How to compose one's self, as a human being. You have to have courage. Without courage, you can'be consistent in any of the other virtues. I wish I'said that first, but it belongs to Aristotle. Angelou recited bits of 19th century poetry and stressed how much of it could have been written today.
Poetry is timeless.
The power of poetry is to help us know who we are and who we need to become. What we need to understand about poetry is that all of it was written for all of us, all the time. She repeatedly encouraged the audience to visit their libraries and read. You can go to the library and, in a minute, pull up poetry that speaks to your soul. All knowledge belongs to all of us all the time and if we are to be of use, we must learn all knowledge.