determined, positive ‘us’ group. The varied nouns use suits the wide receivership of a written mode since it gives opportunity for them to decide whether they are voice or addressee, encouraging them to foster equality by either reflecting on their actions or redefining narratives and rising up. The contrasting approach in A Georgia Song with the inclusive plural ‘we’, a pronoun pronoun of close relational distancing[32], unifies voice and reader. Since this was published five years later, the change could reflect Angelou’s growing confidence in the unification of America.
Similarly, Obama promotes unification through repeating the subject pronoun ‘we’ and its possessive companion ‘our’. This is conventional of persuasive speech because, as Zupnik[33] explains, ‘first person plural deictic pronouns may fulfil a powerful persuasive function since they have the potential to encode group memberships and identifications’. Obama unifies voice and reader, unlike Angelou who creates division, in hopes of uniting Americans of all races. This is evident when he examples the struggles of ‘the white woman’, ‘the white man’ and ‘the immigrant’, under the umbrella noun phrase ‘our particular grievances’. The possessive determiner ‘our’ adheres to the speech’s purpose to coalesce all races under the ‘perfect union’. This is reinforced when he claims the country has built ‘a coalition ((audience applause begins)) of white and Black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. (8) ((audience applause))’. Listing and the coordinating conjunction ‘and’ binds together social group nouns, enforcing unity and equality. Obama’s raised volume paralinguistically emphasises the message, which is received positively shown by applause. There are instances of Obama creating dichotomy and enforcing an ‘us’ and negative ‘them’ mentality, however he does not do this based on race like Angelou but ideology. For example, the 3rd person pronoun ‘they’ in reference to ‘remarks’ made by Reverend Wright linguistically distances Obama from contrasting ideologies that do not reflect equality which he describes as ‘perverse (1) and hateful’.
The use of figurative language to represent oppression and reach equality through redefining narratives and promoting social change
Both texts share the hope that in spite of the past, equality can be reached. Angelou establishes it’s impactful nature through figurative language like the personified metaphor ‘the blood-red clay /
Wet still with ancient / Wrongs’ in A Georgia Song. The juxtaposition of past and present through the adverb ‘still’ and adjective ‘ancient’ implies historic oppression is relevant today, with colour semiotics signifying blood and sacrifice, evoking the mistreatment of slaves which can ‘never be forgotten’[34]. This is similarly achieved in And Still I Rise through the personified possessive noun phrase ‘history’s shame’ and metaphor ‘past that’s rooted in pain’. The personification attributes the human emotion (abstract noun ‘shame’) to ‘history’, implying historic oppression is fundamental in the feelings, experiences and development of Black people. But, like roots are a source of strength for a tree, the past provokes Angelou’s call for justice. This encourages the audience to acknowledge the past’s impact and feel aggravated into change.
The poem also includes figurative language to symbolises the resilience of Black Americans. The metaphor ‘I’m a Black ocean, leaping and wide / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide’ likens Angelou to a strong force of nature. Consonant rhyme creates phonetic rhythm like the fall and rise of a wave, a reminder just like the ocean is never still, African Americans will never settle for inequality. The use of enjambment suggests whilst oppression continues, so will their defiance. The progression in descriptive intensity of similes to metaphors reflects the path becoming clearer as the struggle for equality intensifies. Figurative language achieves ‘social creativity’ through redefining representations and rejecting stereotypes in American history such as Green’s description of the derogatory ‘Sambo’ image as lazy’, ‘reliant’ and ‘happy’[35].
In A More Perfect Union, figurative imagery creates an extended metaphor of social change being a journey the listener can join. The noun phrase ‘long march’ signifies the journey first made by hopeful slaves, continued by activists like Angelou, and now joined by Obama and hopefully his listeners. Verbs of motion such as ‘march’, ‘move’ and ‘continue’ paired with directional prepositions like ‘towards’ enforce movement along a metaphorical ‘path’ towards Obama’s goal of racial harmony; a ‘better future’ symbolising the American ‘ideals’ set in the ‘Constitution’. The use of anaphora, such as the phrase ‘we may’, reinforces continuous movement through syntax echoing a repetitive march. This makes the listener feel they are already on the journey alongside Obama, persuading them to join since they have already made the difficult first step.
