Maya Angelou

The Traveler

The Traveler - meaning Summary

Isolation on the Road

The poem sketches a solitary traveler’s experience of restless wandering and persistent loneliness. Evocative images—byways, sea, stars, stones—map a journey without destination or shelter. Repeated references to nights and being "manless and friendless" present solitude as emotional suffering rather than adventure. The closing lines frame homelessness and isolation as a personal torture and long endurance, emphasizing longing for home or human connection.

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Byways and bygone And lone nights long Sun rays and sea waves And star and stone Manless and friendless No cave my home This is my torture My long nights, lone

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