These Yet to Be United States
These Yet to Be United States - context Summary
Published in 1975 Collection
Published in 1975 in the collection Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well, Maya Angelou’s "These Yet To Be United States" addresses the nation as a powerful yet anguished actor. It links U.S. military and technological dominance to fear abroad and suffering at home, invoking large-scale violence alongside domestic deprivation and inherited trauma. The poem reflects Angelou’s persistent engagement with power, injustice, and the American experience, functioning as a moral critique that connects geopolitical reach with intimate social consequences rather than offering specific policy prescriptions.
Read Complete AnalysesTremors of your network cause kings to disappear. Your open mouth in anger makes nations bow in fear. Your bombs can change the seasons, obliterate the spring. What more do you long for ? Why are you suffering ? You control the human lives in Rome and Timbuktu. Lonely nomads wandering owe Telstar to you. Seas shift at your bidding, your mushrooms fill the sky. Why are you unhappy ? Why do your children cry ? They kneel alone in terror with dread in every glance. Their nights ['rights' ? - Schrift nicht lesbar] are threatened daily by a grim inheritance. You dwell in whitened castles with deep and poisoned moats and cannot hear the curses which fill your children's throats. Share Tweet Share Share
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