Phenomenal Woman

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1978

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form and Meter

“Phenomenal Woman” is a 60-line lyric poem that is divided into four stanzas of unequal length, all of which end with the same refrain in which the speaker restates her confidence in herself. The lines of the poem themselves are irregular and do not employ a consistent meter. The poem is instead, as Carol E. Neubauer states, driven by “even, provocative rhythm that resounds with underlying confidence” (missing citation). This sense of command is achieved by a cadence that is borrowed from call-and-response preaching and black spirituals, a fact that can be seen in Angelou’s recorded readings of the poem. Effective use of rhyme and rhetorical pauses enhance the feeling that the audience is engaged in the discussion. The use of contrast between what others believe about the speaker and what the speaker believes about herself seem to be repetitive at first, but there are subtle changes in emphasis as the poem progresses, leading us to see how the speaker is indeed “phenomenal” physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Rhyme

Angelou uses both exact and inexact end rhyme, as well as internal rhyme to give the poem musicality. For example, the first stanza features the end rhymes “lies” (Lines 1, 4) and “size” (Line 2), while also incorporating the internal rhyme of “cute or built to suit” (Line 2). This creates a song-like effect, which is then interrupted by the shorter line, “I say” (Line 5), which prepares readers for a counterpoint. This effect is of listening to an oral story, or song, which engages reader attention to the list of the speaker’s qualities, which are presented via exact rhymes—“hips” (Line 7) and “lips” (Line 9)—before the stanza ends with the poem’s refrain. This technique is repeated in the other stanzas, a parallel structure that mirrors the content, as each feature is described several times.

Repetition

Throughout the poem, Angelou’s speaker employs repetition to heighten her point that she is truly exceptional. The first repetition of importance to this theme is the seemingly innocuous phrase “I say” (Lines 5, 21, 37, 52). Although literally only an indication of speech, the phrase is a facet of the speaker’s self-assurance: She is not a diminutive, flattened woman whose role is to be an aesthetic object; instead, she declares herself over and over again, demanding attention and understanding from her audience.

In the poem, the phrase “I say” signals a counterpoint to what has come before. In Stanza 1, there is a shift from the opinions of those who cater to beauty standards to an enumeration of the speaker’s nontraditional beauty. In Stanza 2, “I say” connects the unexpected way men react to the speaker’s presence with the interior qualities she possesses, exploring her worth beyond the physical. In Stanza 3, we move from the confusion of men who fail to understand her attractiveness or “inner mystery” (Line 4) to the acknowledgment of the intangible “grace of my style” (Line 41). In the concluding stanza, “I say” emphasizes the reason the speaker has dignity and can refuse to make a fuss: Her pride is revealed not just by her self-possessed exterior but others’ “need for my care” (Line 56). The use of repetition in this way elevates the correctness of her voice. What she tells us is perceived as true.