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

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

The cover of Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie
Author(s) Maya Angelou
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Poetry
Publisher Random House, Inc.[1]
Publication date August 12, 1971 (1st edition)
Media type Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages 48 pp (hardcover 1st edition)[1]
ISBN ISBN 9780394471426 (hardcover 1st edition)[1]
OCLC Number 160599
Dewey Decimal 811
Followed by Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well[2]

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie is a 1971 anthology of 38[3][4] poems by Maya Angelou,[5][6] nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1972.[7][8] Some of the poems in the book were first published by GWP Records as songs in The Poetry of Maya Angelou, a 1969 recording by Angelou.[4][9]

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, Angelou's first collection of poetry,[10] was released after she rose to fame with her acclaimed first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.[11] Angelou would subsequently release autobiographies and volumes of poetry at certain intervals, and in the 1970s, her poetry was published just before or just after the release of a new memoir.[12][13] Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie was followed by Angelou's second autobiography, Gather Together in My Name (1974), and her second book of poems, Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975).[2][14]

Contents

Themes

The poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie focus on Angelou's perspective on what it means to be a black woman in the United States. They also address experiences common to all people. Some of the poems also explore parts of life that may be taken for granted, including "No Loser, No Weeper," which discusses the displeasure of losing something.[15]

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie is dedicated "to Amber Sam and the Zorro Man," a reference to the poems "A Zorro Man" and "To a Man," both of which are in the first part of the book.[16] The book has two parts, "Where Love is a Scream of Anguish" and "Just Before the World Ends."[17] The first section is about love, while the second section contains poems that are more aggressive in tone.[9] Angelou sometimes uses rhyme and repetition in her work, but rhyme is only found in seven of the poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie.[18]

Many of Angelou's poems, including those in later publications, deal with racial issues.[19] In "To a Man", Angelou mentions both the "Black Golden Amber" color of a black man's skin as well as certain characteristics of a man, such as "gentleness."[16][20] In "The Mothering Blackness," of Part One, Angelou praises how black mothers love and forgive their children.[16] In "The Thirteens (Black)" and "The Thirteens (White)," both in Part Two, Angelou plays the Thirteens (a twist on the Dozens). By comparing the insults of blacks and whites, Angelou comments on the parallels between the actions of the two races.[21][22]

Angelou's discussion of death plays a large role in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and a smaller one in some of her other works. Of the 38 poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, death is directly mentioned in nineteen.[3]

Title

Angelou chose "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie" as the book's title because of her interest in "unconscious innocence,"[23] which she says is "even lovelier than trying to remain innocent."[24] The title is a reference to her belief that "we as individuals ... are still so innocent that we think if we asked our murderer just before he puts the final wrench upon the throat, 'Would you please give me a cool drink of water?' and he would do so."[23][25] Angelou has said that, if she "didn't believe that, [she] wouldn't get up in the morning."[24]

Critical response

In Southern Women Writers, Carol Neubauer said that the first twenty poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie "describe the whole gamut of love, from the first moment of passionate discovery to the first suspicion of painful loss." Neubauer also commented on the racial themes of Angelou's poems, saying, "Angelou turns her attention to the lives of black people in America from the time of slavery to the rebellious 1960s. Her themes deal broadly with the painful anguish suffered by blacks forced into submission, with guilt over accepting too much, and with protest and basic survival."[4] Chad Walsh called Angelou's work in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie "a moving blend of lyricism and harsh social observation."[26]

In contrast, John Alfred Avant said in 1971 that "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water isn't accomplished, not by any means," but that "some readers are going to love it."[9] In addition, Avant said that "there will be an audience for this rather well done schlock poetry, not to be confused with poetry for people who read poetry."[27]

Poems

Of the 38 poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, twenty are in the first part, "Where Love is a Scream of Anguish," and the remaining eighteen are in the second part, "Just Before the World Ends."[1][28]

