A Wake-Up Call From a Poet

By Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is a poet, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil rights activist and a publisher and director. She lectures throughout the United States and abroad and is the Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. She has published ten best-selling books and countless magazine articles. At the request of President Clinton, she wrote and delivered a poem in the 1993 presidential inaugural. Angelou's writings contain a mixture of poetry, prose, and drama (Bloom, 10). In addition to this mixture of genres, the works demonstrate a combination of comedy ...