The singer will not sing

Question 1

Angelou portrays the…

Answer 1

negative consequences of misusing a talent.

Question 2

4 Big ideas:

Answer 2

1. Do our gifts die as a result of us neglecting them?
2. The difficulty and struggle we may have when communicating
3. Having a “benison” can be a gift as well as a burden

Question 3

4 Feelings felt by the speaker:

Answer 3

• frustration
• sadness
• disappointment
  -overwhelming

Question 4

Why does she feel this way?

Answer 4

She feels this way as she is unable to find clarity in expressing and communicating her ideas.

She also feels frustrated as a result of societal oppression and self repression

Question 5

Main idea:

Answer 5

Her previous negligence towards her talents have restricted future possibilities of success and happiness.

Question 6

“The singer will not sing”
(context)

Answer 6

Ties in with Angelou´s former job as a performer and her childhood trauma which led her to becoming mute.

Question 7

“A benison given.”

Answer 7

The short syntactical phrase alongside the unexpected caesura, instantly creates an assertive and declarative tone to the poem.

Question 8

The noun “benison”, suggests that the speaker is…

Answer 8

gifted as she has been given a blessing.

Question 9

The speaker´s denial towards her gift is portrayed in the adjective,

Answer 9

“Unused”

Question 10

“No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”

Answer 10

The metaphors represents the speaker´s acknowledgement that she will go uncelebrated and unpraised by anyone as she is not sharing her talents with the world.

Question 11

The repetition of “No”, in the metaphors, “No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”, highlight….

Answer 11

the speaker´s regret in her negligence to past actions. Defiance.

Question 12

Angelou may be implying in the metaphors, “No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”, that…

(+ link to another line in the poem”

Answer 12

the speaker will go unsupported by higher entities as she has misused her gift. -> The person who granted her her “benison” feels bitterness towards her misusing her talent.

Whoever gave her this talent, had a future mapped out for her that would allow her to reach a brilliant destiny, as seen in the line, “prophecies of fabled fame”.

Question 13

“Prophecies of fabled fame”, the fricative alliteration highlights…

(+ audible level)

Answer 13

how readers may see how the speaker is stripped away from her path to greatness as she never used the tools for success that were given to her: her benison.

On an audible level:

Although the speaker´s identity is anonymous, if she is a speaker, the harsh sounding fricatives may portray the difficulty the speaker has in pronunciation, or, a harsh severe injury she has previously experienced.

Question 14

Universal message for beginning…

Answer 14

Angelou encourages us to use our gifts wisely because otherwise, they turn against us and become our burdens.

Question 15

The poem could be a metaphor for…

(+ context)

Answer 15

feminism and the oppression one may feel in trying to express certain opinions or thoughts.

Contextually, Angelou, a civil rights activist, portrays the influence the patriarchal society has had upon women, silencing their creative voices and beliefs.
Angelou has hopes for a better society, and encourages society to allow women to have the freedom to express their inner creativity to the world.

Question 16

“Prophecies of fabled fame” links to the metaphor, “Yet harmonies waited in her stiff throat”

Answer 16

Angelou implies that the speaker´s message to the world is yet to be revealed.

Question 17

The adjective, “Stiff”, conveys the…

(+ perspective of a woman from the 20th century)

Answer 17

unfamiliar pain that is inflicted upon us as a result of our talents.

ALTERNATIVELY:

The speaker is inexperienced in displaying her ideas publicly.

Question 18

“Sexlessness”

Answer 18

The adjective highlights the speaker´s struggle in trying to find originality and uniqueness in her work.

Question 19

The theme of identity and sexuality is explored in poems such as,

Answer 19

“Phenomenal woman” and “Men”

Question 20

“Stilled tongue”

Answer 20

The speaker´s tongue is sealed and frozen, further linking to her unused talent.

Question 21

“Her lips are ridged and / fleshy”

Answer 21

May reference African American features or be a self reflection to her stage fright.
Observant tone

Question 22

“Purpled night birds / snuggled to rest.”

Answer 22

The imagery and comparison to her lips being “purple night birds snuggled to rest” conveys the speaker´s comfort in not talking and how her lips are fully sealed.

Question 23

“Seamed”, “Voiceless”, “Sounds”, “Walls”

Answer 23

The soft sounding sibilance conveys the speaker´s quiet approach to life; she would rather go unheard of.

Question 24

“Voiceless”

Answer 24

Is emphatic as it encapsulates the key theme of the poem

Question 25

“…reddened walls”

Answer 25

Imagery of the interior of her mouth

Question 26

The adjective, “Reddened”, portrays the speaker´s…

Answer 26

suffering and pain due to her inability to communicate properly.

Question 27

“She came too late and lonely / to this place.”

Answer 27

The syntactical line, creating the short stand alone stanza, encapsulates the speaker´s profound guilt and regret.

Question 28

The adjective, “Lonely”, conveys the speaker´s feelings of…

Answer 28

isolation, as represented structurally through the short alienated stanza

Question 29

Enjambment

Answer 29

Portrays her unsung melodies flowing through her body

Question 30

Structurally, the diminishing stanza lengths represent the speaker´s…

Answer 30

decreasing hope that she will be able to fulfil her potential as she has realised her “benison” “too late”.