Comparing Archilochus and Maya Angelou

Archilochus:

Lord Apollo, afflict the guilty ones with pain

And bring them to destruction, O destroyer;

But us…

Maya Angelou:

They dull my eyes, yet


I keep on dying,


Because I love to live.

In the Angelou fragment, without context, it is hard to know who the "They” refers to, or even if it is singular or plural. But “They” must be an enemy of the speaker because they “dull” the eyes of the speaker. “Dull” could have a few different meanings, but used as a verb here I think it has a negative connotation because of the clause that follows it. “Dull” in the first clause can be connected with “dying” in the second clause. Dying cannot be taken literally, because death only happens once. Therefore “dying” might refer to bearing a hardship, and dulling the eyes of the speaker is a manifestation of how “They” cause the speaker to “die”. The first two lines, especially the word “keep”, imply that the speaker has had to bear this hardship or a trauma several times. “Yet” brings about a shift in tone. The use of the conjunction prepares the reader for the last two lines, which seeming defy the first line. The final line of the fragment offers hope. The speaker qualifies their action of repeatedly “dying” by saying that doing so allows them to live. It is a paradox that dying leads to life, but the speaker seems to be saying that unless he or she shoulders the hardship they are facing, they cannot live.   

I think that the Archilochus fragment compliments the Angelou fragment. Both poems have a defiant tone, but how the speaker lives out their defiance differs. In the Archilochus fragment, the “guilty ones” are unknown to the reader, but since the speaker is asking for their “destruction” and for them to be afflicted with pain, it can be reasoned that “the guilty ones” have injured the speaker, just like “They” in the Angelou poem. The speaker in the Archilochus poem is addressing Apollo and asking for revenge. Their manner of seeking vengeance is loud and bold and is calling for immediate justice. In contrast, the speaker in the Angelou poem seems to be quietly bearing their hardship and continuing to “die” patiently. Also, the Archilochus speaker is appealing to a higher divine power for aid, Apollo, and addresses him as “destroyer”.  The Angelou fragment only contains the speaker, who is defying “They” on their own, instead of asking a higher power or someone else to do it for them.  Both fragments have a speaker who has been injured by someone else, but the way in which the speaker seeks revenge is different. Archilochus speaker wants a grand retribution brought down by Apollo, and the Angelou speaker is quietly defying their enemy by themselves.