Maya Angelou

The poem, Still I Rise, was written by Maya Angelou around the year 1978. Maya Angelou was a successful woman. Many things such as, being an extremely successful poet, and civil rights activist can be attributed to Angelou. Maya Angelou lived through the inequality and senseless oppression of the African American people. Though slavery was already abolished by this time, Angelou, unfortunately was forced to bear witness to the consequences it reaped on society, as well as the African American people. Within the lines of this powerful poem she declares that she refuses to allow the hatred society had towards African Americans to determine how successful she planned on being. In the poem, Angelou advocates to rise above society’s hatefulness. Through the use of similes, allusions, and repetition, she inspires others to disregard the standards of the society in which

Line 4 reads, “But still, like dust, I rise.” When an object has been stomped on, the dust around, on, or under it rises up above the said object. In this simile Angelou compares herself not to the dirt that was stomped on, but to the dust that rises up afterwards. She refuses to let the fact that she has been trampled on, prevent her from rising above it all. Readers cannot help but feel proud of that fact that she would simply rise above the hatefulness and abuse she was subjected to. Another example of the use of simile can be found in stanza 3. The third stanza says,“ Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.” Within this stanza she compares herself to the sun, moon, and flowing tides. All of these things are undeniably going to happen every day. The sun and moon will always rise and set, and the tides of the ocean will always drift in and out. The rising, setting, and drifting are all inevitable, just like Maya Angelou rising up against the