Earnest Poole
Professor Sunseri
College Composition 1
April 19, 2016
The famous writer, poet, singer, dancer, and playwright Maya Angelou was an inspiration
to millions with her soothing voice and amazing poetry. In her book “I know why the
caged bird sings” she focuses on her life and details within it. One part of her book talks
about her first time going to a funeral. The funeral was for her neighbor Mrs. Florida
Taylor who left the young Maya Angelou a yellow brooch. Maya’s purpose is inform her
audience about her first funeral and how it changed her mindset. She keeps a soothing tone
throughout the chapter to help her audience understand and imagine what she was thinking
and what a funeral looked like back then.
Maya begins by describing the look of the mourners and the tone set by the choir. She says
“The mourners on the front benches sat in a blue-serge, black-crepe-dress gloom. A funeral
hymn made its way around the church tediously but successfully. It eased into the heart of
every gay thought, into the care of each happy memory” and sets the mood throughout the
story. She tells the audience she never even thought of death being even remotely linked to
her. It made her realize that she isn’t immortal and that death is inevitable. Maya shifts to
the pastor’s sermon and how he warned the listeners that “”this day might be your last,”
and the best insurance against dying a sinner was to “make yourself right with God” so that
