Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Maya Angelou critical analysis
Maya Angelou critical analysis
Maya Angelou critical analysis
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Maya Angelou critical analysis
Jeff Weiner once said, “You have to maintain a culture of transformation and stay true to your values.” Which to begin with means even though your culture changes or it’s transformed you must stay true to what you believe in. Such as in the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou she expresses the same message by showing what she believes about her culture even if it is being changed by history. In Angelou’s poem she uses repetition, rhyme, simile, and metaphor to convey the message of staying true to your culture even if it changes through time. In the beginning of the poem, Angelou sounds very self confident about herself and she uses simile to represent how she feels. Even if history tells lies about her culture and people may want to dirty …show more content…
up her name, like she says “but still, like dust, I’ll rise.”(Line 4) She is confident that no matter what, she won’t care what anybody has to say about her. You can imagine her self confidence when she says “‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines”(Line 19) which to me means I laugh like I got no care in the world. When she refers to them wanting to see her broken yet they couldn’t shows how much confidence she has in what she believes in. Nothing can stop her from believing in her culture because she is strong and open minded about it. Also, Maya Angelou keeps showing her self confidence through repetition throughout the entire poem. As seen in her title “Still I Rise” the poet shows that no matter what she will still get back up and stand tall. Throughout her poem she says “I rise” (Stanza 1,3,6,7-9) after she talks about something hurtful that has happens. Such as, “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness…” she refers to the people trying to bring her down but her reaction to all of this is “But still,like air,I’ll rise.” (Line24) You can tell she is a very strong women who will stand tall about her culture and what she believes in. In the End of the poem, Angelou starts remembering the past.
She remember who she is and she uses a metaphor to refer herself as “I’m a black Ocean.”(Line33) Angelou reflects on the past and how much pain it really was as she said “Up from a past that’s rooted with pain.”(Line 31) Only she remembers the painful truth of what really was her culture and history about. Even if people change it she stays true to her culture that she grew up with. She can tell the truth about what happened in the past “I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” (Line 40) As she remembers she will not let anyone shame her culture with “bitter, twisted lies” because that was not her culture. But one thing is for sure, “She will Rise”. Another thing to conclude her poem would be that she uses rhyme to make the strong words stand out. Such as “Shame”, “Pain”, “Eyes”, and “Rise.” etc. The poet uses rhyme words to make the meaningful words stand out and prove her message. Shame would be a good word to Rhyme with Pain because people try to shame her culture and say lies that may be painful to her or people in her culture because they are not true at all. Another is Eyes and Rise, which brings tears to her eyes but she will not let them be seen because she is strong and no matter what she will rise and stand tall with pride from her
culture. Truly, Maya Angelou’s poem conveys a strong message with Rhyme, Repetition, Simile, and Metaphor. Angelou’s message means that even if your culture is transformed or changed you must stay true to what you believe in. You must still stay true to your culture even if it’s being shamed by others. No matter what you stay strong and fight to say the truth and keep the lies from interfering about your culture. You cannot let others step all over you, you must get back up and forget them all. Angelou was strong about what she believes in and her poem said it all. Even if they shamed her, they said rude things, they wrote lies about her culture, wanted to see her broken like she said “Still I Rise”
One way the Angelou grabs the attention of the reader is by using figurative language. She states that one of the listeners “cackled like a hen.” This is an example of a simile because she is comparing the listener’s laugh to a hen. At the beginning
