Maya Angelou Ethos

Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to

empower the audience to rise above obstacles and become a better person while doing it.
The intended audience for this poem was mostly Black Americans in a time of racism and women in a time of sexism but I believe could be encouraging to anyone in a time of oppression. Maya Angelou doesn’t directly portray who her audience is but her use of words and time of poem says enough. She uses words like “you” to describe the oppressors or the white people and words like “me” and “I” to describe herself or the oppressed. Social context was used in the poem. She wrote this poem in a time when blacks and women had very few rights and were still looked at as lower than a white male even a white female in some cases. If she didn’t have self-respect or even confidence about herself, she would have been taken advantage of. Maya says “Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries.” (Angelou 13-16) This quote is a great example of social context. Being broken is the main thing that oppressors wanted in that time and even now. Choosing to rise above being broken and shameful and to be confident despite what she grew up knowing was her way of dealing with it.
The overall message of this poem was to encourage the oppressed. To give people hope by telling her story on how she can and she will endure. Maya Angelou inspired Black Americans and women, gives them confidence, and even gives motivation to even want to overcome the pain that they’re going through. The main claim that Angelou uses is “I’ll rise”. She consistently used that to prove her claim that she will overcome anything. For example, in the first stanza she already claims that she will rise; “You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies, you may tread me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I'll rise.” (Angelou 1-4) Even at the end of the poem she repeatedly claims “I rise, I rise, I rise” (Angelou 41-43) The fact that she repeats that she will rise makes her claims that much stronger. It persuades the audience to also rise and stand up for themselves. To walk like they mean something because they do. “Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard.” (Angelou 17-20) Angelou used this claim because she wanted the audience to know that they are worth something even when people say that you aren’t. Joseph Lamour posted a video of Maya Angelou on a website and he says “Maya Angelou wrote this poem to remind everyone they're worth so much more” I believe that it is true. I haven’t known one person that has read this poem and not felt inspired to conquer the world afterwards. Angelou’s choice of evidence was effective throughout the entire poem. Even in the video of Maya Angelou reciting her poem, she laughs at random moments and proves that she will laugh at adversity. Her word choice and metaphors in the poem help to prove her claims.
The appeals that Maya Angelou uses most effectively were pathos and ethos.

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

sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise that I dance like I’ve got diamonds at the meeting of my thighs?” (Angelou 25-28) I found a blog post that described this stanza as good as anyone could. The author of that post says “This gives me goosebumps every time I read it. By specifically talking about the “meeting of [her] thighs” Angelou gives the ultimate defiance of a woman; she owns and loves every part of herself, and rises up, dazzling and sexy.” (Emily Ardagh) She claims that Angelou gives her goosebumps from saying that. She empowers others with the things that she says in the poem.
“Still I Rise” is by far my favorite poem of all time. The first time I heard the poem, I wanted to be Maya Angelou; I wanted to empower others and give them life by my words. “Still I Rise” tells Maya Angelou’s story about how she overcame such a horrible time in her life. She not only told her story, but millions of Black American and Women’s stories. Every day there’s someone who needs to hear something encouraging especially from someone who has a background of overcoming and rising above. I believe that Maya Angelou wanted to use her story to help others with that. Her use of sarcasm and empowering stanzas made her poem very effective by giving it life. It helped to prove her claim that she actually will rise. She effectively used many different examples of pathos and ethos to draw in her audience and to keep their attention. By the end of the poem, Angelou as well as her audience felt completely empowered as if they could run the world. Overall, I believe that Maya Angelou did an amazing job at using both pathos and ethos effectively to make her point that she will rise.