Poem Woman Work (Maya Angelou) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

Poem Woman Work (Maya Angelou) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation

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Poem:

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor or mop
The food to shop

Then chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got the shirts to press
The tots to dress
The cane to be cut
I got to clean up this hut.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
Till I can rest again.

Fall gently, snow flakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and 
Let me rest tonight.

Sun rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

Maya Angelou:

American born in St. Louis, 4 April, 1928. Educated st schools in Akansas and California.

Idea of Poem:

A woman gives vent to her disgust for the dull drab life of doing domestic chores. But the drudgery of the mechanical routine has not suppressed her capacity to indulge in dreams of an ideal life, She yearns to participate in nature around her. She longs for the blessings of sunshine and rain to give her sustenance and strength to live. She wishes to lose and find herself in nature and mountains, oceans, leaf and stone, star shine, moon glow to give a touch of joy and poetry to her ordinary prosaic life.

Woman Work

This poem has been written by Maya Angelou, a famous American poetess. In this poem, she has described the monotonous and busy life of a woman. She describes various household chores that a woman does on daily basis. She remains busy washing clothes, caring for the children, pressing clothes, mopping the floor, doing shopping etc. She is absorbed in household chores and has no time to enjoy the life. She serves to her husband, her kids, and her family, but she finds no one to relieve her but Nature. So, she dreams of a pleasant life. She longs for rain, sunshine, and natural beauty. She wants to enjoy the snowfall and sunshine. She loves to see mountains, oceans, moon etc. She expresses her deep desire to be in the arms of nature which will give her comfort. She asks nature to rescue her from daily mechanical life.  She asks the storm to blow her away to the sky where she could rest.

Summary

In this poem, the poetess, Maya Angelou, describes the daily grinding routine of a woman. She says that a woman spends the whole day doing various chores. She has to look after the children. She has to mend the clothes. She buys things for the household use. She mops the floor. She takes care of kids and makes them dry. She attends the guests and serves to them. She prepares food for the whole family. She is also responsible for doing shopping for the family. Her life is too fast and mechanical.

She remains busy in her work for the whole day. He life loses the charm and she feels bored and dull. She may not show more creativity and innovation in her work. After her mechanical household life, she wishes to spend some time with nature. She invites various natural bodies like the sun, moon, and storms to comfort her. She asks the rain to fall on her forehead. She invites the sun to shine on her. She asks storms to blow her to the skies. She wants to fly with air like a light balloon. In this way, she tries to get comfortable in natural things. She wants to float and fly in the air.

She asks the snowflakes to fall on her. She wants to play with icy gusts of air. The poetess gives us an impression as if the woman is among the mountains spreading her arms and allowing nature to take her anywhere. She is ready to give in before nature. She loves to be with nature because she is fed up with boring routines of her. She believes that God has made all these things for the comfort of the woman. She calls them her own. She expresses her possession of the beautiful objects of nature.

The convenience of the high trees,

The air's buoyancy and the sun's ray

All an advantage to me;

The poem is an expression of a woman's struggle and her desires. The poem gives us a message that the woman is a very hardworking human being. She needs care and comfort as she cares for other members of her family. The poem tells us that a woman does have some desires; she wants to enjoy nature, she wants to be famous, she wants to spare some time in which she may live her own life. She has a desire to be given love and passion which would give her energy and strength to do more work.

Important Questions 

Q 1: Why does the working woman in the poem, Woman Work make a passionate appeal to nature?

Ans: Woman Work is a beautiful poem written by Maya Angelou. In this poem, she tells the readers about a serious and important fact about those women who pass their lives in doing house-hold chores.

Such a woman is being represented by the poetess herself. She calls the elements of nature to get freshness from their company. She wants to enjoy the warmth of sunshine and the coolness of rain.

She wants to feel the cool and soft-touch of dew-drops on her face. Fall gently snowflakes, And cover me with White, let me float across the sky, Till I can rest again.

The domestic woman calls the elements of nature because the members of her family do not treat her well. She wishes to be in the company of her past friends like sun, rain, mountain, oceans, leaves, star-shine, moon glow for refreshment and peace of mind.

Mountains, oceans, leaf and stone     Star shine, moon glow

You are all that I can call my own

The poetess has personified different objects of nature to show their importance. Therefore, the household woman wants to enjoy rain, sunshine, mountains, and snowflakes to overcome her monotony and boredom.

She needs a break to refresh herself. She knows that Nature has a healing effect. Between the lines, she is criticizing the male-dominated world. She means that these natural objects are beneficial for all creatures without discrimination.