Part One: Where Love is a Scream of Anguish

  • "They Went Home"
  • "The Gamut"
  • "A Zorro Man"
  • "To a Man"
  • "Late October"
  • "No Loser, No Weeper"
  • "When You Come to Me"
  • "Remembering"
  • "In a Time"
  • "Tears"
  • "The Detached"
  • "To a Husband"
  • "Accident"
  • "Let's Majeste"
  • "After"
  • "The Mothering Blackness"
  • "On Diverse Deviations"
  • "Mourning Grace"
  • "How I Can Lie to You"
  • "Sounds Like Pearls"

Part Two: Just Before the World Ends

  • "When I Think About Myself"
  • "On a Bright Day, Next Week"
  • "Letter to an Aspiring Junkie"
  • "Miss Scarlett, Mr. Rhett and Other Latter-Day Saints"
  • "Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition"
  • "Faces"
  • "To a Freedom Fighter"
  • "Riot: 60’s"
  • "We Saw Beyond Our Seeming"
  • "Black Ode"
  • "No No No No"
  • "My Guilt"
  • "The Calling of Names"
  • "On Working White Liberals"
  • "Sepia Fashion Show"
  • "The Thirteens (Black)"
  • "The Thirteens (White)"
  • "Harlem Hopscotch"

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Just give me a cool drink of water 'fore I diiie". WorldCat. Online Computer Library Center. http://www.worldcat.org/title/just-give-me-a-cool-drink-of-water-fore-i-diiie/oclc/160599&referer=brief_results. Retrieved August 22, 2010. 
  2. ^ a b Hamilton 1994, p. 15
  3. ^ a b Angelou & Braxton 1999, p. 127
  4. ^ a b c "Maya Angelou (1928 - )". PoetryFoundation.org. Poetry Foundation. 2010. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=180. Retrieved August 21, 2010. 
  5. ^ Louise Tutelian (January 5, 2007). "A Revised Edition". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/realestate/greathomes/05away.html. Retrieved August 21, 2010. 
  6. ^ Horne, Jim (June 26, 2009). "Rock Samples". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://wordplay.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/samples/. Retrieved August 21, 2010. 
  7. ^ Moyer 2003, p. 297
  8. ^ Trescott, Jacqueline (December 30, 1992). "Angelou to deliver inaugural poetry reading". Austin American-Statesman (Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P.). 
  9. ^ a b c Hagen 1997, p. 121
  10. ^ McCall, Cheryl (March 8, 1982). "Maya Angelou". People (Time Inc.) 17 (9). http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20081615,00.html. Retrieved August 21, 2010. 
  11. ^ Eichenberger, Bill (May 13, 2007). "Many-splendored poet seeks to lift spirits". The Columbus Dispatch (The Columbus Dispatch). http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/arts/stories/2007/05/13/1A_MAYA_ANGELOU.ART_ART_05-13-07_E1_AL6K8P2.html. Retrieved August 21, 2010. 
  12. ^ Perry & Weaks 2002, p. 523
  13. ^ Lupton 1998, p. 17
  14. ^ "One The Way Up". ThirdWay (Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd.) 25 (10): 21. December 2002. http://books.google.com/books?id=Ll39wzxRnMMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved August 23, 2010. 
  15. ^ Nardo 2009, pp. 73–74
  16. ^ a b c Hagen 1997, p. 130
  17. ^ Angelou 1994, p. 4
  18. ^ Hagen 1997, p. 131
  19. ^ Perry & Weaks 2002, p. 462
  20. ^ Angelou 1994, p. 10
  21. ^ Smitherman 1986, pp. 182–183
  22. ^ Ramirez 2005, pp. 53–54
  23. ^ a b Harvey 1998, p. 37
  24. ^ a b Angelou & Elliot 1989, p. 15
  25. ^ Hagen 1997, p. 124
  26. ^ Hagen 1997, p. 123
  27. ^ Burr 2002, p. 182
  28. ^ Angelou 1994, pp. ix–x

Bibliography