The Full Text of “Phenomenal Woman”
The Full Text of “Phenomenal Woman”
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“Phenomenal Woman” Introduction
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"Phenomenal Woman" is a poem by Maya Angelou, first published in 1978. The poem rejects narrow societal expectations of women and proposes an alternative perspective on what defines real beauty. Confidence and comfort in one's own skin, the speaker insists, are the markers of true beauty.
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“Phenomenal Woman” Summary
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The speaker refers to an elusive "secret" about herself that conventionally attractive women struggle to understand. She explains that she doesn't look like the models glorified by the fashion industry, and that when she stars to reveal her secret these other women don't believe her. The speaker claims that her beauty is manifested in her wide hips, her confident gait, and her smile. She's an extraordinary woman. When you think of an extraordinary woman, that's the speaker.
Whenever the speaker calmly walks into a room, every single man present desperately competes for her attention. These men are drawn to the speaker, buzzing around her like honey bees. This is because her passion for life manifests in her physical appearance—in her flashing eyes, her vibrant smile, the way her waist sways as she walks, and the happy lightness in her step. She again declares that she's an extraordinary woman. When you think of an extraordinary woman, that's the speaker.
Men have also asked themselves what it is about the speaker that makes her so attractive. But no matter how hard they try to pin down the speaker's mysterious appeal, they can't come close. Even when she tries to reveal her secret to these men, they just don't get it. The speaker says that her beauty exists in the way she carries herself—in her confident posture; her bright, sunny smile; the shape of her breasts; and her elegant style. She's an extraordinary woman. When you think of an extraordinary woman, that's the speaker.
This, the speaker says, is why she insists on moving throughout the world confidently and boldly. She doesn't have to overcompensate in any way or prove herself to anyone. In fact, when other women see the speaker, they should be inspired to be more confident themselves. The speaker's appeal exists in the way she struts in heels, in the way her hair falls, in the way she holds out her hands, in the way others want her to care for them. She's an extraordinary woman. When you think of an extraordinary woman, that's the speaker.
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“Phenomenal Woman” Themes
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Beauty and Self-Acceptance
“Phenomenal Woman” challenges restrictive notions of feminine beauty. The speaker rejects narrow societal beauty standards, and insists instead that real beauty comes from a place of self-confidence and self-acceptance.
The speaker opens the poem by referencing the “secret” to her appeal. She explains that though she is “not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size,” she still possesses a unique, mysterious allure. She calls this “her inner mystery”—something that no one can precisely define or identify, but that everyone can perceive on some level.
On the one hand, the speaker explicitly rejects narrow physical ideals of feminine beauty. For instance, she says her beauty lies in things like “the reach of my arms / The span of my hips.” She's not a tiny, wispy fashion model, but that doesn't mean she's not attractive.
Even more importantly, the speaker repeatedly insists that her beauty lies in the way she carries herself—in her self-assured "stride," her bright smile, her grace, and her bold posture. All these things make her a "phenomenal woman"—that is, an extraordinary, spectacular woman. The speaker thus argues that true beauty stems from loving yourself, rather than trying to meet a certain standard and then feeling bad about yourself when you can't.
Indeed, the speaker declares that such self-acceptance is exactly what makes her so irresistible. Whenever she enters a room, she says men “swarm around" her like a "hive of honey bees," drawn to her passion for life and unconditional self-love. She describes the “fire in [her] eyes” and the “joy in [her] feet” as being part of her allure, further supporting the idea that her attractiveness comes from her refusal to feel let society fill her with any sort of shame about who she is or what she looks like.
Whereas society may expect women to be meek, demure, and apologetic about their supposed imperfections, the speaker refuses to belittle herself. As she says in the final stanza, “Now you understand / Just why my head’s not bowed,” concluding that beauty is born out of radical self-acceptance and the self-confidence that results from it.
What's more, she says that her example out to make her audience "proud." In other words, other women should find inspiration in the speaker's confidence. Though the poem never addresses race specifically, the fact that Angelou was a black woman writing when societal standards of beauty were often inextricable from whiteness adds another powerful angle to this message.