Angelou’s poetry emphasises the effects of historic oppression, but Obama’s speech makes little suggestion progress is hindered by any factor other than people’s choosing to try and make change. The imperative verb phrase ‘we can move’ cements change as possible with not even ‘racial wounds’ prohibiting it. Obama idealistic presentation may be to make the goal of equality appear more attainable to the listener. This contrast could be due to the purpose the non-literary text has that Angelou’s poetry doesn’t; to convince the audience to vote. If Obama were to present equality as impossible, the listener would have little faith in his ability as a leader to create change. Angelou does not have this issue so her work can truthfully express the struggles of Black Americans. Obama suggests equality is possible through presenting change as a journey in a pliable society capable of social mobility, shown by his opinion that Reverend Wright speaking as if ‘society (is) static’ was a ‘mistake’. Contrarily, Angelou acknowledges the society in which she is bound, but promotes ‘social creativity’ by representing Black people as strong enough to rise against it.
The use of repetition to emphasise the extent of oppression whilst creating hope for equality
Angelou uses the anaphora ‘you may’ to structurally represent the constant nature of oppression in And Still I Rise, presenting the struggles she describes (‘trod me in dirt’, ‘bitter, twisted lies’) as relentless. Stanza five repeats this, adding mesodiplosis through ‘… me with your’ to create a parallel syntax and stress the incessant oppression, with dynamic, violent verbs (‘shoot’, ‘cut’, ‘kill’) depicting degrees of aggression to emphasises the strength of those who persevere under such conditions. The modal auxiliary verb ‘may’ implies possibility as Angelou hopes change can be made. Repeated masculine rhyme reinforces this, uniting ‘twisted lies’ with the dynamic verb ‘rise’ to show she remains equally resilient in the struggle for equality.
In stanza three of A Caged Bird, Angelou breaks the repeated abcb rhyme to highlight the abstract noun ‘freedom’. This excludes the noun from the stanza, illustrating ‘freedom’ as separate from the reality of the ‘caged bird’, a symbol borrowed from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s ‘Sympathy’[36] to signify oppressed African Americans. The entire stanza is repeated to conclude the poem, emphasising the collection’s message. Angelou juxtaposes the experience of the oppressed and oppressors through parallelism. In the ‘bird’ extended metaphor, the premodifying adjective ‘caged’ replaces its antonym ‘free’ when symbolising Black Americans opposed to their white counterparts. This binary opposition highlights the inequalities of the groups’ relative freedom. The ‘bird’ signifies the eagle – a national symbol of freedom. Like Obama, she criticises how only some can attain the American Dream whilst others are left on a ‘grave of dreams’, a metaphor representing the death of the illusion that everything is possible in America because many are restricted by prejudice. The captivity of slavery is referenced in ‘feet are tied’. The verb ‘tied’ depicts the physical limitation of the bird, creating an image of perpetuating imprisonment: even if the bird were to escape, the damage would debilitate its flight. Angelou acknowledges the depressing reality that effects of oppression are irreversible, cannot be disregarded, and society can only move forwards in light of it. One of the most notable uses of repetition in the collection is the verb phrase ‘I rise’ as an epimone to draw And Still I Rise to a hopeful conclusion and show the victim will always overcome. The hopeful mantra should invigorate the reader with courage so they feel strength to do the same. It presents an integral theme in the collection: reaching equality is a struggle, but we persevere.
Like Angelou, Obama uses repetition to highlight the continuity of oppression, evident when he anaphorically exemplifies modern examples in America: ‘This time we… never been authorized’. Obama uses a variety of plural nouns such as ‘Whites and Blacks and Hispanics’ to address the widest scope of audience to achieve universal appeal and positive reception, suited to the sub-purpose of getting Americans on side with his political campaign. Whilst accomplishing his political motives, the various social group nouns suggest oppression is a larger problem not solely belonging to African Americans. The anaphoric temporal discourse marker ‘this time’ echoes the importance of immediate action, suggesting oppression can no longer be ignored; ‘from these lines, Obama is calling for action. He is urging the audience to respond and respond now’[37]. Time pressure is integral in rhetorical discourse as it prevents a passive audience overlooking issues.
