Woman Work

(pg. 271)
200. Woman Work
I’ve got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the 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 gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

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
‘Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
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 (b. 1928)


In this poem, Maya Angelou describes the duties of a hardworking woman and her connection with nature to escape from her work. A significant part of this poem is the rhyme scheme and the rhythm in the first stanza. While the speaker lists all the tasks she has to do, the very basic rhyme scheme emphasizes the amount of work she has. This, along with the lullably-like rhythm, makes the amount of tasks seem never-ending. This structure then quickly changes over once the woman escapes from her work and into nature. Another important part of this poem is the imagery. In the first stanza, the poem is lacking in vivid images, adding to the emphasis of the dullness of the work. However, once the woman finds herself in nature, the images become very powerful. A few examples are "Fall softly, dewdrops," "Cold icy kisses," and "Star shine, moon glow." These images help show how enchanted the woman is by the nature around her, and how much she enjoys the restfulness and escape. 


Overall, I really like this poem. I love the images Maya Angelou provides, and the contrasting structures of the beginning of the poem and the end. To me, the end of this poem can mean two things. The first is that nature is merely an escape for the woman. It is somewhere she can go and relax after a hard day of work. In my second interpretation, the end of the poem is metaphorically describing the woman's death after a tiring life. The dew drops, the storm, and the snowflakes all take the woman peacefully away from life and bring her to a place she is truly happy.