In "Country Lover," American poet Maya Angelou conjures up a night on the town in just a few short lines. The poem follows the adventures of a "Country Lover," a young Black man from the rural American South who's put on his sharpest shoes and his most stylish "high water pants" for a night out at the dance. The poem's lively evocation of rural Black culture sometime around the 1960s reads as a mischievous celebration of fun, youth, and Black masculinity. Angelou first collected this poem in her 1978 book And Still I Rise.

• Read the full text of “Country Lover”

• “Country Lover” Summary

• “Country Lover” Themes

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    Southern Black Masculinity, Confidence, and Fun

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-6

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Country Lover”

  • Lines 1-4

    Funky blues ...
    ... Saddy night dance

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-6

    Red soda water ...
    ... and anybody's daughter

    

    

    

    

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• “Country Lover” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Colloquialism

    

    

    

    

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    Where colloquialism appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “Funky blues”
    • Line 4: “Saddy”

  • Parallelism

    

    

    

    

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    Where parallelism appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-5
    • Line 6

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “Keen toed shoes”
    • Line 5: “Red soda water”

• “Country Lover” 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.

  • Keen toed shoes
  • High water pants
  • Saddy
  • Red soda water
  • (Location in poem: Line 2: “Keen toed shoes”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Country Lover”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Country Lover” Speaker

• “Country Lover” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Country Lover”

• More “Country Lover” Resources

  • External Resources

    • Angelou's Website — Visit Angelou's personal website to find a wealth of information about her life and her long, influential career.

    • An Interview with Angelou — Watch a delightful, lively interview with Maya Angelou, given toward the end of her life.

    • A Brief Biography — Read the Poetry Foundation's short overview of Angelou's life and work.

    • Angelou's Legacy — Read Angelou's obituary in the Guardian.

    • A Celebration of Angelou — Read former U.S. President Barack Obama's memorial to Angelou.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou

    • Caged Bird

    • Harlem Hopscotch

    • Life Doesn't Frighten Me

    • On Aging

    • On the Pulse of Morning

    • Phenomenal Woman

    • Remembrance

    • Still I Rise

    • When Great Trees Fall

    • Woman Work

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