LEARNING TASK 2: 

Seizing Equality: Critical Analysis of Maya Angelou’s Poem “Equality” 

By Bea Bagsao

Maya Angelou’s work, Equality, was published in 1990, but the message and themes are still relevant
today. In the poem, the speaker, who is a black woman addresses the unequal treatment of men to
women and raises her voice to end the inequality. Hence the imagery used in Angelou’s poem depicts
social oppression between black and white, men and women, and is overtly asking everyone to
acknowledge this racial and gender issues and encourage them to make a change. 

The first verse of the poem, the speaker, could be Angelou, addresses its oppressor, “You declare you
see me dimly through a glass which will not shine,” it shows the idea of the women being seen but does
not really embody their presence in the society. Furthermore, on the following stanza, it says, “You do
own  
to hear me faintly as a whisper out of range.” It means that they are barely seen nor heard as much as
their intentions.  

“While my drums beat out the message, and the rhythms never change.” Angelou states that there is
a continuous cycle of oppression or inequality between the races and sexuality. The imagery of
using drums brought a promising message as it is traced to the days of slavery where the blacks,
which are known to be slaves, uses these percussion instruments to communicate and share their
stories to each other (African-Americans Music History, 2018).  

The Rhyme Scheme of the poem is cut by a repeating message, “Equality, and I will be free.” This
sentence calls for the end of inequality that the black women are facing. 

The latter part of the poem became harsher and accusing. “You announce my ways are wanton, that I fly
from man to man,” it shows how the oppressor accused the speaker of doing something immoral. 
Nevertheless, the speaker didn’t deny the claim but counter it with a question, “but if I'm just a shadow
to you, could you ever understand?” The speaker describes itself and the situation using a metaphor. The
speaker describes itself as a “shadow” in the eye of the oppressor thus, how could they understand and
judge their situation easily despite the distance between them. 

In the next verse, the use of the pronoun “I” shifts to “we” as the speaker addresses a group of
people, African-American Community, as one. “We have lived a painful history; we know the shameful
past” this part means that the inequality is still happening until this point of time. The speaker ends the
verse smoothly by changing “we” to “I”: “But I keep on marching forward, /and you keep coming on
last.” The speaker uses “I” for women and “you” for men and said that they are failing to acknowledge
the discrimination and being left behind in putting an end to it. 

Again, the part of the poem ended with the sentence “Equality, and I will be free.”  

“Remove the blinders from your vision, take the padding from your ears, and confess you’ve heard
me crying, and admit you’ve seen my tears.” In the last verses of the poem, the speaker wants
everyone to recognize the issue of inequality. The speaker wants everyone to identify the problem so
that they can  
take actions and do something about it. For the last few lines of the poem, Angelou states that the
rhythm of her drums never changes as time passes by, meaning that her seek for equality will continue to
go on until it is attained. 
Equality comes in many forms and may varies but I think Angelou focuses on African-American
situation since she is part of the community and is one who had experienced the discrimination. Just like
her I also believed that in order to get equality we must first recognize and become familiar with
inequality.  Understanding the problem will lead us to a better idea of addressing and finding a solution
for it.  

Equality takes an important role in building a good society. Achieving it may take in the long run but
I believed that at the end of the day it will be paid off. Angelou’s poem raises strong voices for
black women and inspires everyone to seize equality to establish a nice world between one person to
another. 

Critical Essay:
I. Background Information  Published on 1990 by Maya Angelou, an American
poet, civil right activist and an award-winning author of her
acclaimed memoir, “I know Why the Caged Birds Sing”

A. Information about
the Work

1. Title  Equality
2. Author  Maya Angelou
3. Purpose of the poem.  To encourage the reader to recognize and take
Provide evidence; action against inequality. 
extract lines from the
poem “Equality, and I will be free.” 
“Take the blinders from your vision, take the 
padding from your ears,” 
“Hear the tempo so compelling, hear the 
blood throb in my veins. Yes, my drums are 
beating nightly, 
and the rhythms never change.”
4. Theme of the poem  Equality and Freedom
II. Summary- Write the   The poem shows the indifferent treatment for black
issues being raised in women that lead to the rise of racial and sexual issues which
the poem starts the insistence of equality.
III. Interpretation and   The author makes use of different imagery, repetitions
Evaluation  and metaphor in delivering the message of the poem.
A. Discuss the style of
the author in presenting
the issues

B. Discuss if the was The author’s work is very clear and is easy to understand. 
author successful in She was able to deliver it using simple yet strong words
persuading the audience to her readers.
regarding the  
issues.

IV. Reflection: How the   The issues in the poem gave me insights about how
issues presented affect you? alarming and disturbing the issues of inequality to everyone.
At the end of the poem, I manage to get that the idea of
achieving equality can be attained if we will start addressing
the issues and from there, start to make a change.