Overcoming Perseverance In Maya Angelou's Still I Rise

Maya Angelou was a poet whose life mirrored the lives of many oppressed people throughout history. Angelou, a Civil Rights activist, advocated during the time of the Civil Rights Movement to raise the resources that allowed Martin Luther King Jr. to arrange the movements against the cruelty of the Jim Crow Laws and she protested along with others calling for an end to racism according to John Nichols (3). Angelou often focused on the oppressor in her literary works and was able to relate to the lives of those who struggled to be seen and heard in society. Angelou wrote poetry to express her emotions about how hard oppressed people, especially African Americans, were fighting for justice and equality. Angelou’s use of repetition, personal pronouns, and symbolism in “Still I Rise”, “No, No, No, No”, and “On The Pulse of Morning” respectively illustrate the determination that oppressed people possessed during their fight against inequality throughout history.

“Still I Rise,” written by poet Maya Angelou, has a blend of tones. Some are playful, funny, angry, confident, and bitter. However, the poem’s tone, as the title implies, is conquering."Still I Rise" is a poem about strength, perseverance, and confirmation. It is about what is expected of a person and what that person is able to do in spite of the expectations.

The poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (1928-2014) an African American poet contains an intriguing mixture of tones such as playful and defiant, comical and angry, self-assured and bitter. However, the poems title gives us a sense of triumph within the poem. The poems first word being you is an obvious disclosure that the poem is addressed to other people. Potentially to those who had tried to oppress her, or those who tried to belittle her. Being born into the few years prior to the great depression Angelou and her family may have still been experiencing a form of slavery from the previously rich white class. Angelou refers to oil wells, gold mines, and diamonds in her poem which had just become the newly booming businesses at the time. Angelou’s poem continuously refers to success; possibly her success as an African American woman and an enormous human rights activist overcoming her oppressors and having a large impact on society. The poem can be looked at through a Marxist, Feminist,

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, this famous quote means that whatever suffering you are going through it will make you tougher and wiser. "Still I rise" is a poem written by Maya Angelou, an African American poet and a civil-rights activist. This poem was written around the civil rights movement, when people where being segregated by their race. Throughout this poem we are shown the thoughts and feelings people have displayed against her, but she will not let them get her down. Her dark past allows her to have strength and rise above the criticism where her ancestors fell to slavery. In poem "Still I rise" the main message is about people’s opinion against others who are different color and gender, the narrator expressing her

The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou takes on the conflict of racism as one individual uses her identity to stand up against the oppressive society around her. The speaker is able to be identified as a proud black female who has overcome racism throughout her life. This identity as a strong woman who has faced adversity lets the speaker use powerful literary devices to help emphasize the injustice of racism. First off, the speaker begins by saying, “You may write me down in history/ With your bitter, twisted lies…” (lines 1-2). These two lines show the bitterness that the speaker feels towards those that oppress her but then follows with saying, “You may trod me in the very dirt/

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou has a feeling of  empowerment, of persistence, perseverance, and triumph. The speaker, which is the author, has a can do attitude. She is stating that no one can destroy her, “You may tread me in the very dirt/ But still, like dust, I'll rise” (3-4). Throughout this poem she gives situations like stated above in which people have or will try to tear her down but she continues to repeat ‘I rise’. Maya states ‘I rise’ ten times giving us a clue that this key terminology to her. She uses these two words to tell a story. A story of pain and hurt but also a story of triumph. Through all that she and other colored people had been though she rose up from the racism. Her story is her being beaten down but having the willpower

Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" is a poem about strength and endurance, and about affirmation. I feel as if Maya Angelou main message into writing poem is about prejudice people that are against African Americans. She is saying that she has the strength to carry on and the courage to get back up when she has been look down upon and degraded by others that won’t accept her for who she is. This

“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is about how we have to always rise above criticism and not be afraid to share our opinions even if they are not what everyone else thinks. Maya also says that she “like air I will rise” even after she is pushed down by all the criticism. I believe that while writing this poem she wanted to encourage others to be who they are and stand up for themselves no matter what. She believes that that we should stand up for what we believe in. To express these things in the poem Maya Angelou uses similes such as “ shoulders falling down like teardrops…”. Another simile used by Maya was “like air, I’ll rise”. I believe she used this to convey the fact that after someone knocks you down you have to rise up again and not

In the inspirational poem “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou portrays the story of a despondent individual who overcame obstacles of discrimination. In “Readings on Maya Angelou” she states “I write for the Black voice and any ear which can hear it.” During this time of infuriating violence of assault, murder and hatred toward black people their language still managed to develop. Her poem details the racism, criticism, and hostility towards African Americans. The attitude throughout the poem changes from comical to defiant then anger to sassiness towards the whites.

