If we had to choose two poems that show how hope and self-confidence is important in our lives, they have to be Taylor Mail’s What teachers make and Maya Angelou’s Still I rise. Those two poems excel at communicating meaning using literary and stylistic devices such as imagery or tone. Their use of language makes their poem qualifiable as great literature. My focus is to compare and contrast Taylor Mali’s language use to Maya Angelou’s as well as the features present in their respective poems.
First of all, the themes, in What teachers make the different themes explored are firstly, raising awareness about how important teachers are for the society, and to show the dedication of teachers, no matter how underpaid they may be. We know this because of the tone he uses while reciting the poem. In the poem, he says in line n°54 “Teachers make the goddamn difference!”, this helps us understand that Taylor Mali’s purpose was to demonstrate how important teachers are and how they help the society as a whole. In Maya Angelou’s poem, the message she tries to pass through is that no matter the situation, there is always hope. We know this when she says “Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise” the first part of the sentence demonstrating that the situation doesn’t really matter, even in your worst nightmare, there is and will always be hope.
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The structures of the two poems don’t differ from each other a lot, Still I rise has 9 stanzas and What teachers make has 5 stanzas. In terms of lines, What teachers make has 54 lines whereas Still I rise has 43 lines. Both poems have similar structures, with some irregularities in the lengths of lines.
Tone for a poem is very important, a passive tone can change the whole meaning of the text whereas an aggressive one makes it punchier and it’s kind of wakes the audience up about the discussed topic. Still I rise uses a more confident and calm tone, she uses this tone because it shows the targeted audience how confident she feels about all the negativity she receives. The effect of a calm tone is that the audience will feel the confidence and will therefore understand more how confident she really is. Taylor Mali’s tone is powerful and relentless as he says in line 53 “Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true: Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?”. He states this stanza with power, as if he really fills it inside (he does as he is a teacher). The effects on the audience is that it wakes them up, the audience keeps on listening and stays focused on the poem.
The rhythm of the poems is what create that melody like effect on the audience. First of all, in What teachers make, Taylor Mali uses enjambment, which consists of the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line or a stanza
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