The definition of the human condition is that it encompasses the unique features of being human without having to consider one’s gender, race, culture or class. It captures the unalterable part of humanity that is inherent and innate to human beings. This consists of concerns such as the meaning of life, the search for gratification, the sense of curiosity, the inevitability of isolation or awareness regarding the inescapability of death. It can be summed up as the fundamental issues of human existence. My personal perspective on what the human condition is, is the state we are in. It refers to what we need as humans and the experiences we go through for instants the need for basic necessities like food, shelter, drugs, sex etc. We want to experience love and the feeling of belonging to someone, we need that sense of security. Maya Angelou, a remarkable renaissance woman who is hailed as having one of the greatest voices of contemporary literature explores in depth the different elements on the human condition in her anthology, ‘And Still I Rise’.

From the first section, ‘Touch Me, Life, Not Softly’, we are immediately introduced to the painful aspects of being in a romantic relationship. In her poem, ‘A Kind of Love, Some Say’ it discusses the complexity of being abused by the one you love. The title itself suggests it’s still considered as love however it’s a different “Kind”. This shows how humans, despite how bad some circumstances are, need to feel like they are loved. In Angelou’s eye’s it’s clear the term love doesn’t have one definition simply because love can be defined in many ways so everyone will have their own perception.

The first stanza concentrates on the physical abuse one feels and it’s evident Angelou isn’t afraid to go beyond as we get very harsh and graphical descriptions. She starts of by personifying “ribs” to symbolise how ribs are