Angelou continuously repeats the phrase “still I rise” throughout the poem. Four of the nine stanzas end with the phrase “still I rise.” By frequently ending stanzas with this phrase, Angelou emphasizes the idea of rising above and moving toward a better future. She ties all of her similes back to her main point about overcoming obstacles with grace. Angelou’s repetition also serves to beat down on the continuous battering of African Americans and women.

What the speaker is trying to convey is that she will not let anyone stop her from achieving her goals and that if she is trodden in the dirt, she will rise like dust. Based on the information in the poem, the people the speaker is referring to that are trying to keep her down is everyone else in society when she is referring to "you". This is seen in the second stanza of the poem where the speaker is talking to everyone in society that her sassiness has upset them and why are they beset with gloom (stanza 2, lines 1-2). Right after, she concludes that the reason why the people around her in her society are “beset with gloom” and are "upset by her sassiness" is due to her succeeding. This is shown when she compares herself to a well-oiled machine saying, "I walk like I have got oil wells pumping in my living room" (stanza 2, lines 3-4). The “oil wells pumping in my living room” symbolizes her success in life. This statement shows that the speaker knows that she has succeeded in both in life and as a woman. In the poem, it shows the speaker's worldview is that society is prejudice and it is trying to keep people like her from

Published in 1978, ‘Still I Rise’ is a poem written by Maya Angelou, a strong and proud African American poet that had released her poems, autobiographies and screenplays as early as the 1950’s. This poem is about the discrimination and stereotyping of races, more specifically the African American race. Overall, I believe Maya Angelou is saying that no matter how much her and her race are discriminated against, she will always stand strong. Maya Angelou has used a lot of “I” sentences, which means she is the speaker, this is affecting herself personally. I think that it is important to know that times have changed, that we need end racism, because it is only bring more hate into people’s lives.

Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise” shows a repetition of strength stanza after stanza. African Americans were faced with the challenges of oppression and slavery. African American women not only as a minority of African American race, but as a female, were faced with all those challenges, along with woman’s rights. It took 55 years after the abolishment of slavery for females to finally have the right to vote, under the 19th amendment. Maya Angelou’s poem expresses these challenges and overcoming them, in contrast.

The line ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’ is a metaphor that expresses that she will not be downtrodden by others. Instead, she will be the dust that rises from the dirt. Furthermore, the bold words ‘I rise exaggerates that she is resilient and will not be put down. Additionally, her relentless view that no one can overcome her situation. The line ‘I am the dream and the hope of the slave’ refers to past relatives and even though she is an educated person now, she has not forgotten her past. She echoes Martin Luther King’s speech on civil rights. She humanises the slaves who also had hopes and dreams! Moreover, the direct accusatory ‘Your’ repeated over three lines in stanza six lures attention to the negativity of those who do not want to recognise her as their equal. The emphatic line ‘But still, like air, I’ll rise’ demonstrates her unfailing positivity to overcome obstacles. In Addition, the simile ‘like air’ differs and is more empowering from the line in the first verse ‘like dust’. The persona refers to slavery with the words ‘pain’ ‘terror and fear’ and the use of the lexical field emphasises the poor treatment from the white race. However, she turns the metaphor of fear into ‘a daybreak that’s

Poems speak wonders, shares tales and advice that only some many understand. Maya Angelou (1928-2014), a very famous African American poet demonstrates this course with a poem called, “Still I Rise”. The text sends chills running down your spin, as a young woman, the feeling of empowerment sprouts up. In “Still I Rise”, Maya Angelou packs the poem with similes, metaphors and repetition in areas to express the theme. There is also several switches between rhyme schemes. The main message of “Still I Rise”, concludes to no matter what a person is going threw, still rise above the challenges, struggles, and overcome the obstacles that are placed. “Still I Rise”, send hope that we all must carry with us.