Some of us loved the martial songs, red blood flowing and the screams of the dying on battlefields.

  And some naturally bellicose creatures decided to lay down our swords and shields and to try to study war no more.

  Some of us heard the singing of angels, harmonies in a heavenly choir, or at least the music of the spheres.

  We had come so far from where we started, and weren’t nearly approaching where we had to be, but we were on the road to becoming better.

  I thought if I wrote a book, I would have to examine the quality in the human spirit that continues to rise despite the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

  Rise out of physical pain and the psychological cruelties.

  Rise from being victims of rape and abuse and abandonment to the determination to be no victim of any kind.

  Rise and be prepared to move on and ever on.

  I remembered a children’s poem from my mute days in Arkansas that seemed to say however low you perceive me now, I am headed for higher ground.

  I wrote the first line in the book, which would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

  “What you looking at me for. I didn’t come to stay.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Poet, writer, performer, teacher and director MAYA ANGELOU was raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and then went to San Francisco. In addition to her bestselling autobiographies, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she has also written five poetry collections, including I Shall Not Be Moved and Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?, as well as the celebrated poem “On the Pulse of Morning,” which she read at the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton.

  ALSO BY MAYA ANGELOU

  Autobiography

  I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

  Gather Together in My Name

  Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas

  The Heart of a Woman

  All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

  Essays

  Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

  Even the Stars Look Lonesome

  Poetry

  Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie

  Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well

  And Still I Rise

  Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing?

  I Shall Not Be Moved

  On the Pulse of Morning

  Phenomenal Woman

  The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou

  A Brave and Startling Truth

  Children’s Books

  My Painted House

  Kofi and His Magic

  Picture Books

  Now Sheba Sings the Song

  Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All

  A SONG FLUNG UP TO HEAVEN

  A Bantam Book

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Random House hardcover edition published April 2002

  Bantam trade paperback edition / April 2003

  Published by Bantam Dell

  A Division of Random House, Inc.

  New York, New York

  All rights reserved

  Copyright © 2002 by Maya Angelou

  Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2001034914

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

  Bantam Booksand the rooster colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Visit our website at www.bantamdell.com

  eISBN: 978-0-553-89731-9

  v3.0

 


 

  Maya Angelou, A Song Flung Up to Heaven

  (Series: Maya Angelou's Autobiography # 6)

 

 


 

 
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net

Share this book with friends