Q 2: The poem Woman Work deals with the boredom felt in our daily life and especially of woman. Discuss.

Ans: This poem has been written by Maya Angelou. She is a living poetess. Most of her poetry deals with the problems and status of women in male dominant society. In this poem, she describes the routine life of a domestic woman.

A housewife remains busy in her domestic chores. She performs her all responsibilities without any complaint. But her routine life has made her rebel. She intends to enjoy the company of nature.

She is not satisfied with her family members. She rejects the male dominant society and shows her love for natural objects. She thinks that only nature and its aspects can provide her mental and physical pleasure.

She invokes the natural objects to enjoy rain, sunshine, dewdrops, and gentle flakes of snow. A domestic woman is so much tired of the monotony of her household life that she wants to escape from such a life.

She requests the storm to take her away from her dull and colorless world. She seems to be tired of the daily routine of life. She wants to reach some remote corner of the world where she can enjoy some moments of rest, peace, and pleasure again.

She desires to take a rest for some time in the company of nature. She wishes to fly with a storm wind into the open sky. She wishes to be among mountains, oceans, leaves and stones, stars shine, and moonlight. She wants to change her dull and boring life into a charming adventure.

Reference:

These lines have been taken from the poem “Woman Work” written by Maya Angelou.

Context:

The poetess feels extremely bored and tired after attending to her house-hold affairs. She feels that only the natural phenomena can exercise healthy influence on her. The natural objects can save her from unbearable boredom and can raise her spirits. A house-hold woman remains awfully busy with the domestic chores. Even then, she can enjoy nature through her imagination. It is an indirect praise of the woman's greatness. In general, the poem is an escape from the drudgery of the mechanical routine and taking shelter in ideal life.

Explanation:

Stanza 1

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor or mop
The food to shop
 
In these lines the poetess gives vent to her feelings for her dull and busy life. She is tired of the routine work of a working woman. She says she has to look after children at home. Also she has to repair clothes of the members of her family. She has to clean the floor of her house and has to collect edibles from the shop for her family. After that she has to cook those things which she has brought from shop.

Stanza 2

Then chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got the shirts to press
The tots to dress
The cane to be cut
I got to clean up this hut.
 
These lines are a continuation of her domestic chores. She has mentioned some of the chores in the previous stanza and of some talks here. She says that she has to cook chicken for the family. Also she has to dry the baby after bathing it. After that she has to prepare meal for her guests. She has to remove unwanted plants from her garden. She has to press the clothes of her children and other members of her family. She has to dress her little children and also has to cut bamboos. She has to clean the whole house. All these chores are quite tough and require courage and for bearance on the part of a domestic woman.

Stanza 3

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.
 
In these lines the poetess wants to enjoy the natural objects. She has got tired of the domestic work and wants to go close to nature. She says that the sun light should shine on her, rain should fall on her. The dewdrops should gently fall upon her. All these things can cool her brow. All these natural objects can give her satisfaction and peace.

Stanza 4

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
Till I can rest again.
 
These lines are an expression of her escapism from the busy life of a working woman. The domestic woman remains awfully busy and dreams of an ideal life. In these lines she asks storm to blow her from the busy world across the sky with its stormy wind. As such she will be able to get relief from the hurly burly of life. She asks the storm to take her to an imaginary world for rest. Only imagination can give her, peace, solace and satisfaction, otherwise physically it is not possible to run away from this world. Shelley in “Ode to the West Wind” says, oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

Stanza 5

Fall gently, snow flakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and 
Let me rest tonight.
This stanza is also an expression of taking relief and refuge with natural objects. She asks the snow-flakes to fall gently on her body and completely cover it up and make it all white. When she will be completely under the charm and burden of the white snow, she will get solace. She further asks snow to touch and give her cold icy kisses, so that she may be able to have rest that night. Actually the natural objects can please a person and give company for some time.

Stanza 6

Sun rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.
In these lines the poetess addresses all the natural objects to help her in giving relief from the busy life of a working woman. She wants to lose herself among the natural objects. That is why she asks the sun, rain, the curving sky, the mountains, the ocean, the leaf and the stone to give her relief. Actually she wants to get relief and joy from all these things and wants to run away from dark and dull life at home. That is why she asks the moon to glow, the shining stars to give her shelter with them. She calls all these things her own because she wants some leisure and satisfaction in these natural things. Nature can give delight to her and can transport her to peace and tranquility.
Poem Woman Work (Maya Angelou) Summary Imp Qs Ref Explanation


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