 When Angelou wrote and recited " On the Pulse of Morning " , she was already well known as a writer and poet . She had written five of the seven of her series of autobiographies , including the first and most highly acclaimed , I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ( 1969 ) . Although she was best known for her autobiographies , she was primarily known as a poet rather than an <unk> . Early in her writing career she began alternating the publication of an autobiography and a volume of poetry . Her first volume of poetry Just Give Me a Cool <unk> of Water ' Fore I <unk> , published in 1971 shortly after Caged Bird , became a best @-@ seller and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize . As scholar Marcia Ann Gillespie writes , Angelou had " fallen in love with poetry " during her early childhood in <unk> , Arkansas . After her rape at the age of eight , which she depicted in Caged Bird , Angelou <unk> and studied great works of literature , including poetry . According to Caged Bird , her friend Mrs. Flowers encouraged her to recite them , which helped bring her out her self @-@ imposed period of <unk> caused by her trauma . 
