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zabeishumanish's review
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.5
The speech of Angelou performing this at the UN is in full on YouTube, and I would highly recommend reading along to her performance. The poem in the book is not entirely identical to the performance (there are maybe a half-dozen words different), but I picked up so much more from the poem just due to her cadence and the way she was reading.
At its core, this poem is about how the beauty of humanity coming together for a common purpose is even more stunning than the copious natural beauty found across our planet. I think my favorite part of the poem is in the middle when she lists and exalts sources of natural beauty found across our planet, and the way she ties that list back into her message is artful. The first stanza of the poem lends the book/poem its title. The startling truth is that despite being on a small and lonely planet there is strength and beauty when we come together. The poem is also a call to action that ends a touch open-ended. Angelou ends the poem by reminding the UN and the world that humanity is not quite yet at the point where we are working together for the betterment of every man, woman, and child across our planet. But the poem also ends with the hope that one day we will be.
Not what I was anticipating, and I've never read a book before that is just one poem, but nonetheless beautiful and powerful reading experience.
At its core, this poem is about how the beauty of humanity coming together for a common purpose is even more stunning than the copious natural beauty found across our planet. I think my favorite part of the poem is in the middle when she lists and exalts sources of natural beauty found across our planet, and the way she ties that list back into her message is artful. The first stanza of the poem lends the book/poem its title. The startling truth is that despite being on a small and lonely planet there is strength and beauty when we come together. The poem is also a call to action that ends a touch open-ended. Angelou ends the poem by reminding the UN and the world that humanity is not quite yet at the point where we are working together for the betterment of every man, woman, and child across our planet. But the poem also ends with the hope that one day we will be.
Not what I was anticipating, and I've never read a book before that is just one poem, but nonetheless beautiful and powerful reading experience.
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