Ultimately, the poem says that instead of conforming to the standards set by society, women should reconnect with their own value and find validation from within. All women are capable of being “phenomenal,” the poem implies, if they embrace who they are instead of trying to fit in with arbitrary social standards. In fact, the poem suggests that accepting and loving yourself is, in itself, an extraordinary act within a society that promotes insecurity and self-loathing in women. It is this step towards unconditional self-love that makes a woman truly phenomenal.
Where this theme appears in the poem:- Lines 1-60
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Phenomenal Woman”
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Lines 1-4
Pretty women wonder ...
... I’m telling lies.The speaker opens with a reference to the "secret" of her own beauty, claiming that "pretty women" want to understand how the speaker can be so alluring without being considered conventionally attractive. The speaker explains that she may not meet social definitions of "cute" and that she doesn't fit the expected mold of what an attractive woman is supposed to look like.
She specifically calls out the fashion industry, making note of the fact that she doesn't have the tall, skinny build of a model. On a formal level, note how this line is the longest in the poem—a visual refutation of the idea that the speaker must shrink herself down to fit the fashion world's ideal of feminine beauty.
Notably, the speaker claims that when she explains her secret to these women, they believe she is "telling lies." This suggests that rigid definitions of beauty are so ingrained in women that they struggle to believe any alternative perspective, even when it's coming from another woman. By touching on women's visceral rejection of the truth, the speaker subtly reveals the profound psychological impact that cultural conditioning has on body image and self-perception.
These "pretty women" have internalized the attitudes of a society that glorifies the supermodel physique as the ideal to such an extent that they are blinded to the truth. In this sense, the speaker attempts to refute and deconstruct the harmful models of beauty that warp women's understanding of the world and themselves.
The first four lines of the poem feature intense alliteration and consonance of the /w/, /t/, /s/, /l/, and hard /k/ sounds:
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.There's also assonance here, such as can be seen in the internal rhyme between "cute" and "suit." This opening chunk features a clear AABA rhyme scheme as well, with "lies" in line 1 rhyming perfectly with "size" in line 2 and "lies" again in line 4. The first four lines of the poem are thus intensely musical, suggesting the beauty and confidence of the speaker's voice itself.
Though the poem overall is written in free verse, these opening lines are very steady in their meter. The first two lines are clearly trochaic (meaning they follow a stressed-unstressed beat pattern), while lines 3 and 4 are iambic (unstressed-stressed):
Pretty | women | wonder | where my | secret | lies.
I’m not | cute or | built to | suit a | fashion | model’s | size
But when | I start | to tell | them,
They think | I’m tel- | ling lies.(Note that, in line 2, "I'm not" could also be scanned differently; it's ambiguous). Overall, this adds a bouncy, steady rhythm to the poem's opening—one that will noticeably be shaken up in the second part of the stanza when the speaker begins talking about her unique appeal.
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Lines 5-9
I say, ...
... of my lips. -
Lines 10-13
I’m a woman ...
... That’s me. -
Lines 14-20
I walk into ...
... of honey bees. -
Lines 21-29
I say, ...
... That’s me. -
Lines 30-36
Men themselves have ...
... still can’t see. -
Lines 37-45
I say, ...
... That’s me. -
Lines 46-51
Now you understand ...
... make you proud. -
Lines 52-60
I say, ...
... That’s me.
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“Phenomenal Woman” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Parallelism
This poem brimming with examples of parallelism. In fact, the device is built into the poem's form itself. Every stanza is a mirror image of another: the first few lines provide a scenario that the speaker then consistently responds to. The response is structured the same way in every stanza, beginning with the line "I say" which is then followed by the speaker's self-description. Each stanza is also concluded by a refrain that remains unchangeable from beginning to end.
