Woman Work
Woman Work - context Summary
Published in 1978
The poem "Woman Work" appears in Maya Angelou's 1978 collection And Still I Rise. It presents a speaker’s relentless inventory of domestic and agricultural labor—children, mending, cooking, cotton picking—then shifts to urgent appeals to weather and natural elements for rest. That contrast emphasizes exhaustion, longing for respite, and spiritual seeking. Contextually, the poem echoes Angelou’s sustained focus on the labor and resilience of Black women and resonates with her own experience as a working mother, using everyday tasks to signal wider social and emotional burdens.
Read Complete AnalysesI've got the children to tend The clothes to mend The floor to mop The food to shop Then the chicken to fry The baby to dry I got company to feed The garden to weed I've got shirts to press The tots to dress The can to be cut I gotta clean up this hut Then see about the sick And the cotton to pick. Shine on me, sunshine Rain on me, rain Fall softly, dewdrops And cool my brow again. Storm, blow me from here With your fiercest wind Let me float across the sky 'Til I can rest again. Fall gently, snowflakes Cover me with white Cold icy kisses and Let me rest tonight. Sun, rain, curving sky Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone Star shine, moon glow You're all that I can call my own.
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