Obama also depicts a light at the end of the tunnel, providing hope for the listener. Like Angelou, Obama repeats the auxiliary ‘may’ in the sentence ‘we may have different stories… same direction’, using the rhetorical technique of conduplicatio, a device used ‘for sustaining focus and building up emphasis while the thoughts progress’.[38] The repetition ‘we may’ builds the idea that the listeners (addressed through the first person collective ‘we’) are not defined by their backgrounds (‘different stories’) but instead their ‘want’ to move towards a ‘more just (.) more equal (.) more free… America’. This repetition suggests although each listener may belong to different groups, change is possible – because the auxiliary verb ‘may’ is not definitive like it’s modal counterpart ‘will’. Obama creates the hope of group collision, ‘social mobility’ and equality in America.
Conclusion
My aim was to see how And Still I Rise and A More Perfect Union express themes of oppression and inequality whilst serving the purpose of advocating change. The timeless theme is always relevant in literary work, however the contrasting time periods allowed me to compare the 1980s to the 2000s. By bringing texts together, I noticed literary similarities in representing these themes. Whilst the literariness of Angelou’s poetry collection is unarguable, Obama’s speech also utilises devices that would be defined as literary. Although spoken mode typically contains less literary features of spontaneous discourse, the speech was prewritten and rehearsed. Therefore, despite being received as a non-literary text, it was was produced in a literary context. Subsequently there were fewer modal contrasts, however other contexts such as period and purpose provided ample comparisons. The literary features I chose were nouns, figurative language and repetition. They were useful in approaching analysis because they are clear literary devices as well as rhetorical features evident in political discourse.
The text comparison highlighted an overarching difference in how the producers promoted change: Angelou presented a strong Black voice which redefined narratives whilst Obama convinced the listener unity was not impossible. Social Identity Theory was a helpful secondary reading in approaching my study as it illuminated reasons for this contrast. As it suggests, the inferior and superior nature of social groups makes it difficult to achieve social mobility or equality. In the 1980s when Angelou’s poetry was published, distinction between the rights and privileges of African and White Americans meant social mobility was not possible – the gap was too far to bridge. Due to this, she approached the issue using her poetry to advocate social creativity, forming new representations to redefine Black narratives, reduce inferiority. Simultaneously, she lowered the superiority of the White group by condemning their actions. To a modern reader, this may appear divisive, however at the time unification was not possible due to a predominantly closed mindset in America.
Three decades later when Obama performed his speech, progress towards racial equality meant the concept of ‘social mobility’ was plausible. This suggests why the text focused on the collision of racial groups as an achievable goal if everyone works together. Many approved this message, however some suggested he was using the ‘emotional impact … of race in a motion to salvage his political campaign and compel Americans to vote for him’[39]. Furthermore, some suggest it is naïve to believe race can be overlooked. As Loury[40] suggests; ‘the dream that race might someday become an insignificant category in our civic life now seems naively utopian’. This conflicting reception mirrors other contemporary social issues like the Black Lives Matter movement. In response to BLM, a slogan ‘all lives matter’ surfaced. This received backlash as although many claimed it supported unity, others protested it reduced Black voices.
In my opinion, total unity and ‘colour-blindness’ will only be possible once the past of racism has no effect on the present which is a naïve hope that may be in the far future or never in our future at all. Despite that, I agree with both producers’ intentions that although reaching equality may be a struggle, it is a well-worth endeavour that society must persist with.
Appendix 1: Literary Text: Maya Angelou ‘And Still I Rise’ Collection
First published in Great Britain in 1986, made up from two previous poetry collection only available in the USA and Canada: And Still I Rise (1978) and Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? (1983)
Poems taken from ‘Part 3’: sections ‘And Still I Rise’ and ‘Shaker Why Don’t you Sing’
And Still I Rise (Page 41) 1978
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.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
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.
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?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a Black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
A Georgia Song (page 65) 1983
We swallow the odors of Southern cities,
Fat back boiled to submission,
Tender evening poignancies of
Magnolia and the great green
Smell of fresh sweat.
In Southern fields,
The sound of distant
Feet running, or dancing,
And the liquid notes of
Sorrow songs,
Waltzes, screams and
French quadrilles float over
The loam of Georgia.
Sing me to sleep, Savannah.
Clocks run down in Tara’s halls and dusty
Flags droops their unbearable
Sadness.
Remember our days, Susannah.
Oh, the blood-red clay,
Wet still with ancient
Wrongs, and Abenaa
Singing her Creole airs to Macon.
