I Shall Not Be Moved [Paperback]

Maya Angelou (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1991

In her first book of poetry since Why Don't You Sing? Maya Angelou, bestselling author of the classic autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, writes with lyric, passionate intensity that reaches out to touch the heart and mind. This memorable collection of poems exhibits Maya Angelou's unique gift for capturing the triumph and pain of being black and every man and woman's struggle to be free. Filled with bittersweet intimacies and ferocious courage, these poems are gems–many-faceted, bright with wisdom, radiant with life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Angelou's poems embrace opposite poles: the laughter of old folks who "generously forgive life for happening to them," and the "helpless hope" on the faces of starving children. Though she can be directly political, as in a stinging letter to "These Yet to Be United States," more often, a political dimension emerges naturally from ordinary lives observed with keen irony ("Even minimal people can't survive on minimal wage"). Angelou's themes include loss of love and youth, human oneness in diversity, the strength of blacks in the face of racism and adversity. The book's title is also the refrain of "Our Grandmothers," a moving history poem about the struggles of black women. Some of these lyrics are free-form, while others use conventional rhyme and meter to good effect. Angelou ( I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ) writes with poise and grace. Author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Angelou speaks eloquently of black life, unfolding a significant history in poems that are highly controlled and yet powerful: "She lay, skin down on the moist dirt,/ the canebrake rustling/ with the whispers of leaves, and/ loud longing of hounds and/ the ransack of hunters crackling the near branches." Here, the language is precise and filled with imagery. Like Gwendolyn Brooks, Angelou's poems are sparsely written while still revealing painful truths to the reader: "She stands/ before the abortion clinic,/ confounded by the lack of choices./ In the Welfare line,/ reduced to the pity of handouts." An important new collection from one of the most distinctive writers at work today.
- Lenard D. Moore, Writer-in-Residence, Wake Cty. Arts Council, N . C .
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1 edition (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553354582
• ISBN-13: 978-0553354584
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.2 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #591,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Maya Angelou has been waitress, singer, actress, dancer, activist, filmmaker, writer and mother. As well as her autobiography she has written several volumes of poetry, including 'On the Pulse of the Morning' for the inauguration of President Clinton. She now has a life-time appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EXPERIENCE SOMETHING NEW......................, November 23, 2003

By 

Christina Packard (Dahlonega, GA 30533) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Shall Not Be Moved (Paperback)

I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

Is a collection of forty-eight pages of poems. I know little of Maya. Even the small exposure I have had to a few of her writings leaves me wanting to know more about what she is saying. I found this book of poems a new experience not only to feel her glowing smile and personality while feeling the movement of her lyrics, but also to try and see through her eyes items of importance. In her poem Me and My Work, I found I need to understand more than I already do. The last couple lines are.....
"Yet the only thing I really don't need
is strangers' sympathy.
That's someone else's word for caring."

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Poetry, Angelou is by far the best Poet alive, December 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: I Shall Not Be Moved (Hardcover)

I have read every poem in this collection at least 50 times, no exateration, and they are great. One of these poems, Equailty, I have used for a high school poetry thesis, I made an "A". Even though this collection is from 1990 it is still update!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Reigning Queen of Writers, June 23, 2006

By 

Ruth Z. Deming "Backyard Trees" (Willow Grove, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Shall Not Be Moved (Paperback)

In this 1990 volume of 48 pages, you will read in lyrical verse everything you need to know about oppression of Black people, by one of our finest writers. Angelou herself, now 78, has risen above bigotry, but hasn't, nor shouldn't, forget about it. It is the black person's legacy ("These Yet to Be United States") and the white person's shame. Author of the highly-acclaimed autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Angelou sings about slave days, "take me on, Virginia, loose your turban of flowers" and in "The Grandmothers" speaks the title words, "I shall not be moved," a peon to the bravery of the black woman and the cruelty she has endured since captivity. This book should be read by every schoolteacher to her Ghetto children.