There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
Source checked by an editor
When and why it was written
- When
- Published in 1969, Angelou's first autobiography.
- Why
- The book itself is the telling. Angelou did not speak for years as a child after being raped, and the memoir breaks that silence.
What it means
The word is agony, not regret. Angelou is describing physical cost, and she had the standing to.
The claim is that an untold story does not stay inert. It works on the person carrying it, which is the argument for telling it even when telling is dangerous.
Read the source
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1969
Book links go to Amazon. Affiliate disclosure.
Your turn
What does this bring up for you?
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