I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The cane to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.
Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.
Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.
Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.
Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.
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Comments
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Good!
From guest shelby odom (contact)
i love this poem so much. this is the best poem that i have every read in my life. i like Maya Angelou work. she is very good at what she does. -
Help!
From guest Maira (contact)
When wa this poem wirtten? Im doing my english course work and need help. I love this poem it makes you be thankful for what your mum does for you. xoxo -
school
From guest Torrie Vann (contact)
I love this poem! I am actually using you and this poem in a project called adopt a poet and poem. -
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From guest Maria (contact)
Also, why is the title only refering to a "Woman" instead of "Women Work"? Thanks. -
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Maria:
Please read the comments below, written by others who have read and enjoyed Maya's poem. Your question will then be answered. Von ~ Oldpoetry Team
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Theme
From guest Tess (contact)
what is the theme of this poem? I am a freshman in highschool and I need this to complete a project... Thanks! -
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Tess: Please read the comments below after you have read the poem once again - out loud. Watch your Mother, or other women in your family and compare what they do to the subject of the poem. The theme of the poem, what women are capable of from necessity in most cases, become quite evident but please read the poem out loud to get the full effect. Good Luck – Von ~ Oldpoetry Team
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cool.
From guest Elizabeth(Liz) (contact)
i needed this poem for school work and since i found this website, I could just past and copy it and print it out! thank you for being available! liz -
awesome poem
From guest Monica (contact)
I am looking for a poem for the speech competition and this is it. -
Wicked awesome poem
From guest Charlie ( age 11) (contact)
I have to preform this poem fro drama it is a beautiful written poem!!! -
NO one is like her
From guest AHMAD SALEEM (contact)
her poem is exampleless and wounderful.very close to nature. -
Women Work
From guest Shawnna (contact)
This is a really good poem ... i understand what you are saying ... i am also a young lady and i watch my mom all the time!!! all i want to say i really like this poem ... you are a really good writer!! -
woman work
From guest stepahnie sarah x (contact)
i have just been assigned an essay in which i have to compare this wonderful poem with another called "we the women" both poems are very simalar but this one touched me the most it seem as though her chores are endless and she never has a chance to stop and think and it seems her only belongings of value are what mney cant but and what no one can take away from her. all these things seem to appear from the sky maybe it is a symbol of freedom as the sky has no boundries?? tell me what you think i really want to do well on this essay for my G.C.S.E's but im not very could at annalising the lanuguage ore using quotation any help ??? -
Woman Work
From guest bella (contact)
a inspired work of art. it is about a overworked mother, slave, wife, and so much more who is desperatly seeking for some sort of relief from her..said to say it... everyday routine. shes got a baby, toddlers, and probably some older choldren. she is saying that even if it rains, or even snows it will be like sweet relief compared to the list of tasks seh had to accomplish. this poem relates to so many people, in so many ways. -
Woman Work
From guest Charlesetta Lefler (contact)
I am attending the University of Phoenix and this week we are assigned "Woman's Work" by Julia Alvarez to read. I remembered this poem from you in a different class. Are these one in the same? Who truly wrote this poem? -
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Woman's work is a well used title by many people which is probably why Maya Angelou used woman work instead
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What is the poem about? The phrase "a man works from sun to sun, a womans work is never done" Not only does she have to care for the family and the home but she also has "the cotton to pick." she is looking for an escape, no matter how brief. Have you not thought at one time or another that you would like to be somewhere, anywhere other than where you were at that moment? And all that she can claim to own is nature. I think that considering the hard life she leads that she is still able to take in the beauty of nature and find sweet relief in it is quite awesome. We in this day and age have no clue what so ever what it was like to the life of a slave. Life for a woman was a hard life to begin with, but to be a slave, multiply that by a million. She only touches the iceberg. Now imagine if you will, after all she describes that she had to do, the clothes were washed by hand(no washers or dryers)the clothes were sewn by hand(no sewing machines)and all the meals had to be cooked by fireplace (no microwaves or ovens). And still she was able to take in the beauty around her and find relief in it. I hope this helps you a little.
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it was a wounderful poem but what is the poem about?
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This was originally written as a 'work song' for a musical she was involved with, and so that sense of the last stanzas being a song of the slaves is right. She was trying to write a work song for women she says and had to do it very fast, overnight if I remember rightly.
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I've always thought that the last four stanzas of this poem felt like an incantation or something that the slaves would sing in the fields.
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Beautiful Poem
There's no doubt she has a way with words. I wonder if she can still belt them out like that. Oh how I wish I can write like her. Sometimes I can feel the words in my soul but I just can't put them on paper. -
I've always loved ms. maya's poetry -- she has such a wonderful way with words. I would absolutely love to sit in on a lecture of hers, or a reading, or. . . anything -- just to be near her -- in hopes that her beauty, her presence would some how effect me. . . a little more.
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Great as usual
A wonderful yet sorrowful poem - which I find is the authors usual style. .
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