We long, dazed, for winter evenings
And a Whitened moon,
And the snap of controllable fires.
Cry for our souls, Augusta.
We need a wind to strike
Sharply, as the thought of love
Betrayed can stop the heart
An absence of tactile
Romance, no lips offering
Succulence, nor eyes
Rolling disconnected from
A Sambo face.
Dare us new dreams, Columbus.
A cool new moon, a
Winter’s night, calm blood,
Sluggish, moving only
Out of habit, we need
Peace.
Oh Atlanta, oh deep, and
Once lost city,
Chant for us a new song. A song
Of Southern peace.
A Caged Bird (page 72) 1983
A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Appendix 2: Non-literary text: Barack Obama ‘A More Perfect Union’ Full Verbatim Transcript
Text derived from: https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88478467
Paralinguistic features added from video sourced from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrp-v2tHaDo
Key
(.) micropause
(1) timed pause
bold emphasis
underline increased volume
(()) content description
Section A (01:10)
Of course, (.) the answer to the slavery question (.) was already embedded (.) within our Constitution (1) — a Constitution that had at its very core (1) the ideal of equal citizenship under the law; (1) a Constitution that promised its people liberty (.) and justice (.) and a union that could be and should be (.) perfected over time. (1)
And yet words on a parchment would not be enough to deliver slaves from bondage, (1) or provide men and women of every colour and creed their full rights and obligations as citizens (1) of the United States. (1) What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part (1) — through protests and struggles, (1) on the streets and in the courts, through a civil war and civil disobedience, (.) and always at great risk (.)— to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals (.) and the reality of their time. (2)
This was one of the tasks (.) we set forth at the beginning of this presidential campaign (1) — to continue the long march of those who came before us, (1) a march for a more just, (.) more equal, (.) more free, (.) more caring and more prosperous America. (1) I chose to run for president at this moment (.) in history because I believe deeply that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together, (1) unless we perfect our union (.) by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes; (1) that we may not look the same and (.)we may not have come from the same place, but we all want to move in the same direction (1) — toward a better future for our children (.) and our grandchildren.
Section B (06:00)
On the other end, we’ve heard my former pastor, (1) Jeremiah Wright, (.) use incendiary language (.) to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, (1) but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation, (.) and that rightly offend White and Black alike. (1)
I have already condemned, (.) in unequivocal terms, (.) the statements of Reverend Wright that have caused such controversy (.) and, in some cases, pain. For some, (.) nagging questions remain. (1) Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? (1) Of course. (1) Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in the church? (1) Yes. (1) Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? (1) Absolutely (.) — just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis (.) with which you strongly disagreed. (2)
But the remarks that have caused this recent firestorm weren’t simply controversial. (1) They weren’t simply a religious leader’s efforts (.) to speak out against perceived injustice. (1) Instead, they expressed a profoundly distorted view of this country (1) — a view that sees White racism as endemic, (.) and that elevates what is wrong with America (.) above all that we know is right with America; (1) a view that sees the conflicts in the Middle East as rooted primarily in the actions (.) of stalwart allies like Israel, (.) instead of emanating from the perverse (1) and hateful ideologies of radical Islam.
As such, (.) Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong (.) but divisive, (.) divisive at a time when we need unity; (.) racially charged (.) at a time (.) when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems (1) — two wars, (1) a terrorist threat, (1) a falling economy, (1) a chronic health care crisis (1) and potentially devastating climate change — problems that are (.) neither Black or White or Latino or Asian, but rather problems (.) that confront us all.
