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Symbolism in maya angelou's poetry
An essay of maya angelou stylistic elements in poems
Analysis of maya angelou still i rise
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The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou addresses the self-confidence and self-empowerment of a woman. Her race was being oppressed, but so was her own voice. She stands tall with her head held high to show no weakness or submission. Throughout the hardships and circumstances, this woman (Maya Angelou) has pushed forward and stood up for herself. The purpose is to overcome criticism, hatred, rumors, or anything else that can lower someone’s self-esteem. Have inner strength and believe in yourself. The author is trying to say that victims should stand against the oppression and fight for their humanity and/or their place in society. In “Still I Rise” Angelou uses many rhetorical devices, one of which is rhetorical questions. “Does my sassiness
upset you?” and “Did you want to see me broken?” are some rhetorical questions found in the poem. They infer that the victims were being persecuted; in this poem it was the black women, also known as Maya Angelou. When the author is using these rhetorical questions it makes the readers and audience wonder or question. Authors and writers use rhetorical questions for more of a stylish effect rather than for an actual answer. Similes were a major rhetorical device used in this poem. “Just like hopes springing high, still I rise” and “But still, like dust, I’ll rise,” are two similes used in “Still I Rise”. Angelou's use of simile deepens the meaning of the poem by giving the reader a perceptible connection, like dust, to connect with the deeper themes of the poem. Using similes attracts the attention and appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers, which encourages them to comprehend or imagine the concept.
A paradox is a statement that contradicts itself. After Guitar suspect that Milkman has taken and hidden the gold, Guitar feels betrayed by Milkman. When Milkman is in Shalimar, Guitar leaves a message warning Milkman that he is going to kill him. The conversation between Guitar and Milkman is paradoxical because a best friend would not try to kill you, and an enemy would not help and warn another enemy.
When reading The Sermon on the Mount, it is important to note who the intended audience was, the crowds of people who were there to witness Jesus. These crowds of people most likely were not the most educated; however, Jesus attempted to educate them about the Word of God. To facilitate his teaching, Jesus employed rhetorical techniques such as the metaphor. This crowd required simple and relatable ideas to become educated on his teachings of the Word of God. Many of Jesus’s teachings during The Sermon on the Mount were symbolic in nature, and not meant obeyed explicitly; Jesus merely employed these rhetorical devices to help the followers understand the underlying message, which was to be obeyed.
Both authors present the theme of identity in different ways. For example, in ‘Still I Rise’ the speaker is conveying that she is very much confident with her identity and that she has a strong sense of who she is as she fights back against the oppression of blacks in America, however in ‘An Unknown Girl’, the poem follows a speaker who is having her hand hennaed by a girl who is unknown to the reader in an Indian bazaar whilst she is trying to connect with her Indian roots and appears alienated as she desperately wants to join the culture. The fact that Moniza Alvi is determined, almost desperate to become a member of the community is shown in her line, ‘I am clinging to these firm peacock lines like people who cling to the sides of a train.’
No matter what happens, she will always keep her head up. “You may tread me in the very dirt/ but still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou 3-4), she will go above whatever anyone says or does towards her. Maya is saying how she is going to rise like dust, rising up to get away from everyone and everything, but everything has to come down at some point, she’ll make a mess but quietly. No matter what someone does, she’ll rise above it all. “You may kill me with your hatefulness/ but still, like air, I’ll rise”(23-24), even if you kill her, Maya’ll just float up. She’s saying how she will go up and watch from above rather than with everyone else. While she’s had a hard life, she just keeps on moving forward. “Up from the past rooted in pain/ I rise”(31-32), after everything she has gone through, she won’t let this hold her back. Whatever you throw at Maya, she’s just going to put it behind her, it helps build up her ladder, it helps her rise. Remaining calm creates a ripple outward, sending off good, calm vibes in this time sets everyone else
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.
A novel creates a dynamic connection with the audience and helps its readers use different physical and ideological perspectives to evaluate a figure. Style and rhetorical devices are used to express the author’s ideas. An author’s style makes a novel colorful and convincing or bland and boring. Octavia E. Butler’s novel, Parable of the Sower gives us very detailed examples that allow me to see the world through completely different lenses. Based on those examples, I have chosen to analyze and evaluate the main character, Lauren Olimina, in several ways.
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
Maya Angelou’s “Equality” depicts a more patient yet tenacious rebel than described in Dunbar’s poem. “You declare you see me dimly”, she begins, “through a glass that will not shine.” Maya describes the denial of her boldness, of her rebellion; but, she continues to march, chanting “Equality and I will be free. Equality and I will be free.” She identifies herself as a shadow, unimportant to those she opposes— but she intends to repeat the mantra “Equality and I will be free” until she is heard. The sixth stanza left me in literal tears (and I am not an emotional person, thank you very
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
Humans can be pushed far past their limits before they have realized they’ve had enough. Very few people in this world can pick themselves back up when being pushed into the dirt by their very worst enemies. Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken represents this very idea. Louie Zamperini’s life was almost perfect until he was sent into a war zone. He experienced being tormented and physically abused every day as a POW without being able to fight back. The abuse taught him to “rise”, as stated in Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise”. Angelou wrote about the struggles of being belittled by others. “Still I Rise” and Unbroken are both similar because they both exemplify having the ability to face your enemies and leaving your anger in the past.
In Maya Angelou’s third book of poetry And Still I Rise, the personal struggles of the African American Woman are brought to life through poetic works. With inspirations drawn from personal journeys of Maya Angelou herself, powerful poems praise, celebrate, and empathize with the feminine colored experience. Angelou’s writing sheds glaring light on themes of feminine power, beauty, and perseverance, raising the African American Woman to a pedestal that demands respect and adoration. For Angelou’s audience, the everyday woman is presented equipped with all the necessities to thrive and shine in the face of adversity. In Maya Angelou’s works “Phenomenal Woman”, “Woman Work”, and “Still I Rise”, audiences are able to connect to the strength and virtue of the woman that is brought to life through the praising of femininity, and through its power to make an impact on society.
Today, we often see the phrase “Your actions speak louder than your words” to be the solution to our day-to-day problems. Rather than telling someone ‘We should hangout sometime!’, we instead state ‘Hey I’ll pick you up at 7’ and just like magic are problems are resolved. Within Maya Angelou’s “The grandmother” and Hisaye Yamamoto’s “The Brown House” we see just how compelling this phrases is as our two heroines demonstrate the power of our action by keeping silent. Maya Anelgou demonstrates to us her life as a child, living with her grandmother Momma, and her fight against the never-ending struggle of racism within their time. While in the story “The Brown House” we’ll see a family struggle with their father’s gambling problem and just how
Maya Angelou is a 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 shows us the true life story of Maya Angelou's tragedies, and their dreadful conditions she had 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.