The overarching structure of this description remains the same throughout the poem as well, drawing heavily on devices like anaphora and asyndeton to establish a sense of consistency. When the speaker describes herself, the lines follow nearly the exact same pattern each time:
I say,
It's in the [noun] of my [feature],
The [noun] of my [feature],And so forth. The parallelism on the one hand simply drives the poem's message home through repetition. It also suggests that the speaker could just keep going and going—easily swapping in various features into these lines. That's because there isn't one singular element of herself that makes her phenomenal; rather, they all do, all together. She is not reducible to her parts.
Where parallelism appears in the poem:- Lines 5-13: “I say, / It’s in the reach of my arms, / The span of my hips, / The stride of my step, / The curl of my lips. / I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.”
- Lines 21-29: “I say, / It’s the fire in my eyes, / And the flash of my teeth, / The swing in my waist, / And the joy in my feet. / I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.”
- Lines 37-45: “I say, / It’s in the arch of my back, / The sun of my smile, / The ride of my breasts, / The grace of my style. / I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.”
- Lines 52-60: “I say, / It’s in the click of my heels, / The bend of my hair, / the palm of my hand, / The need for my care. / ’Cause I’m a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That’s me.”
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Anaphora
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Refrain
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Assonance
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Metaphor
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Asyndeton
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Chiasmus
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Consonance
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"Phenomenal Woman" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Span
- Stride
- Phenomenal
- Swarm
- Hive
- Mystery
- Ride
- Grace
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(Location in poem: Line 7: “span”)
The full extent of something from end to end.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Phenomenal Woman”
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Form
As a (mostly) free verse poem, "Phenomenal Woman" doesn't follow a particular form. The 60-line poem consists of four stanzas that are all 14-16 lines long and end with the same four lines (which serve as a refrain throughout the poem).
All stanzas follow the same basic structure: the first few lines are original to the specific stanza at hand; the middle set of lines describe the speaker's body; the final four lines are marked by the poem's refrain. The middle set of lines in each stanza is further characterized by the ongoing use of anaphora and asyndeton, which creates a sense of consistency throughout the poem.
The fact that the poem doesn't use a traditional form makes sense, given that the speaker declares that she doesn't fit in with traditional ideals of beauty. She creates her own poetic form to reflect her own phenomenal beauty instead.
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Meter
This poem doesn't use a regular meter. It does have a loose rhyme scheme, which means it's not technically free verse, but it's still quite unpredictable. The meter fluctuates significantly throughout the poem, with line length varying greatly as well.
Some lines do have a clear meter, though, and the poem relies a lot on trochees (stressed-unstressed) and iambs (unstressed-stressed). For example, lines 1-2 are filled with consistent trochees, while lines 3 and 4 are purely iambic:
Pretty | women | wonder | where my | secret | lies.
I'm not | cute or | built to | suit a | fashion | model’s | size
But when | I start | to tell | them,
They think | I’m tel- | ling lies.("I'm not" in line 2 could arguably be scanned differently without changing the overall feel drastically.) Broadly speaking, this gives the poem a bouncy musicality that prevent it from feeling out of control. The speaker has her confident grip on all the lines here, even if she chooses to vary that grip at her pleasure—keeping the poem interesting and engaging on the level of sound throughout.
The lack of a strict meter also goes hand-in-hand with the free-spirited nature of the poem, which is centered around the rejection of social norms. Just as the speaker refutes social ideals of the perfect size, the poem also resists traditional notions of the "proper" meter.
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Rhyme Scheme
Rhyme occurs sporadically throughout the poem, mainly in the form of end rhymes. Some of these end rhymes are consecutive (see: "lies" and "size" in lines 1 and 2) whereas others are separated by one or multiple lines (see: "hips" in line 7 and "lips" in line 9).
Although there is no strict pattern applied to the end rhymes, the rhyming is frequent and has a strong effect on the flow and overall rhythm of the poem. There are also some internal rhymes—"cute" and "suit" in line 2; "and"/"man"/"stand" in lines 17-18—which further adds to the poem's musicality.
This flexible rhyme scheme creates a sense of lyricism and jazziness throughout the poem without committing to a specific structure or set of rules, echoing the speaker's own independent mindset.
