Still I Rise by Maya Angelou pg 27

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Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (pg 27)
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (pg 27)
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Still I Rise

• It is useful to know a little bit about the poet
  before revising this one. Maya Angelou is an
  African-American woman who was born in 1928 in a
  poor neighbourhood in St. Louis. Her childhood
  was extremely tough and in her first book I Know
  Why The Caged Bird Sings she describes her rape,
  aged 8, by her stepfather. When she told her
  brother about the attack, her stepfather was
  arrested but released just four days later. On
  his release he was kicked to death. In turn,
  fearing her speaking out caused the death, Maya
  became mute and did not speak for nearly five
  years.
• Angelou has campaigned for equal rights for
  blacks in America for many years. She is
  considered as important as other more famous
  civil rights campaigners such as Martin Luther
  King and Malcolm X.

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Still I Rise

• This is a powerful poem about the survival
  against great hardship. It is about fighting back
  against racial prejudice and the leftovers of
  slavery that black Americans have endured for
  many years. You could also see it as a powerful
  statement of intent against the struggles Angelou
  experienced as a child.
• The poem has a song-like simplicity. The
  repetition of the title is like a chorus and the
  final stanza is a triumphant refrain.

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Themes and Subject

• Survival
• Prejudice
• Confidence
• Racism
• Changes in time

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By addressing the reader directly from the start,
Angelou forces us to consider ourselves as racist
or oppressive
harsh, aggressive adjectives representing the
ruling white classes who misrepresented the
blacks plays on the idea that history is not
necessarily factual someone had to write it in
the first place and they could be biased or racist
You may write me down in historyWith your
bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very
dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise.
drive-word change in tone she is powerful and
resilient christ-like imagery or like a phoenix
in this simile
rhyme scheme abcb
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sassiness confidence, charisma
rhetorical questions directed at the reader
Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset
with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've got oil
wellsPumping in my living room.
simile - powerful, confident imagery
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similes inevitability that she will survive
prejudice
Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty
of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still
I'll rise.
triumphant tone
continued repetition of title reads like a
songs chorus
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images of pain and suffering. The opposite of
the forceful similes earlier in the poem
important to note this contrast where she was
strong and powerful before, she is now weak and
submissive thanks to the prejudice she had faced
Did you want to see me broken?Bowed head and
lowered eyes?Shoulders falling down like
teardrops.Weakened by my soulful cries.
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haughtiness pride and confidence
Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it
awful hard'Cause I laugh like I've got gold
minesDiggin' in my own back yard.
this stanza returns us to the confident narrator
of the earlier stanzas
gold mines just like oil wells in stanza
two are symbols of wealth something black
Americans were not able to have for themselves.
They would be employed to work in such places as
oil fields and gold mines but not share in any of
the wealth
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list of three uses repetition on you
You may shoot me with your words,You may cut me
with your eyes,You may kill me with your
hatefulness,But still, like air, I'll rise.
shoot, cut, kill violent verbs reveal
extent of hatred
Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a
surpriseThat I dance like I've got diamondsAt
the meeting of my thighs?
celebrates her sexuality designed to make the
white reader feel uncomfortable
diamonds again another symbol of wealth that
needs mining. She is taking back what she feels
should rightfully be hers.
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Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from
a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black
ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I
bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror
and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously
clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors
gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I
riseI riseI rise.
Change of rhythm, tone, rhyme, length of lines
and length of stanza. Reflects the triumphant
ending.
The metaphors and references in the final stanza
are much clearer pieces of evidence that this
poem is about racial discrimination
Repetition at end is victorious and triumphant
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Links to other poems

• If you are looking at the theme of confidence and
  spirit then this links best with I Shall Paint
  My Nails Red, Warning or The Road Not Taken.
  The powerful female voice also draws comparisons
  with I Shall Paint and Warning.
• There are obvious cultural differences on display
  here too. Once Upon A Time and An Unknown
  Girl are also poems that are explicitly about
  differences in culture.

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Hints and Tips

• There is quite a lot to write about if this one
  comes up. The structure of the poem, like verses
  in a song with a repeated line and a big powerful
  refrain at the end is very important. You must
  be able to say why this style has been used it
  gives the poem a very definite spirit and energy,
  as does the repetition of key lines and the rhyme
  scheme which runs throughout.
• The imagery Angelou uses to illustrate both her
  plight (struggle) and her confidence is also key.
  Note how three of the most powerful images
  concerning oil, gold and diamonds are three
  commodities that needed mining something many
  African Americans would have been involved with
  when they were treated much like slaves. By
  using them against the white reader, she reclaims
  these objects of wealth for her community.
• Specific verbs and adjectives are also important
  you should ensure you know what haughtiness
  and sassiness mean and that the use of words
  like shoot, cut and kill represent what was
  actually happening to black Americans during the
  1930s and 1940s.

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Example Questions

• How does Maya Angelou create a powerful,
  inspirational poem?
• Look again at this poem and one other that
  focuses on a culture other than one from the
  British Isles. How are they comparable?