Female rage and reaction in the poetry of Maya Angelou and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo: A comparative study

Abstract

This study on ―"Female Rage and Reaction in the Poetry of Maya Angelou and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo" reflects different geographical regions: Africa and African-America. The writers interrogate this ideological stance through the expression of defiance and vision in mobilizing the expressive resources of language in distinctive ways. The poetry of these poets may have been studied by scholars in diverse fields, but not as a modest contribution to 21st century Post- Colonial Literature. This paper exposes the quandary of  womanhood by highlighting that which edifies female survival in Africa and African America. It also gives a global understanding of black female literature. The paper adopts the Marxist feminist‘s approach in exploring their poems and shows how the poets expose and enforce a sense of responsibility; a responsibility of educating the masses on gender roles and resistance to institutional injustices.
The black women experiences enrich the interpretation of the poems and facilitates the effectiveness of the stylistic techniques used.  Angelou and Adimora-Ezeigbo drawing from their personal experiences, launch womanhood in a stifled space so as to decolonize a woman‘s selfhood in a male hegemonic stage. The findings show that Angelou and Adimora-Ezeigbo are the ―enfant terrible‖ and literary intelligentsias representing the subjugated women across the globe. It is recommended that more research on comparative studies be carried out to unmask those veiled experiences of women in different climes.

Key words: Marxist feminism, Rage, Space, Geographical regions, Male hegemony