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Poem woman work maya angelou essay
Maya angelou i will rise analysis
Maya angelou poems to analyze
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In Maya Angelou’s poem, As I Rise, she utilizes multiple forms of literary devices, two of these include similes and stanzas. Throughout the poem Angelou uses similes to convey her message to the people that read her works. One simile that can be found is, “Just like moons and like suns, / With the certainty of tides, / Just like hopes springing high, / Still I’ll rise”(Angelou, “Still I Rise” 9-12). Angelou is comparing the consistency and stability that she rises as a woman and person to the moon, sun, and tides. We can consistently rely on the sun and moon rising respectively in the morning and at dusk, just as we can rely on her to rise with just as much consistency and persistence. The stanzas in this poem are used to separate ideas and
Often times what makes a narrative interesting is the authors ability to tell a story that is so vivid, that we can actually feel the emotions that the characters experienced in the story. It’s not about describing the event that is happening, its about showing it. Instead of writing something for someone to read, a successful author will write things for people to live in and experience, to escape their own reality and live inside a new one. Unlike many authors Maya Angelou was a risk taker, she leaped at the opportunity to move and compel her readers. Maya Angelou’s Champion of the World consists of an alluring introduction, strategic vocabulary, and a wise use of figurative language thus causing a much stronger narrative than Amy Tan’s
to deepen the feelings that are already looming after the first two lines. A poet may use different concepts throughout their poem to relate to a general idea;
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
Each stanza is composed of words that present a logical flow of growth through the entire poem. The words in the poem do not rhyme and the lines are different lengths.
Angelou, Maya. "Still I Rise." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
I believe this is the theme because just by reading the title of her poem; “Still I Rise” i can tell its about a person who has faced many difficulties and has been ridiculed many times throughout her life and instead of giving up she decides to stay strong and continue to stand up even though the world is trying to push her down. Also another reason why i believe the theme of her poem is, “to never give up” because of her history. Maya Angelou is a Black- American who was born in the year of 1928. she has been discriminated throughout her life only being judged by the colour of her skin. Just as how Harriet Tubman was a black- Canadian who helped many slaves through the use of the underground railway as a escape path back to their native land, she has also suffered being discriminated by the use of words and in further cases, being abused. In that era African- American women were treated brutally and were always being pushed down and were not even treated like humans. They never got the respect they deserved and were treated like absolute disgrace just because of the colour of their skin. The theme of Maya Angelou’s poem is very significant because she was born during the generation where black people could not say what they wanted without others reacting with distraught and anger. Just by the title of the poem it tells us that no matter what difficulties we come across in our life we have to manage to stay strong and keep
In relation to structure and style, the poem contains six stanzas of varying lengths. The first, second, and fourth stanzas
The first two stanzas focus on his relationship with nature and society. Stanza one focuses primarily on his relationship with nature. The first
In this poem, it appeared as if Angelou was trying to show all the hard obstacles she had been through all those years. Angelou has been through so much more, but she also has written poems, books, traveled worldwide and used her experience to help others live a better life. “Still I Rise” is a poem that focuses on the courage, survival and pride in one’s self. The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou explains loss in the stanza; the poem first word “You” is important because Angelou addresses it to others too on how Angelou presents us with a black woman speaking up for herself. I rise up to the top.
For example, with the quotes “I walk like I've got oil wells, Pumping in my living room”(l.7-8 ) and “I laugh like I've got gold mines, Diggin’ in my own backyard”(l. 19-20), Angelou is saying that she has a smooth walk, carefree laugh, and that both are as if she has all the confidence and pride possible. In the first line in the poem, she says “you may write me down in history, with your bitter, twisted lies”(l. 1-2 ). Angelou compares herself to something that is put in the past and lied about.
The poem is divided into 2 Stanza's with 3 lines each. And there are an
For example, when she says “Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of tides, still I’ll rise” (Maya Angelou 1978) the audience imagines the extremity to which Angelou will rise past her oppressors regardless of their attacks upon her. Throughout her poem, she also uses metaphors to intensify the attacks made by her oppressors and the counter attacks stated by her. The phrase directly from her poem that reads “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” (Maya Angelou 1978) creates an exaggerated demonstration of the vigorous actions done to her. Another metaphor she uses is when she says “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, welling and swelling, I bear in the tide” (Maya Angelou 1978) . Typically, when visualizing an ocean, one imagines beautiful, melodic scenery. Angelou compares herself to the ocean because she is as powerful as the waves and will continue to rise and leave the past behind her. Together by using both similes and metaphors to make comparisons, the poet is trying to accomplish creating a vivid image of each one of her scenarios. These images are part of a larger structure within the text, connecting to the major theme of the
The tone can be confident, proud, complementary, cheerful and sassy. Confident because, in each stanza Maya states some type of criticism that has been said, then overpowers it using her voice to reveal what she thinks. She uses “I say” in every stanza is a cue that she is about to speak her mind. In stanza four she describes her confidence, saying “Now you understand just why my head 's not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, it ought to make you proud”. The message that she is trying to say is that when she is put down by others, she does not get down or have to attract attention, because of her confidence, she attracts attention when she walks by. Another example, proud because of the several times she uses phenomenal throughout the poem. When she explains why she is a phenomenal woman it sets the tone that she is proud of who he is. Complementary because if reading the poem aloud, it would sound like the reader is complimenting themselves. With Maya Angelou writing all the positive things of being a phenomenal woman, the readers are complimenting themselves of being phenomenal and should be proud of it. Although, the poem may come across as cheerful, when the reader deeply analyzes the poem a serious tone is displayed. Angelou wants the reader to actually feel what she is saying, not just read it as if it has no meaning. This poem shows her strength
This poem, like “Caged Bird” is also unstructured verse, and sporadic rhyme; this is very common of Maya Angelou 's work. This poem is extremely blunt in it 's working making it very easy to understand. “Phenomenal Woman” is all about being proud of who you are. What makes you special and noticeable is not the world 's standards of what you should look like but the confidence that you live by. The poem is almost like a list of characteristics that make the speaker a real woman. Some of the things that make her a real woman is “the reach of my arms” “The stride of my step” “ The sun of my smile” just to name a few. The speaker is obviously extremely confident in herself. I believe that Angelou is trying to express that she is so phenomenally woman because of how she expresses and views herself and does not let other people define her. The poem expresses that you are beautiful based on how you see yourself, not how the world sees you, and that your success is all in your confidence. This is expressed in some of the language she uses. “Now you understand-Just why my head’s not bowed.” “When you see me passing-It ought to make you proud.” She is just being wholly herself and that greatly contributes to her amazing success. She says how the pretty people ask her why guys always fall over her and she even states that the guys themselves do not understand why they are so drawn to her. “Men themselves have wondered-What they see in me.” “When I try to
... since it deals with the growth of the mind. Therefore, the poet uses syntax and form to emphasize on the important matters that occurred in each stanza.