Ebook: The Poetry of Maya Angelou: A Study of the Blues Matrix as Force and Code

Angelou's love poems, and Chapter Five examines poems that voice social concerns and protests. The results of the study reveal that a blues-based model provides a viable tool for analyzing a number of Angelou's poems. The blues matrix theoretical approach, however, has obvious limitations, for an examination of almost all of Angelou's poems reveals enormous variety in subject, style, theme, and use of vernacular elements. The study concludes that, while the blues model provides insights in the poems discussed here, a broader understanding of Angelou's poetry could be gained through a more comprehensive vernacular model that acknowledges other veins of the vernacular.