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Maya Angelou Biography - her religious beliefs 

Interview with Oprah 
 
Lord, In My Heart 
For Countee Cullen 
  
 
Holy haloes 
Ring me round 
  
Spirit waves on 
Spirit sound 
  
Meshach and 
Abednego 
  
Golden chariot 
Swinging low 
  
I recite them 
in my sleep 
  
Jordan’s cold 
and briny deep 
  
Bible lessons 
Sunday school 
  
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Bow before the 

Golden Rule 
  
Now I wonder  
If I tried 
  
Could I turn my 
Cheek aside 
  
Marveling with 
Afterthought 
  
Let the blow fall 
Saying naught 
  
Of my true Christ- 
like control 
  
And the nature  
of my soul 
  
Would I strike with 
rage divine 
  
Till the culprit  
fell supine 
  
Hit out broad all 
fury red 
  
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Till my foes are 

fallen dead 
  
Teachers of my  
early youth 
  
Taught forgiveness  
stressed the truth 
  
Here then is my 
Christian lack: 
  
If I’m struck then 
I’ll strike back. 
  
-Maya Angelou 
 
Rhyme: She uses a ABBA rhyme scheme like a nursery rhyme. Prayers/ Incantations 
Punctuation: She have a colon and a full stop in the poem; the poem is like a whole 
sentence meaning it is ongoing and constant, supporting the theme as a song and fluidity 
of the poem. 
Word choice:  
Christ/Christian - Old testament related (Biblical) through the uses Meshach and Abednego, 
which are characters from the old testament and stories in the Bible. Maya Angelou learns 
these biblical stories since she was young and a strong christian faithed person, therefore 
she uses these language to represent her faith in her work to further show the goodness 
that she wants to convey to us in her poems by adding biblical implications. The chariot 
also reference to the American negro spiritual, gospel songs about the african amerians 
who pray and sing for God in the efforts and hardship that they suffer through slavery 
during the Slave trade and racist amercian history; hope for God as a chariot to bring to 
safety like God guiding to Jews to the promise land to find salvations and liberation. 
‘I recite them in my sleep’ - Showing that it is part of her, the very fibre of her being that she 
will recite this song or prayer, it is very important for her. 
 19 
  

‘briny deep’ - Very deep in the ocean; this represents the hymn of the tower of sins and 
describing how john is the only one who escaped, and in the hymn there is the same of 
phrase of ‘briny deep’. 
Mood:  
Pacif - Start of pacif ‘Let the blow fall Saying naught’ is shows pacif because not much 
fighting back and let it fall away. 
Serious/ Violence - It starts to change into more defiant tone closer to the end.