“WH” Questions

Poem name: Insomniac

Author: Maya Angelou
1. What does the Author want to convey through this poem and what is its purpose?

With very little words the Author is able to communicate the struggle of battling heir
inner self and conquer the war inside her preventing her from sleep. She personifies
sleep showing it as a force that she is hiding away from because it symbolises peace.
The purpose of the poem is to illustrate the author’s feelings and to entertain the
audience.

2. Who is the audience of this poem?

I think the audience of this poem is anyone passionate about reading and
investigating poems, or anyone interested in this genre of poems especially fans of
the author since she is well known for her poems.

3. Why do you think the author feels like she is fighting herself?

I think the author feels that way because she felt rejected before. In the poem the
author uses the words “wounded pride” and I think that reflects her past which now
defines her and that’s why she continues to feel like she is avoiding sleep and feeling
rejected or lonely.

4. When the Author says “There are some nights when sleep plays coy” what does that
mean?

This statement uses the technique of personification to personify sleep to show the
need for it hence the name insomniac of the poem, no matter how hard she tries she
can’t reach her goal.

5. Where in the text can you find a language technique other than personification?

On the seventh line she uses the simile “are useless as wounded pride” to suggest
the similarity between both things by comparing it to wounded pride.