Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie is a 1971 anthology

Anthology

An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...

 of 38 poems by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an American author and poet who has been called "America's most visible black female autobiographer" by scholar Joanne M. Braxton. She is best known for her series of six autobiographical volumes, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first and most highly...

, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 for Poetry

Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...

 in 1972. Some of the poems in the book were first published by GWP Records as songs in The Poetry of Maya Angelou, a 1969 recording by Angelou.

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, Angelou's first collection of poetry, was released after she rose to fame with her acclaimed first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a six-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma...

. Angelou would subsequently release autobiographies and volumes of poetry at certain intervals, and in the 1970s, her poetry was published just before or just after the release of a new memoir. Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie was followed by Angelou's second autobiography, Gather Together in My Name

Gather Together in My Name

Gather Together in My Name is an autobiography by Maya Angelou. It is the second book in Angelou's series of six autobiographies, and takes place immediately following the events described in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Written three years after Caged Bird, the book "depicts a single...

(1974), and her second book of poems, Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975).

Themes

The poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie focus on Angelou's perspective on what it means to be a black woman in the United States. They also address experiences common to all people. Some of the poems also explore parts of life that may be taken for granted, including "No Loser, No Weeper," which discusses the displeasure of losing something.

Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie is dedicated "to Amber Sam and the Zorro Man," a reference to the poems "A Zorro Man" and "To a Man," both of which are in the first part of the book. The book has two parts, "Where Love is a Scream of Anguish" and "Just Before the World Ends." The first section is about love, while the second section contains poems that are more aggressive in tone. Angelou sometimes uses rhyme and repetition in her work, but rhyme is only found in seven of the poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie.

Many of Angelou's poems, including those in later publications, deal with racial issues. In "To a Man", Angelou mentions both the "Black Golden Amber" color of a black man's skin as well as certain characteristics of a man, such as "gentleness." In "The Mothering Blackness," of Part One, Angelou praises how black mothers love and forgive their children. In "The Thirteens (Black)" and "The Thirteens (White)," both in Part Two, Angelou plays the Thirteens (a twist on the Dozens

The dozens

The Dozens is a game that has its origins in African American slavery. The game originates from the devaluing and bargaining off of deformed or defective slaves in auction houses. This element of the African American oral tradition in which two competitors, usually males, go head-to-head in a...

). By comparing the insults of blacks and whites, Angelou comments on the parallels between the actions of the two races.

Angelou's discussion of death plays a large role in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and a smaller one in some of her other works. Of the 38 poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, death is directly mentioned in nineteen.

Title

Angelou chose "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie" as the book's title because of her interest in "unconscious innocence," which she says is "even lovelier than trying to remain innocent." The title is a reference to her belief that "we as individuals ... are still so innocent that we think if we asked our murderer just before he puts the final wrench upon the throat, 'Would you please give me a cool drink of water?' and he would do so." Angelou has said that, if she "didn't believe that, [she] wouldn't get up in the morning."

Critical response

In Southern Women Writers, Carol Neubauer said that the first twenty poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie "describe the whole gamut of love, from the first moment of passionate discovery to the first suspicion of painful loss." Neubauer also commented on the racial themes of Angelou's poems, saying, "Angelou turns her attention to the lives of black people in America from the time of slavery to the rebellious 1960s. Her themes deal broadly with the painful anguish suffered by blacks forced into submission, with guilt over accepting too much, and with protest and basic survival." Chad Walsh called Angelou's work in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie "a moving blend of lyricism and harsh social observation."

In contrast, John Alfred Avant said in 1971 that "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water isn't accomplished, not by any means," but that "some readers are going to love it." In addition, Avant said that "there will be an audience for this rather well done schlock poetry, not to be confused with poetry for people who read poetry."

Poems

Of the 38 poems in Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, twenty are in the first part, "Where Love is a Scream of Anguish," and the remaining eighteen are in the second part, "Just Before the World Ends."
Part One: Where Love is a Scream of Anguish

• "They Went Home"
• "The Gamut"
• "A Zorro Man"
• "To a Man"
• "Late October"
• "No Loser, No Weeper"
• "When You Come to Me"
• "Remembering"
• "In a Time"
• "Tears"
• "The Detached"
• "To a Husband"
• "Accident"
• "Let's Majeste"
• "After"
• "The Mothering Blackness"
• "On Diverse Deviations"
• "Mourning Grace"
• "How I Can Lie to You"
• "Sounds Like Pearls"

Part Two: Just Before the World Ends

• "When I Think About Myself"
• "On a Bright Day, Next Week"
• "Letter to an Aspiring Junkie"
• "Miss Scarlett, Mr. Rhett and Other Latter-Day Saints"
• "Times-Square-Shoeshine-Composition"
• "Faces"
• "To a Freedom Fighter"
• "Riot: 60’s"
• "We Saw Beyond Our Seeming"
• "Black Ode"
• "No No No No"
• "My Guilt"
• "The Calling of Names"
• "On Working White Liberals"
• "Sepia Fashion Show"
• "The Thirteens (Black)"
• "The Thirteens (White)"
• "Harlem Hopscotch"