It is Angelou's first collection of poetry published after she read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993.

The volumes included in the collection are Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971), Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975), And Still I Rise (1978), Shaker, Why Don't You Sing?

[3] After her rape at the age of eight, as recounted in her first autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), she dealt with her trauma by memorizing and reciting great works of literature, including poetry, which helped bring her out of her self-imposed muteness.

[4] Angelou considered herself a playwright and poet when her editor Robert Loomis challenged her to write Caged Bird,[5] but she has been best known for her autobiographies.

Bloom calls her performances "characteristically dynamic",[7] and says that Angelou "moves exuberantly, vigorously to reinforce the rhythms of the lines, the tone of the words.