Maya Angelou's "On Aging" calls on younger people to treat their seniors with understanding and respect. Published in the collection And Still I Rise in 1978, the year the poet turned 50, "On Aging" strikes back against stereotypes of older people as lonely, pitiable, and helpless. It corrects these assumptions with blunt humor, expressing the speaker's independence and vitality.

• Read the full text of “On Aging”

• “On Aging” Summary

• “On Aging” Themes

  • 

    The Dignity of Old Age

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-20

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “On Aging”

  • Lines 1-4

    When you see ...
    ... listening to myself.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 5-8

    Hold! Stop! Don’t ...
    ... do without it!

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 9-12

    When my bones ...
    ... no rocking chair.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 13-16

    When you see ...
    ... goodbye ain’t gone.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-20

    I’m the same ...
    ... still breathe in.

    

    

    

    

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• “On Aging” Symbols

  • 

    The Rocking Chair

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 12: “Don’t bring me no rocking chair.”
  • 

    Breath

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 19: “A lot less lungs and much less wind.”
    • Line 20: “But ain’t I lucky I can still breathe in.”

• “On Aging” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Anaphora

    

    

    

    

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    Where anaphora appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “When”
    • Line 3: “Don’t”
    • Line 5: “Hold! Stop!”
    • Line 6: “Hold! Stop”
    • Line 9: “When”
    • Line 12: “Don’t”
    • Line 13: “When”
    • Line 14: “Don’t”
    • Line 18: “A little less,” “a little less”
    • Line 19: “A lot less”

  • Simile

    

    

    

    

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    Where simile appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-2: “When you see me sitting quietly, / Like a sack left on the shelf,”

  • Apostrophe

    

    

    

    

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    Where apostrophe appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “When you see me sitting quietly,”
    • Line 3: “Don’t think I need your chattering.”
    • Lines 5-7: “Hold! Stop! Don’t pity me! / Hold! Stop your sympathy! / Understanding if you got it,”
    • Line 12: “Don’t bring me no rocking chair.”
    • Lines 13-14: “When you see me walking, stumbling, / Don’t study and get it wrong.”

  • Alliteration

    

    

    

    

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    Where alliteration appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “see,” “sitting”
    • Line 2: “sack”
    • Line 5: “Stop”
    • Line 6: “Stop,” “sympathy”
    • Line 13: “stumbling”
    • Line 14: “study”
    • Line 16: “goodbye,” “gone”
    • Line 18: “little less,” “little less”
    • Line 19: “lot less lungs,” “less”
    • Line 20: “lucky”

  • Consonance

    

    

    

    

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    Where consonance appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “see,” “sitting,” “quietly”
    • Line 2: “Like,” “sack,” “left”
    • Line 4: “listening,” “myself”
    • Line 5: “Hold! Stop! Don’t pity”
    • Line 6: “Hold! Stop,” “sympathy”
    • Line 7: “Understanding,” “got it”
    • Line 8: “do without it”
    • Line 9: “stiff”
    • Line 10: “feet,” “stair”
    • Line 11: “favor”
    • Line 13: “stumbling”
    • Line 14: “Don’t study”
    • Line 16: “goodbye,” “gone”
    • Line 18: “little less,” “little less”
    • Line 19: “lot less lungs,” “less”
    • Line 20: “lucky”

  • End-Stopped Line

    

    

    

    

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    Where end-stopped line appears in the poem:

    • Line 1: “quietly,”
    • Line 2: “shelf,”
    • Line 3: “chattering.”
    • Line 4: “myself.”
    • Line 5: “me!”
    • Line 6: “sympathy!”
    • Line 7: “it,”
    • Line 8: “it!”
    • Line 9: “aching,”
    • Line 10: “stair,”
    • Line 11: “favor:”
    • Line 12: “chair.”
    • Line 13: “stumbling,”
    • Line 14: “wrong.”
    • Line 15: “azy”
    • Line 16: “gone.”
    • Line 17: “then,”
    • Line 18: “chin,”
    • Line 19: “wind.”
    • Line 20: “in.”

• “On Aging” 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.

  • Chattering
  • Understanding
  • Study
  • (Location in poem: Line 3: “Don’t think I need your chattering.”)

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “On Aging”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “On Aging” Speaker

• “On Aging” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “On Aging”

• More “On Aging” Resources

  • External Resources

    • An Interview with Angelou — Read an interview with Angelou in which she looks back on her extraordinary life.

    • A Performance of the Poem — Watch a performance of "On Aging" by actors Phylicia Rashad and Alexandria Wailes.

    • The Poet Speaks About Aging — Watch Angelou chat with Oprah Winfrey about the experience of getting older.

    • More on Angelou's Life and Work — Check out a bio of Angelou, and a selection of her poems, at the Academy of American Poets.

    • A Biography of the Poet — Read the Poetry Foundation's summary of Angelou's life and career.

  • LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou

    • Caged Bird

    • Country Lover

    • Harlem Hopscotch

    • Life Doesn't Frighten Me

    • On the Pulse of Morning

    • Phenomenal Woman

    • Remembrance

    • Still I Rise

    • When Great Trees Fall

    • Woman Work

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