Maya Angelou has been called a national institution and the people’s poet. It has been suggested that she has manifested an indomitable spirit and benign will in her most famous book, I Know Why the Caged Sings. Along with this autobiographical work, Angelou’s The Heart of a Woman is critiqued in this text, which includes Rachel Thomas’ essay on the prose and poetry of the author. An extensive biography of Angelou follows Professor Harold Bloom’s introduction.