Needles and Cables...

            Maya Angelou's poem "The Telephone" transforms a simile into developed personified image of a telephone as compared to an old woman and her needlework. The simile is first introduced in the fourth line: "Sitting like a strict / and spinstered aunt" (4-5). Their is an implication that the title is the objected being compared to the woman, who is paying her full attention to her crochet and hemming projects. She is so engrossed in her work that she is intentionally or unintentionally unaware of the speaker, who notices the woman "ignoring me" (11). The speaker is anxiously awaiting a call, but the telephone ignores her desperation similarly to a woman concentrating on her crocheting. Days go by, and the aunt "sits silent" and the "needle sound / does not transfix my ear" (21-22). Personifying the phone highlights the speaker's frustration in grasping the attention of the woman, similar to her impatience in expecting a long-awaited phone call. She awaits for the ring of the phone to relieve her of this frustration, and "draw my longing to / a close" (23-24), and therefore let the speaker know she is wanted and noticeable to the important people in her life.