She does a great job at using both of the appeals in “Still I Rise”. Maya Angelou was a civil rights activist, an educator, and a poet. Maya Angelou’s constant use of “I” or “my” in her poem is her greatest use of ethos. This poem is her story so she is telling it from experience. For example, when Maya says “Does my sassiness upset you?” (Angelou 5) she draws in the audience by speaking of herself. She lets the audience know that this is a real thing. Another way that Angelou draws in her audience with ethos is when she says “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.” (Angelou 39-40) That quote gives Maya Angelou credibility because she knows the hardships of slavery and racism because of her ancestors and culture. The second and most effectively used rhetorical device used is pathos. The entire poem draws in the audience emotionally, even from the first sentence. I believe she was so great at using pathos because it was from her heart. She lived through it, she went through the pain, and she overcame that pain. She was passionate about what she was writing and you could absolutely feel it just by reading it. A great example of pathos and one of my favorite “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.” (Angelou 21-24) Maya’s use of words in this stanza appeals to the audience emotionally. While reading it, you feel like those things are directly happening to you. The other use of pathos that is effective is when she claims that she will rise. It appeals emotionally because it gives the audience hope, strength, and determination that they can rise. The more it’s repeated, the more effective it is. The more you say it, the more that she and the audience believe that it is true. The last example of how this poem appeals emotionally is when she says “Does my
Ms. Angelou's rhetorical strategy of comparison and contrast serves as effectively as her brilliant, flowing sentences sprinkled with colorful simile and imagery. Poetic phrases describing a voice "like a river diminishing to a stream, and then a trickle" or the audience's conditioned responses as "Amen's and Yes, sir's began to fall around the room like rain through a ragged umbrella" paint vivid images.
In her first autobiography, Maya Angelou tells about her childhood through her graduation through, “Graduation”, from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” when she is about to graduate. She starts as an excited graduate because she was finally going to receive her diploma, a reward for all her academic accomplishments. On the day of her graduation finally comes, that happiness turns into doubt about her future as she believes that black people will be nothing more than potential athletes or servants to white people. It wasn’t until Henry Reed started to sing the Negro National Anthem that she felt on top of the world again. Throughout her graduation she felt excited to disappointed, until Henry Reed sang and made her feel better.
This phrase demonstrates her confidence and feeling of superiority to those around her because she has to be bold and unforgiving to be taken seriously or even noticed. When Angelou states “like air, I’ll rise” (24) from “a past that’s rooted in pain” (31), she is depicting that although she and her people have suffered in the past, there is nothing that can hinder her from rising now. This feeling of invincibility and pride is what allows her to fight racism and overcome hate. When a people are oppressed, they must muster up all of the courage, confidence, and ego they can obtain to pursuit
...fe she really knew and felt deep down to the core of her being what the words truly meant. The words had brought back her hope and pride in herself and in her community. What Leavy had said was a fallacy and they could as they have in the past rise above the world's bigotry. Righteousness returned to Angelou and the entire community; "we were on top again."(841).
Walker, Pierre A. Racial protest, identity, words, and form in Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Vol. 22. West Chester: Collage Literature, n.d. Literary Reference Center. Web. 8 Apr. 2014. .
Born to a decaying marriage and unstable household, Maya Angelou thrills her poetic intentions through her dominant and eloquent words. Maya Angelou, center of mysterious and descendants of the broken, like a champion, she rose out of the ashes and into the lights of the stage. An American author and artist who has been called “America’s most visible black female autobiographer” by dozens of people, has made remarkable recognitions all around the word. She is best known for her sequence of six autobiographical stories, focusing on her childhood and early adulthood. Her writing, through the eyes and experiences of a black woman, can lend a structure to the study of racial relations and culture in the 20th century America. Angelou’s work is then, a presentation of the life of a black woman who has lived in the South and in the urban North, who has lived in Africa, and has traveled Europe. She has gone through poverty and despair and she has been granted high honors. Her work is the expression of those experiences and sensations through the eyes of a black woman. Due to specific events in Maya Angelou’s life, her style of writing was exceedingly pretentious.
... all audiences can face their personal hardships. No matter the color of your skin or gender, Maya Angelou’s works are timeless testaments to the potential of the human spirit to overcome adversity, and constant reminders that even if the world is against us, we must still rise.
