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Year 8 - English

Exploring Maya Angelou's 'Woman Work'

Single poet study: Maya Angelou

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils read and discover the work of Maya Angelou. They explore some of Angelou's most famous poems, such as 'Caged Bird' and 'Still I Rise', and practise writing and performing poems inspired by her work. As the unit develops, pupils find their own distinctive poetic voice.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to explore Maya Angelou's 'Woman Work' with a focus on its structure.

Key Notes

  • Presenting the experiences of women, particularly Black women, was very important to Angelou.
  • Many of Angelou's poems explore sexist attitudes, whilst also observing women's resilience despite this discrimination.
  • 'Woman Work' sees a Black woman explain how she has to complete hard, manual labour for no reward.
  • When exploring a poem's structure, a good place to start can be to compare its beginning to its end.
  • In this way, you can consider any shifts in tone from the beginning to the end of the poem.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • structure: how something is put together; how it is organised and arranged
  • resilience: being able to cope, withstand and recover from difficult physical or mental challenge
  • grace: elegance, dignity, poise, self-possession
  • analysis: in English, to look at a writer's work carefully and make a comment on why it was written in that way
  • tone: the attitude of emotion of your voice - written or verbal

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Comparing a poem's beginning and end doesn't count as analysis. It's too simple to be interesting.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

Presenting the experiences of women, particularly Black women, was very important to Angelou. Many of Angelou's poems explore sexist attitudes, whilst also observing women's resilience despite this discrimination.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'structure'

how something is put together; how it is organised and arranged.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Comparing a poem's beginning and end doesn't count as analysis. It's too simple to be interesting. Correction: At its most basic (and often most powerful), a text's structure is its beginning, middle and end. Commenting on the journey - emotional or physical - that a writer has taken us on is a great way to start exploring structure.

More Lessons In This Unit

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