A Feminist Approach to "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou

In English class, as we've continued to read Hamlet, we've also learned about various critical approaches to literature, such as the Marxist, new historical, psychoanalytic, and feminist perspectives. The feminist approach to literature particularly struck a chord with me, perhaps because I could relate to the issues as a young woman coming into my own.

As you all probably know by now, I'm a bit infatuated with the art of poetry, so I decided it'd be interesting to take a feminist approach to a poem. I chose to analyze Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman". Right off the bat, with a title like that, you'd probably expect the poem to be a gold mine for feminist issues, and it doesn't disappoint.

The first two lines are already fraught with feminist ideas, as Angelou writes, "Pretty women wonder where my secret lies. / I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size". Angelou is clearly alluding to our culture's connection between thinness and attractiveness in women. From a feminist perspective, I believe that this is a biased societal expectation because women are expected to almost starve themselves in order to be considered 'pretty', while a wider range of male body types are deemed attractive. Yet Angelou, a promoter of feminist themes, challenges this link between skinniness and sex appeal, as the speaker asserts that she is far from model-thin, but still beautiful in her own right. She goes on to claim that her attractiveness lies in "The span of my hips", among other features, and then closes the stanza with "I'm a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That's me." By declaring her own confidence in her more curvaceous body type, Angelou's writing serves as an inspiration to the majority of women who don't fall within the super model classification.

In the second stanza, she continues this tone of confidence and self-assuredness. She writes, "I walk into a room / Just as cool as you please, / And to a man, / The fellows stand or / Fall down on their knees." In this stanza, the feminist themes deepen, as Angelou begins to explore male and female gender identities. From these select lines, I gather that she believes females possess a sort of seductive power over men. Though some women may dismiss such a concept as petty, it is important to note that Angelou portrays the female figure as dominant, as she describes men falling to a submissive position in her presence. She even compares the men who "swarm" around the speaker to "a hive of honey bees". This dehumanization may have also been intended to conjure an image of men as less powerful creatures.

Angelou elaborates on these feminist ideas in the third stanza, as she writes, "Men themselves have wondered / What they see in me. / They try so much / But they can't touch / My inner mystery. / When I try to show them, / They say they still can't see." These lines further support the dynamic she's constructing in which the speaker, the female figure, possesses more power than any man. By asserting that men cannot grasp her "inner mystery", she continues to elevate the female identity in comparison to that of the male, implying that there is a beauty or a magic to women that men are incapable of fully understanding.

In the final stanza, the lines that stood out to me were, "Now you understand / Just why my head's not bowed. / I don't shout or jump about / Or have to talk real loud. / When you see me passing, / It ought to make you proud." I especially liked the line about the speaker not bowing her head. Though the obvious meaning of holding her head high is a physical expression of her sense of pride, Angelou may also be suggesting that the speaker is not "bowing" to men, or, in simpler terms, refusing to submit to men's authority. When Angelou writes "It ought to make you proud", she directly appeals to the female gender as a whole, urging women to embrace their beauty and embody the speaker's quiet confidence.

I think "Phenomenal Woman" is an excellent example of the importance of feminist ideas. While the themes were perhaps more obvious in this poem than in many other literary works, I look forward to the challenge of identifying feminist concepts in everything I read, including Hamlet. I'll keep you posted!