Human Family by Maya Angelou

Human Family

I note the obvious differences

in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.
                                    
I've sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I've seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I've not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,                                                                        

and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England's moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,                                                     

than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

Commentary:

I choose to read this poem from Maya Angelou because the title was a bit out of place. Usually people will say,"American Family," or something between those margins.
It was only after I finished reading the poem that I realized why Maya Angelou named her poem the way she did. We are all humans. At the end of her poem, she expresses that we are all alike. Just thinking about that; Family members are similar in the way that we act. Some relatives have that same smile or that same face gesture. So, since we, humans are all alike, we are also all a family. This is what I concluded from comparing humans to a family. After this conclusion, I realized that her title made perfect sense with the poem and that there was nothing confusing about it.
After analyzing the poem " Human Family," I noted that Maya Angelou used figurative language to come across her audience to express what she believes are the differences between humans and how similar we really are.
Maya Angelou used repetition in her poem to express her point that all humans are alike. In the poem, She says, "We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike," in the last couple of stanzas. In total, she repeats it three times. Maya Angelou was very smart to add this type of figurative language to her poem. First of all, she put this phrase at the end of the poem. Next, she repeated it like three times. With this type of combination, the reader kept this phrase in their mind long after finishing reading the poem. This made Maya Angelou get her point across successfully, which is what most poets and writers want to achieve through their writing.




"Human Family" by Maya Angelou- YouTube Video