Robert Graves and Maya Angelou: Their Lives, Heartache, and Accomplishments

Childhood plays in important role in not only Robert Graves and Maya Angelou's lives, but lives of every person in the world. How you are brought up, and the trials and tribulations along the way shape each individual differently, and making them who they are. Did it define their careers and destinies as writers? The only true answers to that question can come from the writers themselves. Yes, many can debate and be opinionated as we are in this discussion, however it only matters how Graves and Angelou themselves feel. Do they feel as if all the awards, and fame, and nobility brought them to a ground within themselves that they were happy with? Or were they looking for more, but didn't know where to look.

Feeling that each part of a person's life is a piece of the puzzle, there is reasons to believe that whether we say yes or no, we are right either way. It is evident that yes, some of each of these writers work were contributed from different ages of their childhood. Is there enough evidence stating that it was completely their childhoods that made them who they became? Do you consider Robert Graves to be in childhood while he is Nineteen and at the front lines of war? Or are we talking mainly about his interest in boxing and mountain climbing rather than school. Do you think much of Angelou's work later in her life still came from the heart of a child that never quite got a chance to grow as a child, and was thrust into adulthood.

If I was to think his childhood played any major role to his writings, it would have to be derived from the background of his parents and his boredom with school. His mother's side of the family was a full of clergymen, and his fathers of intellectuals. His father himself was an amateur poet, and seemed to slowly shape Robert into a poet over the years. Although, his dislike of schooling led onto choosing to pass up a scholarship to St. John's College, Oxford, and instead enlisting to the Royal Welch Fusiliers. A British army regiment, part of the Prince of Wales Division. This eventually presented him his first opening to write about war on the front lines. So in the year of 1916 he published his first volume of poems with Over The Brazier. It is said though that Laura Riding was his most influential element in his career, and changed him and his style of writing. Also a poet, Riding accompanied Graves, his wife, and children to Majorca after Robert had received a post at Cairo University. After returning to England for a short time, he separated with Nancy, and moved to Majorca with Riding after her apparent suicide attempt.

Maya Angelou's childhood however, played a major role in her entire life. Her parents divorced when she was only three years of age. Moving back and forth between her grandmother, mother, and father's house as a young child started it all. Then by age eight being raped by her mother's boyfriend, and finding out her three uncles kicked him to death, caused her to go mute for six years. Having problems with moving back and forth Maya and her brother eventually were staying in a graveyard for cars that were mainly for homeless children. Trying to prove she was a woman at a young age, she became pregnant and had a baby boy(Guy) at age sixteen. Proclaiming her baby was the most wonderful gift in the world. For many years she seemed to be searching for her identity, or some sort of sense of security for once and it showed in her writings and even other ventures she came to find.

Personal struggles caused both writers to become something extraordinary as writers, which is why we are discussing them and their lives today. Studying backgrounds of both Graves and Angelou it is easy to say that their work is trustworthy in my eyes. Going through my own struggles and feeling there is no one who could possibly understand, I always know my journal will be there to listen to every word. Whenever depression sets in, it's the first place I turn too. The majority of society has the same thoughts. Obviously for many different reasons, but some just choose to write their pain on paper. Others choose to confide in someone else. Many go without saying anything at all until something explodes inside of them. Just depends on who you might be talking to during that period in your life.

With Robert Graves, his anger towards the war in general was not the common thought in WWI. After being injured for the second time in France, he was sent back to England. A year had passed since he wrote the first volume of Over The Brazier, and in 1917 he played an important role in saving a friend from a court-martial for going AWOL. Why? Because Siegfried Sassoon wrote a letter to his commander denouncing the war. How can you believe that someone that that does not like the war, or the events that takes place, is untrustworthy? Yes, it is believed that his revision of "Goodbye To All That" in 1957 caused many to believe that this work was dishonest in the original version of 1929. We can all agree that people change over the years, and the old saying, "I wish I knew then what I know now", comes into play many times throughout someone's life. This seemed to be a case of him wanting to put the style of his work he had used the past thirty years into his earlier writing. Although, it seemed to backfire on him as many thought the parts he made revisions on, were what made his work believable and heartfelt in the first place.

There are many points to suggest that Maya Angelou is as trustworthy as they come. Even later in her life it was evident her childhood was a scar that if touched slightly could tear right back open. The best way to describe this is from a cameo appearance she made on The Richard Pryor Special in 1977. Where the comedic Pryor comes home from the bar, with the crowd laughing at the event. Angelou opens the door as he stumbles in and begins this heart wrenching dialog as he falls on the couch. What is supposed to be funny turns into Maya giving a detailed description of how his own self-destruction from alcoholism has thrown him into depression. Basically, showing truth to the situation that was once funny into something sad. At the end of her monologue, the crowd was utterly silent in dismay, then started their heartfelt applause. The dismay was even noticeable on her fifth autobiography "All God's Children Needs Traveling Shoes". It is one of her biographies that shows the greater sense of connection that she has at this point in her life with her past.

