Still I Rise is a poem written by Maya Angelou. The poem is a response to all people that have discriminated her because of her gender or race. She describes her strength on how she stands up against her criticism. This poem helps empower people by overcoming the negativity. This poem has helped me understand the life she lived and also depicts how I can also stay positive in a terrible condition.
One part of the poem that stood out was “Like I’ve got oil wells, Pumping in my living room” and “Like I’ve got gold mines, Diggin in my own back yard”. During her lifetime, she was treated unequal due to her race and gender. Being a black female, she was discriminated against and treated badly. Even though the discriminators thought they could control
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This is how I would want to face my struggles. Having the sense of confidence and defiance on the other people opinion, I would like to prove them wrong. Angelou’s use of “You” helps involve people in the poem. I felt personally I could relate to the discrimination she depicts. The stereotypes created society have caused the discrimination people face a lot. People have told me I had small eyes or that I shouldn’t drive when I grow up, due to my race. Even though they don’t affect me that much, I think the message of confidence and defiance of people opinion is amazing as this poem teaches people to prove them wrong. In society, discrimination is pretty common. Black people like Maya Angelou are still being treated unequally. There have been many unjustly deaths, due to the heavy brutality from police force. An example of this was Freddie Grey who died after a spinal injury. Eyewitnesses reported that police used unnecessary force during the arrest causing the injuries. Currently there are groups trying to stop the inequality. Using the #BLACKLIVESMATTER, they try to raise awareness of the profiling being done on black people. We as a society need to find …show more content…
At age 7, her mother’s boyfriend raped her. Her rapist was convicted, but turned up dead a few days later. Angelou believed his death was caused by her words causing her to silence herself for six years. With the help of reading books, she spoke again and believed words had a stronger power to them. Using her experience being discriminated for being black and a female, she details her experience in books and poems and influences society to understand the real situations she faced and the motivations she uses to empower her.
Overall I think this poem is amazing, as it really helped me become more confident. The way Maya Angelou involved us by using “You” helped me understand the struggles she faced growing being black and a female. I think the way she deals with the people is great and I will be using her poem as a motivation for
This piece of autobiographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction
She did not complain about her childhood, racism, divorce, losing her friends, or rejection. She has overcome all the obstacles with courage; that is another lesson we can learn. In her poem, she says, “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 knew who she was. She learned not to live according to people’s opinions.
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
Throughout life graduation, or the advancement to the next distinct level of growth, is sometimes acknowledged with the pomp and circumstance of the grand commencement ceremony, but many times the graduation is as whisper soft and natural as taking a breath. In the moving autobiographical essay, "The Graduation," Maya Angelou effectively applies three rhetorical strategies - an expressive voice, illustrative comparison and contrast, and flowing sentences bursting with vivid simile and delightful imagery - to examine the personal growth of humans caught in the adversity of racial discrimination.
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.
Though dealing with the situation is difficult, the poem goes on to express that going through this ordeal has only strengthened the resolve of the African American community. Lines 4-9 of this poem speak to toughness and resolve of the African American community in the fight to gain equality. McKay even goes as far ...
Angelou, Maya. "Still I Rise." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
Maya Angelou is one of most well-known poets ever. Her work is a reflection of her hardships during her childhood and her life as an adult. She expressed many of her opinions through her poetry and other writing. Many of her poems revolve around equality and freedom because she grew up in the segregated era and worked with civil right activist. The poems she writes are to inspire the lives of others. Till this day, Maya Angelou is still continuing to write inspiring poetry.
One reason blacks should rise above their oppression is so they can better themselves and in turn make a better life for their next generation, just as their ancestors tried to do. ? Bring the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave? says Angelou is taking the lessons learned from their ancestors and dreaming and hoping to rise above slavery. They felt that if they rose above slavery, their children and grandchildren would not have to partake in torture and pain.
Maya Angelou is an internationally respected, brilliant poet, and author. Maya Angelou says "In all my work I try to tell the human truth, what it is like to be human, what makes us stumble and somehow miraculously rise and go on from the darkness and into the light”. This theme is consistently exemplified throughout Angelou's greatly acclaimed poem ‘Still I Rise’. The poem tells the true life story of Maya Angelou's tragedies, and the dreadful conditions she encountered in her youth. But in Angelou's poem, she escapes the night to go into the light, leaving all the hurt and shame to prosper in a new life she has created.
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
This poem is Maya Angelou speaking to the audience as she explains the problems she has overcome such as; racism, sexism, bullying and other problems in her life that she has managed to move on from.This poem is set in a first person narrative, Angelou explains to the audience about the good and bad times within her life, presented in a graceful way. By the poem being set in first person narrative, this allows the audience to connect to the poet on a deeper level because the tone of the poem is more intense throughout, making it more real for the audience. This genre of poetry is lyric poetry, relating to Angelou’s feelings and thoughts throughout the poem, addressing the audience directly.
Every line in the poem has an underlining meaning related to being phenomenal. Maya Angelou begins the poem with, “Pretty women wonder were my secret lies. / I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model size / But when I start to tell them, / They think I’m telling lies” (Line 1-4). The use of alliteration makes the reader’s interpretation of the poem have a deeper meaning. Angelou’s words interpret that a woman’s size, shape, and appearance does not contribute to the opinions people may have against them, but to how they think of themselves. Angelou allows the reader to develop an understanding that a person’s inner beauty tells a lot about a person and the confidence they possess within. She states, “It’s in the reach of my arms, / ...
Maya Angelou, known for her many essays, poems and work as a civil rights activist, wrote the poem AND STILL I RISE, which has a strong grasp on the idea of determination to rise above thos that do anything in their power to drag her down. It’s important to analyze this poem
Maya Angelou is a well acclaimed poet, author, and civil rights activist. Though she passed away in 2014, her work continues to awe and inspire people worldwide. Angelou had written numerous poems, but in this analysis I will be focusing on “Caged Bird,” “Phenomenal Woman,” and finally “Touched by An Angel.” In these works we see her approach issues such as equality, racism, feminism, love and many more issues as well. Angelou is a very skilled poet; though some people find her work too straight forward and little more than common text broken into stanzas. Maya Angelou 's poems are easy to understand; and though I do enjoy her work, I find that how she structures her poems can be confusing