Maya Angelou’s excerpt from her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” reveals the challenges facing a young black girl in the south. The prologue of the book tells of a young Angelou in church trying to recite a poem she has forgotten. She describes the dress her grandmother has made her and imagines a day where she wakes up out of her black nightmare. Angelou was raised in a time where segregation and racism were prevalent in society. She uses repetition, diction, and themes to explore the struggle of a black girl while growing up. Angelou produces a feeling of compassion and poignancy within the reader by revealing racial stereotypes, appearance-related insecurities, and negative connotations associated with being a black girl. By doing this she forces the
Due to the time period she wrote in, Angelou would be criticized for her ability to write, “without apology,” of the fearful life she lived. However, now that is the reason as to why her work is so highly praised. Yet, critics feel as if Angelou’s work is simply overused and not appreciated for what it truly is. Instead of looking at Angelou as a poet, people look at her as an, “inspirational public speaker,” and can often be found on the front of a, “Hallmark greeting card,” instead of the pages in a textbook. Angelou doesn’t really show this criticism in her work but she does represent the criticism she received as African American woman poet in her time period. She often would discuss how people would misuse her race and treat them like nothing, and, “may trod” them “in the very dirt.” But despite these harsh criticisms of her work, Angelou continued writing of her struggles, and brought to life the hardships she had to face whilst living in this time period, which in the end, become what she was most critically acclaimed for, and the reason that out of the, “huts of history’s shame,” she conquered the fears, not only of her past, but of saying the words she used to be afraid to say.
Maya Angelou is a very inspiring and courageous woman who says how she feels through her poems without coming off in a hateful manner, but rather a sophisticated and intelligent way. Her poems varies between subjects such as love, passion,racism and the way of life. However, in her poem “Phenomenal Woman” she speaks for all women around the world who doesn’t feel they fit in with today’s society.
To provide detail, one day, during Angelou’s childhood years a group of white children came up to her grandmothers shop and was tormenting her as this was occurring many thoughts raced through young Angelou’s head “How long could Momma [her grandmother] hold out? What new indignity would they subject her to?” (Angelou 32). Even the white children abused their white privilege as they tormented and embarrassed a grown women in front of her own home showing how dignified the white people felt and how put down the African American people were. After the incident, Angelou broke down in tears of anger because there was nothing she could do about how she felt or treated and, situations like this occurred multiple times in the novel. Furthermore, even her brother Bailey was subject to the truth of how the white people felt when he saw a black man’s body being pulled out of the river and the white cop who was surveying the scene had no respect for the loss of a man’s life and simply tossed him into the car. This is another way Angelou expressed the theme of her book, racism, as she showed how the mistreated people felt and even sparked sympathy and guilt from here
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” (Maya Angelou “Quotes”). Maya Angelou is an African American author who wanted the whole world to know who she was. Even though Maya Angelou’s life was full of disappointments and miseries, she still managed to rise above them all to become a successful poet. Racism played a really big role in Maya Angelou’s life. Maya Angelou witnessed slavery when she was very young and wished that someday all men will be free. Maya Angelou had many difficulties, and her family was one of them. None of her marriages worked out, and had a son to raise on her own.
In the excerpt “Mary”, Angelou recalls her poverty-stricken childhood and the struggles she went through while growing up in the racist south, post-slavery. Angelou remembers how she thought that white people were strange and had developed a negative attitude towards them. Though only ten years old, Angelou worked as a kitchen servant to a woman by the name of Mrs. Cullinan (Angelou 4). She remembers how her identity was taken away when Mrs. Cullinan and the white women that would visit Mrs. Cullinan. These women changed Angelou’s first name from Margaret to “Mary” without her consent because they felt that her name was too long to say (Angelou 5). Margaret and many other African Americans of her time felt that being called “called out of his or her name” in the south was considered to be as insulting as if they were being called “niggers, spooks, blackbirds, crows, or dinges”(Angelou 6). Maya had also encountered being calle...