So with many different events coming in and out of their lives over the years, it is another classic case that society looks for today. The overwhelming odds for individuals, and how they overcome them. Why do we want to hear these stories? Mainly because many of us are not happy with our own lives and are intrigued by others that can beat the odds. Day after day you see people on the news that is doing something for society, or making a name for themselves. A football player scoring a game winning touchdown. A new discovery in the world with someone that was born with a drug problem. This could be seen for many things, but the difference between them and us, determination. Determination played major roles in both their lives. For Maya, can you imagine her laying in a wrecked car in a graveyard, looking over at her brother wondering how in the world am I going to beat this. How can I get my brother and I out of this place and into a better world. She did it the only way she knew how. By expressing herself, not only to open up, to herself, but open up to the world and let someone out there know she has felt that way too.

In both Graves and Angelou's case, both seemed afraid that they would never find their true selves. The war for Graves, and the dysfunctional family of Angelou, played major roles into making them who they have become. It seems as though the question here is not to what extent do we think both writers succeeded in making their stories a collective one. I believe that each as individuals felt that they had to share to the world through poetry and writings things they could not discuss out loud. Things that would make others frown upon them. To make the audience feel as if it is not impossible for someone to go through things of this nature, and no one should doubt them. Better yet, it could possibly be even imagined that by sharing their stories and ideals on paper, it would give a bigger range of individuals, to instill their work too, and possibly help someone with their own problems.

To the public it seems that both achieved a great deal of success throughout their lives. Before Robert Graves died in 1985 at the age of ninety, He ended his career being a poet, novelist, biographer, mythographer, classic scholar, and even a translator. He had been considered as England's greatest living poet in the fifties. In 1968 he received the Queen's Gold Medal of Poetry. Over the span of Graves's career he published over one-hundred-forty books, including fifty-five collections of poetry. His biggest accomplishment through his career was the tale of the Roman Empire and the life of the emperor Claudius. It was so popular that just one year later, he published the sequel Claudius The God. As later on he denounced his work as ways to make money and pay his bills as he called it, "they were mere potboilers".

Maya Angelou over her lifetime has achieved more than anyone could wish for in her career. She has been an author, poet, historian, director, dancer, producer, singer, and even a civil rights activist. In which Martin Luther King Jr. requested Ms. Angelou become the coordinator for the The Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by Gerald Ford in the seventies and eventually the Commission for International Woman of the Year. In 1993 she recited the poem "In The Pulse of the Morning" at the inauguration of Bill Clinton, and became only the second person to ever do so(Robert Frost for JFK being the other). She was the first black woman director in Hollywood, won the Golden Eagle Award for her documentary "Afro-Americans in the Arts". She also has been nominated twice for the Tony Award for acting on Broadway.

Before taking part in this discussion I was truly unfamiliar with the word existentialism. Something that helped Jean Paul Sartre win the Nobel Prize later on, which he did not except of course as he didn't want to be associated with institutions and didn't care for official honors. After going deeper into the discussion, I truly believe Sartre would have welcomed Graves and Angelou's work. If you understand the word existentialism, it is easier to understand as most frequently the word is associated with awareness of death, freedom, dread , and anxiety. It would only take him a moment to read "Goodbye To All That", and"I Know Why A Caged Bird Sings" to understand where Robert Graves and Maya Angelou are coming from in their work. I imagine since Sartre was not big on credit, I am unaware if he would actually give any, but I do know that it would have been shown in other ways.

When John F. Kennedy honored Robert Frost with the "The Poet and The President" speech there are many things within the way he talks not just about Frost, but poets, and writers in general to conclude in JFK's eyes not only Frost is honored, but writers everywhere. Impart of his speech there is a part I must place here to give everyone a better understanding of what I am seeing. "The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to a nation's greatness. But the men who question power, make a contribution just as indispensable--for they determine whether we use power or power uses us". If there were poets all around the world listening to this, the feeling must have been overwhelming. To truly let everyone know that the pen Is mightier than the sword.

After reading this part of his speech, Robert Graves was immediately in my mind. A man who, although enlisted in the war,(it was his way out of school) was angry about it, and wrote about it to share with the world. When entering the the military, the idea in Graves head was to have honor and glory, not the treachery and madness he found there. Now did it make a contribution towards the war? Probably not, as far as who won and lost. However, "Goodbye To All That" played a major role in society and made them feel and understand what the men were going through under enemy fire. Over The Brazier, could have been poetry that was shared to other soldiers, or it could have just helped him release his anger in a different way, then with a gun. Either way, it is exactly what JFK was talking about, and Graves did just that. He may have rambled with philosophizing, but actual events through his eyes, were what made his three volume collection of war poetry unique. Which is still highly touted in many institutions all over the world.

Ms. Angelou, in her own right, was looked upon after reading this part of JFK's speech. "When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. The artist, forever faithful to his personal vision of reality, becomes the last champion of the individual mind". Although JFK is stating the word man(common during those years)the reference to Maya would be uncanny. He would see heartache, and wishfulness through her writings. Ones of encouragement for others to benefit from in their lives. Throughout her life she has been searching for herself in every way possible. So many awards, speaking six different languages, etc., is it all enough? Is it enough to say, I lived my life to the fullest? Only she knows, and after many years of poverty, then many years of prospering, in her reality, she did become the last champion of her mind. Also in Oprah Winfrey's mind who proclaimed her as one of the top fifty influential African Americans of the twentieth century.