Emotional Journeys: Tupac Shakur's 'A Rose Grew from Concrete' and Maya Angelou's 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Romantic Movement is a movement that is highly associated with romanticism. This is a period that was very influential in the 19th century and was associated with great developments in literature art and music. It was a movement whose aspects of art, music, and literature still influence the world of today. This was a movement highly emphatic on nature and expression of emotions. Various forms of artists used their art to express their feelings towards life, God and nature and this gave art great power and influence in Europe and across the world.it was a movement that reacted to aspects of industrialization, wars, and stress brought about by enlightenment as a result of modernity. These aspects brought about great concerns on people’s perception of life, death, nature, and individuality and this led to the rise of Romanticism. One great aspect of Romanticism is the aspect of emotion as a great source of aesthetic expression. Romanticism was very influential in expressions of natural beauty. It led to the development of philosophies that influenced libertarianism and led to the growth of nationalism in many nations in Europe and across the world. The twentieth century saw great developments in artistic expression and most of them were influences on romanticism. A Rose Grew from Concrete, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings are two poems by Tupac Shakur and Maya Angelou. They are two poems that greatly express emotions associated with individual life and struggles. They are two poems that are greatly influenced by Romanticism in the way they express their artistic nature. This essay will explore several aspects of the poems in relation to Romanticism and explore their significance in the society (Shakur, 2017).

A Rose Grew from Concrete is a poem by Tupac Shakur and is part of his Poetic album he released in the year 2000. It is a poem about a rose that grows out of the concrete. The poet encourages people to consider the awe associated with the rose growing out of concrete and disregard patches on the petals associated with hardships of growing out of concrete. The poem is symbolic of the actual life of Tupac. He is a man that was born out of hardship, and his life was surrounded by negativity associated with poverty, racism, and crime. However, people in the society focused on the negative aspects of the life of Tupac and forgot the strength and endurance he had from growing up in the ghetto. It is a poem that expresses a lot of emotions about a man who survives living in the ghetto. In relation to romanticism, the poem expresses certain elements critical in romanticism. The expression of resilience attributed to the growth of a rose in concrete is representative of an appeal to the strength of nature. The poem gives a lot of attention to the ability of a rose to grow to form a crack in the concrete. It relates to Tupac’s resilience in life. He is strong enough to survive in the ghetto despite the hardships and negative aspects of society at the time. The other aspect is sentimentality, and this is greatly expressed in the form of the tender emotions associated with the need to be sympathetic with Tupac and his hard life. The poem is filled with sentimentality that creates nostalgia because of the gentle, sad emotions associated with negative aspects of the society from where the poet comes from (Shakur, 2017).

Another important element is associated with romantic heroism associated with the way Tupac Shakur expresses his strength in surviving a difficult life. He appears more like a hero who endures tough situations in his life and excels above social constructs, and social difficulties. The depiction of a rose growing out of concrete is representative of heroism whereby, it is difficult to find a plant that can survive in such difficult conditions. The other feature is individuality, and this is depicted in the poem through the representation of the actual life of Tupac. The poem expresses individuality by showing individual aspects of life and emotions of Tupac Shakur through the use of symbolism and metaphors brought forward by the surviving of a rose in concrete. The poet embraces his emotions of sadness and hope. He does not hide the fact that the life he lived was hard and embraces his emotions of hope in his own life (Shakur, 2017).

I Know Why the Caged Bird sings, on the other hand, is a poem by Maya Angelou. It is a poem that forms part of her autobiography released in the year 1969. It is a great poem that summarizes the life of Maya Angelou and explores the aspect of coming of age. She is a young girl who suffers from great social problems while growing up. Her parents separate and reject her and her brother, and she has to live with the sadness of being unwanted. Her life is filled with negative social aspects of racism, sexual abuse, poverty sexuality and all affect Maya as she grows up and develops into a woman (Angelou, 2017).

This poem also has several features of romanticism. Its depiction of nature in the form of a bird flying freely explores the aspect of real freedom seen in the lives of whites in the society. African Americans live in a life filled with limitations of racism, social oppression, and another difficulty. The poem uses the depiction of a free bird to explore the aspect of nature as it should be. The poem also has aspects of sentimentality depicted by the sadness the poet expresses. The life of the caged bird is filled with sadness because of the limits of deprivation of freedom. The poem explores heroism by show resilience in the struggle of the caged bird.

The two poem relate to each other in the way they express emotions. They portray sad stories associated with limits the society puts in the life of certain individuals. They are filled with sadness associated with social problems. They are two poems that are a great representation of Romanticism because of their focus on emotional expression, focus on nature and individuality. They are poems developed in different times but show how romanticism is a strong aspect of artistic expression whose influence is still visible in modern day forms of art.

As great representations of Romanticism, the two poems express it using different ideas. The first poem explores the aspect of a difficult life growing up in the ghetto while the second poem explores aspects of racism, sexuality and abuse and social problems affecting the poet. I find the two poems similar in the exploration of the plight of African American people in different times. The first explores the life of poverty and crime associated with living in the Ghetto while the second depicts the life in early 20th century where aspects of racism were high in the society.  The two poems express they're difficult life in emotional manners shows individual struggle in the society (Angelou, 2017).