Africa
Africa
by Maya Angelou

Africa Themes

Little Words, Big Ideas

Transformation

A continent turns into a woman. A placid land is pillaged by invading forces. Entire peoples are changed utterly by the violence of religion and warfare. Weak people (and nations) begin to become p...

Suffering

Don't get us wrong – there's lots of suffering all over the world. If you happen to pay attention to recent history, though, you'll probably know that Africa often seems to get the raw end of...

Patriotism

There's an interesting sort of loyalty that gets developed in this poem. Sure, we know that Angelou is trying to inspire the same sorts of dedication, affection, and respect that patriotic poets ha...

Appearances

The first stanza of this poem reads like a love letter to a continent. Africa, transformed into the luscious body of a woman, turns out to be gorgeous. It turns out, though, that this "woman" is ac...