The singer will not sing Flashcards
Angelou portrays the…
negative consequences of misusing a talent.
4 Big ideas:
- Do our gifts die as a result of us neglecting them?
- The difficulty and struggle we may have when communicating
- Having a “benison” can be a gift as well as a burden
4 Feelings felt by the speaker:
- frustration
- sadness
- disappointment
-overwhelming
Why does she feel this way?
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
Main idea:
Her previous negligence towards her talents have restricted future possibilities of success and happiness.
“The singer will not sing”
(context)
Ties in with Angelou´s former job as a performer and her childhood trauma which led her to becoming mute.
“A benison given.”
The short syntactical phrase alongside the unexpected caesura, instantly creates an assertive and declarative tone to the poem.
The noun “benison”, suggests that the speaker is…
gifted as she has been given a blessing.
The speaker´s denial towards her gift is portrayed in the adjective,
“Unused”
“No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”
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.
The repetition of “No”, in the metaphors, “No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”, highlight….
the speaker´s regret in her negligence to past actions. Defiance.
Angelou may be implying in the metaphors, “No angels promised” and “No trumpets gloried”, that…
(+ link to another line in the poem”
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”.
“Prophecies of fabled fame”, the fricative alliteration highlights…
(+ audible level)
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.
Universal message for beginning…
Angelou encourages us to use our gifts wisely because otherwise, they turn against us and become our burdens.
The poem could be a metaphor for…
(+ context)
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.
“Prophecies of fabled fame” links to the metaphor, “Yet harmonies waited in her stiff throat”
Angelou implies that the speaker´s message to the world is yet to be revealed.
The adjective, “Stiff”, conveys the…
(+ perspective of a woman from the 20th century)
unfamiliar pain that is inflicted upon us as a result of our talents.
ALTERNATIVELY:
The speaker is inexperienced in displaying her ideas publicly.
“Sexlessness”
The adjective highlights the speaker´s struggle in trying to find originality and uniqueness in her work.
The theme of identity and sexuality is explored in poems such as,
“Phenomenal woman” and “Men”
“Stilled tongue”
The speaker´s tongue is sealed and frozen, further linking to her unused talent.
“Her lips are ridged and / fleshy”
May reference African American features or be a self reflection to her stage fright.
Observant tone
“Purpled night birds / snuggled to rest.”
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.
“Seamed”, “Voiceless”, “Sounds”, “Walls”
The soft sounding sibilance conveys the speaker´s quiet approach to life; she would rather go unheard of.
“Voiceless”
Is emphatic as it encapsulates the key theme of the poem
“…reddened walls”
Imagery of the interior of her mouth
The adjective, “Reddened”, portrays the speaker´s…
suffering and pain due to her inability to communicate properly.
“She came too late and lonely / to this place.”
The syntactical line, creating the short stand alone stanza, encapsulates the speaker´s profound guilt and regret.
The adjective, “Lonely”, conveys the speaker´s feelings of…
isolation, as represented structurally through the short alienated stanza
Enjambment
Portrays her unsung melodies flowing through her body
Structurally, the diminishing stanza lengths represent the speaker´s…
decreasing hope that she will be able to fulfil her potential as she has realised her “benison” “too late”.
