"Fast Speaking Woman"; Maya Angelou and Ben Harper

Anne Waldman's "poem" "Fast Speaking Woman" instantly brought to my mind Maya Angelou's oral poetry, most specifically "Still I Rise". Perhaps it is the obvious feelings of a minorities liberation and its strength that the poetry produces which allows me to draw similarities between the two. The self-affirming tone brings to question in my mind whether Angelou may have been influenced by Anne Waldman's "Fast Speaking Woman" which I understand as being (in Waldman's own words) a "reworking" of Sabina's own words. She writes, "I interwove many of her lines, and picked up on the refrain...using it as a place to pause and shift rhythm and acknowledge the cleansing impulse of the writing...I was a product of my generation, ignorant then of "cultural colonialism," and eager to learn from other/wiser cultures." I believe that this is exactly what Ben Harper did less than ten years ago with Angelou's "And Still I Rise." Lets say that Angelou was influenced by Waldman's "Fast Speaking Woman" (1975) when she wrote the poem "And Still I Rise" (1978) indirectly having been influenced by Sabina. I would like to look at a song from my generation by Ben Harper titled "I'll Rise" which perhaps is the indirect result of a long line of interpretations of Sabina's words.

As Harper puts Angelou's name before his own in the byline it is apparent that he found his inspiration for the piece through Angelou's previous words and works (regardless of whether or not Angelou was familiar with Sabina or Waldman's work). So, what I'm getting at is that the translation or influence of oral tradition is vibrantly alive and applicable today. Ben Harper, a product of his generation, has found himself eager to learn from "other/wiser cultures" in his reflection on Angelou's previous words. In comparing the poem of Angelou to the lyrics of Harper (provided below) a reader becomes aware of the subtle differences from one generation's voice to the next. While no stanza is exactly the same in both pieces, the message is equally as clear and effective in both. These two people, born into generations less than 50 years apart, have formed a connection through their stories...through thier words, yet they each use a unique approach and technique to get their particular message accross (a message most aplicable to the audience or culture of the times in which it was written). Where Angelou felt a need for literary expression and metaphor, such as "I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swellin I bear in the tide," Harper, and perhaps his generation, don't feel there is a need for such obvious allusion to the racial implications of the poem.

I believe that Harper's decison to exclude metaphor and racial allusion opened this piece up to a larger simpathetic audience. Harper's words while about oppression and the realization of a culture's history and the emotional baggage that knowledge includes, may no longer be focusing on the history of his black culture. His words could be just as effective in reference to his generation--my generation. While one could argue that the authors made word choices based on the marketability of the resulting text, I feel that they chose words based on the aplicability of a specific or general issue personally affecting themselves and their peer group--which I must admit whether directly or not does improve the marketability of their works. Oh well. I am courious to hear what the rest of you feel about the "updating" of an oral tradition from one generation to the next. Is it possible that Ben Harper's "I'll Rise" is simply the distorted result of Sabina's story being passed and applied from one generation of Americans to the next?

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“I'll Rise"

Written by: Angelou/Harper

you may write me down in history
with your bitter twisted lies
you may trod me down in the very dirt
and still like the dust i'll rise
does my happiness upset you
why are you best with gloom
cause i laugh like i've got an oil well
pumpin' in my living room

so you may shoot me with your words
you may cut me with your eyes
and i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise
out of the shacks of history's shame
up from a past rooted in pain
i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise

now did you want to see me broken
bowed head and lowered eyes
shoulders fallen down like tear drops
weakened by my soulful cries

does my confidence upset you
don't you take it awful hard
cause i walk like i've got a diamond mine
breakin up in my front yard

so you may shoot me with your words
you may cut me with your eyes
and i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise
out of the shacks of history's shame
up from a past rooted in pain
i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise

so you may write me down in history
with your bitter twisted lies
you may trod me down in the very dirt
and still like the dust i'll rise

does my happiness upset you
why are you best with gloom
cause i laugh like i've got a goldmine
diggin' up in my living room

now you may shoot me with your words
you may cut me with your eyes
and i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise
out of the shacks of history's shame
up from a past rooted in pain
i'll rise
i'll rise
i'll rise
__________________________________________________________________
"And Still I Rise"

Written/Spoken by: Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise

























I rise
I rise