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“Phenomenal Woman” Speaker
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Throughout the poem, the speaker presents herself as an exuberant and lively woman who has full confidence in her worth, regardless of what anyone else thinks.
Rather than being insecure about the standards that society imposes upon her, the speaker embraces herself as she is. The speaker feels beautiful despite not strictly conforming to common beauty standards. She does not care about fitting society's mold and she would rather embrace the qualities that make her extraordinary and set her apart. The speaker knows her value and her beauty; nothing and no one can take that away from her.
The context of Angelou's writing enriches the poem's ideas as well. The fashion industry has historically not been just about promoting thinness, but also whiteness; models of color remain less represented in the industry to this day. Broad societal ideals of beauty in the western world have been tied to whiteness for centuries, with traits like straight hair and fair skin long upheld as the epitome of attractiveness. Such arbitrary ideals are rooted in racism and white supremacy.
Angelou was undoubtedly responding to this reality as well in "Phenomenal Woman"—asserting her worth and beauty specifically as a Black woman in a society deeply prejudiced against people who looked like her.
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“Phenomenal Woman” Setting
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This poem doesn't have a clear setting, which allows its message to resonate broadly with women in various contexts. All readers really know is that the poem is modern in its scope, given the reference to "fashion models."
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Literary and Historical Context of “Phenomenal Woman”
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Literary Context
"Phenomenal Woman" was originally published in 1978 as a part of Maya Angelou's collection And Still I Rise. This was one of the most productive and creative times in Angelou's career. At this point, she was a well-established poet known for her writing on racism, sexism, and oppression in the United States. The publication of And Still I Rise led to increased public recognition of her work.
Angelou was a prolific writer whose work frequently addressed anti-Black racism and women's empowerment. She detailed her own life extensively over the course of seven autobiographies, including the famous I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou's insistence on placing her own experiences front and center at a time when Black women in particular remained intensely marginalized by society cemented her status as a steadfast and invaluable defender of Black culture.
Angelou also drew from Black oral traditions and blues rhythms in much of her work, which has gone on to influence countless writers as well as many modern-day hip-hop artists.
Historical Context
The poem is, in part, a reflection of the ideals that emerged in the fashion industry during the 1960s and continued to solidify throughout the following decades. Broadly speaking, the feminine ideal at this time began to shift away from curvier figures and towards thinner body types, demonstrated by the rise in popularity of slim supermodels like Twiggy.
This was also the era of second-wave feminism, a time when activists pushed for more than just basic enfranchisement. Feminists turned their focus to issues such as equality in the workplace and reproductive freedom, seeking to expand women's roles and responsibilities throughout society.
In "Phenomenal Woman," Angelou rejects the reduction of a woman's beauty or value to the size of her waist or the number on the scale. The speaker of "Phenomenal Woman" offers a powerful critique of this feminine ideal by suggesting that a woman's real beauty stems from loving herself and rejecting unrealistic standards that objectify and diminish all women.
In addition to critiquing the detrimental norms of the fashion industry, "Phenomenal Woman," if read autobiographically, is also an implicit rejection of anti-Black racism. Angelou herself was a staunch activist, and the poem was written on the heels of the civil rights movement, just 10 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Black people had secured many basic legal protections, but societal prejudice didn't simply disappear.
This prejudice manifested in many societal depictions of beauty, which were overwhelmingly tied to whiteness. While all women were subjected to unrealistic expectations propagated by the media and fashion industry, Black women were doubly so.
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More “Phenomenal Woman” Resources
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External Resources
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Maya Angelou and Women's History — An overview of Maya Angelou's role in feminism as a writer and activist.
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"Phenomenal Woman" Read Aloud — Maya Angelou recites her poem.
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Maya Angelou in Her Own Words — More on Angelou's fascinating life story, including many quotes from the poet.
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Biography of Maya Angelou — An overview of Maya Angelou's life and work.
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Women's Idealized Bodies — An article covering the rise of the fashion industry and how it has promoted the "Thin Ideal.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou
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