Woman Work

Woman Work

I'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.

In the poem "Woman Work," Maya Angelou describes a woman's ongoing tasks and how they can only be relieved through nature's wonders since there is nothing else in the world that a woman can depend on for comfort. Angelou portrays the numerous hardships a woman must overcome through a continuous "to-do list." The reader may notice that the format of the wording in the first couple lines are repetitive—just like the daily chores a woman must accomplish in order to maintain the household. Angelou lists, " The clothes to mend/The floor to mop/The food to shop [...]The baby to dry [...] The garden to weed [...]The tots to dress[...]" and just when the reader thinks it would never end, Angelou writes, "Shine on me, sunshine/
Rain on me, rain" to depict the woman's desperation to forget the pressures that come from being a wife and mother. The reader can almost hear the exhausted woman's sighs as she professes, "You're all that I can call my own."

I believe the main purpose of Maya Angelou's poem, "Woman Work" was to deliver to the world, a woman's point of view on her ceaseless chores and how nobody seems to appreciate what she does for her family. Once a woman's tasks are finally completed, the only thing she can turn to is mother nature's carressing arms for comfort and protection against her reality. The author also delivers to readers, an unspoken message suggesting to assist their wives and mothers more in household chores.