Analyzing Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is a leader by example, she sets the standard by her actions and the stories she tells teaches the audience a lesson. Majority of her work is to inform us of the past and she wants us to learn from her experiences in life; she is a life teacher. The purpose of this poem was to inform us of the history of our country. The poem is titled “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” and her purpose of writing this is to teach the reader why the caged bird sings. Maya Angelou wants to put the reader in her shoes to get the ultimate experience of racial inequality but instead by taking the role of a caged bird or a free bird.

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, depicts the hidden theme of courage behind the various literary devices such as similes, metaphors, and repetition. Her poem was written in the presence of racism during the civil rights movement. In her words throughout the poem, she expresses her internal mindset to the reader.

“You have tried to destroy me and although I perish daily I shall not be moved,” (Angelou, 2014), says Maya Angelou in her Commencement speech to the 1992 Spelman College graduates. Poet and award-winning author, Maya Angelou, is most well known for her poetry, essay collection, and memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou happened to be the first black female cable car conductor who later started a career in theatre and music (Maya Angelou: Poet and Historian, n.d.). Once her acting and musical career began to take off, Angelou began touring with productions and released her first album Miss Calypso (Maya Angelou Fast Facts, 2017). Later, Angelou earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away and an Emmy Award nomination for the work she performed in the television mini-series Roots (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Angelou was also the first African American woman to have her screenplay produced (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Out of the number of poetry collections Angelou published, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die happened to be her most famous collection that was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). The focus of this paper is to critique Angelou’s credibility, sincerity, and appeal to her whole audience in her delivery during the Spelman Commencement Address in 1992.

Things began to change, Maya's life drastically improved everyday. Once Maya’s life began to settle down, she began to write many memoirs. One of her most famous memoirs was “I know why the caged bird sings” (1969). This memoir was extremely vital in history because it gave African-American women hope.

The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, addresses White people who discriminate African Americans. During this period of time, Black people were not being treated equally, with this poem Angelou wants to defend African Americans. As a civil rights activist it is her job to fight for people's rights. By employing simile, imagery, and repetition, Angelou defends African Americans against their oppressors and shows that people have to be confident and strong, and not feel put down but rise above their problems.

Maya Angelou is one out of the best known poets. She has written a lot of poems that inspires and assist people with their lives. She has a “desire humbleness to learn and experience all that life has to offer her” (gale biography in context, “Maya Angelou More than a Poet”) which makes her poems have a meaning to them. In addition, Maya Angelou got a lot of pieces of poems considered equality to her experience as a human of the United States during race times and her experience as a person who worked with other civil right activist. Maya Angelou uses deep themes that leaves the reader to think about the topic is being talked about. In her poem, “Still I Rise” she talks metaphorically about discrimination. In the poem, it states, “does my haughtiness offend you? ( the poetry foundation, “Maya Angelou”). This quote from the poem shows how the rest of the poem is about people believe they is better than other people and that the other people should suffer because they are inferior to the people, but the people being abused should not be embarrassed of who they are and be thankful for life(“Maya Angelou More than a Poet 1”).

Thesis: Maya Angelou’s experiences with racism, female subjection……are evident influences to her literature….such as “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”

In ‘still I rise,’ Maya Angelou reveals the importance of rising and standing strong through self-confidence using repetition, similes, and symbolism. Angelou emphasizes repetition of the phrase ‘still… I

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” was published in 1978 at one of the most productive and successful periods of Angelou’s career. “Still I Rise” tells about bouncing back and rising up past oppression and hate. The speaker in Angelou’s poem talks to a direct audience, asking them questions, announcing to them that no matter what they do, she will always rise back up. The poem is broken up into quatrains, although the last two stanzas use the repetition of the phrase “I rise” between the complete lines. The author uses figurative language in every stanza of her poem and uses similes and metaphors to create imagery and to get the tone and the theme of the poem across to the reader. Angelou uses figurative language to convey the message of resilience and succeeding even through hatred.

A variety of literary devices are used in this poem. After the shift, she repeats the phrase “I rise” for emphasis. Similes show how strong and persevering the speaker is. She compares herself to dust. No matter how many times you clean, dust will always come back. She even compares herself to the sun and moon, which surely rise each morning and night, to prove her confidence. The poem also uses hyperbole and personification. It says: “You may shoot me with your words,/You may cut me with

In the poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, the poet uses repetition, metaphors and similes to express to her audience about how she has overcome racism in her life through demonstrating a strong, proud and defiant attitude to inspire others.

Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” takes place in the mind of Maya Angelou. She is talking about someone who is saying bad things about her. Even though they are saying bad things about her she won’t let it bring her down she will rise. She shows her Confidence by saying that she will rise, another way she is showing her Confidence is by being confident in her heritage, and her Confidence is evident through her displays of literary devices.

Still She Rise The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is about telling and showing how strong she is as a woman at that an African-American woman. “Still I Rise” is a very inspirational and motivational poem. I believe she wrote this to up lift herself, not only her but women as a whole. This poem gives you life as a whole its bold, cheeky and self assertive.

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is a poem that addresses the all-encompassing ‘you’. The you who attempts to oppress the African American, woman narrator and all African Americans and all women. Although the narrator feels the attempted oppression it does not affect her because she’ll rise. The tone of this poem changes throughout. The poem is playful, angry, bitter, but most important the poem is triumphant.

Maya Angelou’s poem “I know why the caged bird sing” is all about her life in her early life as an African American women. She wrote it as a civil rights activist to portray to the world that freedom is something everyone deserves. Her life experiences with racism pushed her to write about the freedom she dreamed of having but she knew she couldn't do anything to change her situation as a young adult.