Maya Angelou's poem "Phenomenal Woman" is a response to the abusive events experienced by the writer, which is displayed through the image and tone of the poem. Instead of feeling ashamed and blaming herself, she used the experience as motivation to gain hope. Her poem illustrates the importance of confidence and how it affects the perception of others. When a woman fails to meet societal expectations of physical appearance, she decides to shun criticism and embraces who she is.
             Maya Angelou wrote the poem from experience. She faced constant discrimination not only as a woman, but also as an African American. Also from a young age, she was never considered pretty by others. As she became older, she allowed this dissatisfaction to grow and she killed it with the sense of pride. When she was a child, Angelou was sexually abused. After telling her family about the terrible occurrence, the man was killed. For the next five years, she chose to remain silent because she believed that her words had killed the man. This has taught her about the power of words, and she evokes this discovery in this poem. This poem exemplifies the pride she has found by being confident regardless of what others think.
             Angelou starts the poem with a stanza describing people's reaction to the woman. The reactions are all categorized by admiration. They are puzzled by why she is so happy and how other people view her. The stanzas continue by developing this trend. Angelou uses imagery to give the reader a description of the character's physical appearance. She states, "I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size."
             In the second stanza Angelou uses a metaphor, "Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees." She compares the men who surrounded her to a hive of honeybees. As the men fall to their knees, the woman confidently gives them a list of why she is phenomenal. Angelou uses such imagery to give the readers a bet...