Section C (24:13)
But I have asserted a firm conviction (1) — a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people (.) — that, working together, (.) we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, (.) and that in fact we have no choice (2) we have no choice if we are to continue on the path (.) of a more perfect union. (2)
For the African-American community, that path (.) means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims (.) of our past. (.) It means continuing to insist on a full measure (.) of justice (.) in every aspect (.) of American life. (.) But it also means binding our particular grievances (.) — for better health care and better schools and better jobs — (.) to the larger aspirations of all Americans: (1) the White woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, (.) the White man who has been laid off, (.) the immigrant trying to feed his family. (1) And it means also taking re- full responsibility (.) for our own lives (1)— by demanding more from our fathers, (.) and spending more time with our children, (.) and reading to them, (.) and teaching them (.) that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, (.) they must never succumb (.) to despair (.) or cynicism; they must always believe – (5) ((audience applause)). They must always believe that they can write (.) their own destiny. (1)
Ironically, (.) this quintessentially American — and yes, conservative — notion of self-help (.) found frequent expression in Reverend Wright’s sermons. (2) But what my former pastor too often failed to understand is that (.) embarking on a program of self-help also requires a belief (.) that society can change. (1)
The profound mistake of Reverend Wright’s sermons is not that he spoke about (.) racism in our society. (.) It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; (.) as if no progress had been made; (.) as if this country — a country that has made it possible for one of his own members to run for the highest office in the land and build a coalition ((audience applause begins)) of White and Black, Latino and Asian, rich and poor, young and old — is still irrevocably bound to a tragic past. (8) ((audience applause)) But what we know (1) — what we have seen (1) — is that America can change. (1) That is the true genius of this nation. (1) What we have already achieved gives us hope (.) — the audacity to hope (.) — for what we can and must achieve tomorrow. (2)
In the White community, (.) the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging (.) that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of (.) Black people; (1) that the legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less (.) overt than in the past — that these things are real and must be addressed, (1) not just with words, (.) but with deeds, (.) by investing in our schools and our communities; (.) by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; (.) by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable (.) for previous generations. (1) It requires all Americans to realize (.) that your dreams do not have to come at the expense of my dreams; (.) that investing in the health, welfare and education of Black and Brown and White children will ultimately help all of America prosper. (10) ((audience applause))
In the end, then, (.) what is called for is nothing more (.) and nothing less (.) than what all the world’s great religions demand (1) — that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (1) Let us be our brother’s keeper, (.) scripture tells us. Let us be our sister’s keeper. (.) Let us find that common stake we all have in one another, (1) and let our politics reflect that spirit as well. (2)
For we have a choice in this country. (.) We can accept a politics that breeds division (.) and conflict (.) and cynicism. (1) We can tackle race only as spectacle (1)— as we did in the O.J. trial (1)— or in the wake of tragedy (.) — as we did in the aftermath of Katrina (1)— or as fodder for the nightly news. (1) We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them (.) from now until the election, (.) and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people (.) think that I somehow (.) believe or sympathize (.) with his most offensive words. (1) We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s (.) playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether White men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. (2)
We can do that. (1)
But if we do, (1) I can tell you that in the next election, (.) we’ll be talking about some other distraction. (.) And then another one. (.) And then another one. (.) ((audience applause)) And nothing will change. (9) ((audience applause ends))
That is one option. (2) Or, (1) at this moment, (1) in this election, (1) we can come together and say, “Not this time.” (2) This time, we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of Black children and White children and Asian children ((audience applause)) and Hispanic children and Native American children. (3) This time, we want to reject (.) the cynicism that tells us that these kids can’t learn; that those kids who don’t look like us are somebody else’s problem. (.) The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, (.) and we will not let them fall behind (1) in a 21st century (.) economy. (.) Not this time. (2)
This time we want to talk about how the lines (.) in the emergency room are filled with Whites and Blacks and Hispanics (.) who do not have health care, (.) who don’t have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, (.) but who can take them on if we do it together. (1)
This time, (.) we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women (.) of every race, (.) and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans (.) from every religion, every region, every walk of life. (1) This time, we want to talk about the fact (.) that the real problem is not that someone who doesn’t look like you might take your job; it’s that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more (1) than a profit. (1)
This time – (5) ((audience applause)). This time, (1) we want to talk about the men and women of every colour and creed who serve together (.) and fight together (.) and bleed together under the same proud flag. (2) We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that should have never been authorized and should have never been waged. (6) ((audience applause)) And we want to talk about how we’ll show our patriotism by caring for them (1) ((audience applause)) and their families, (.) and giving them the benefits that they have earned. (3) ((audience applause ends))
I would not be running for President (2) if I didn’t believe with all my heart (.) that this is what the vast majority of Americans want for this country. (2) This union may never be perfect, (1) but generation after generation has shown (.) that it can always be perfected. (1) And today, (1) whenever I find myself feeling doubtful (.) or cynical about this possibility, (1) what gives me the most hope is the next generation (1) — the young people whose attitudes and beliefs (.) and openness to change have already made history (.) in this election.
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Isabel Rose Hay 