Finding a Voice through Maya Angelou Maya Angelou's parents divorced when she was three years old, resulting in her being moved between family members several times. To add to these difficulties, when Angelou was only eight years old, she was left alone with her mother's boyfriend and he raped her. Because of this experience, he chose not to speak for five years. Maya Angelou later began to speak and show her true self through poetry. Poetry is what finally helped her start physically speaking again. Maya Angelou has regained the strength to speak up for herself and make a difference for her culture and for women around the world. Maya Angelou's poetry has the power to inspire confidence in conflicted individuals who lack the courage to speak up for themselves. Maya's intention to inspire confidence in others was best demonstrated through her poems "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", "Still I Rise", and "Phenomenal Woman". Marguerite (Maya) Ann Angelou was born in St. Louis on April 4. , 1928. Maya definitely did not have an easy start in her complicated and successful life. According to L. Patricia Kite, Maya was only three years old when her parents, Bailey Sr. and Vivian Johnson, divorced (Maya Angelou 6). This source also states that years later, at the age of eight, Maya was alone with her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, when he raped her (23). Mr. Freeman told Maya that “…he would kill her if she screamed…[and] he would kill Bailey [Jr.] if she told anyone” (23). Kite continues to say that Maya was so afraid of Mr. Freeman that he lied in court that he had never touched her (26). Only a few hours after Mr. Freeman's conviction, he was found kicked to death, and Maya became so frightened that she lied to kill him, t... half of the paper...nneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1999. Print."Maya Angelou ." Maya Angelou Global Renaissance Woman. Dr. Maya Angelou and Web. 08 May 2014. .Thursby, Jacqueline S. "'Bird in a Cage'." Critical Companion to Maya Angelou: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2011. Bloom's Literature. File Web Facts, Inc.. April 23, 2014/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97485&SID=5&iPin=CCMA0033&SingleRecord=True>.Thursby, Jacqueline S. "'Phenomenal Woman'." Critical Companion to Maya Angelou: A Literary Reference to Her Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2011. Bloom's Literature. File Web Facts, Inc.. May 2, 2014 activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=97485&SID=5&iPin=CCMA0561&SingleRecord =True>.