Still I Rise

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.

“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.

‘Still I Rise’ was written by an Afro-American poet Maya Angelou and consists of a mixture of tones, such as: playful, angry, comical and bitter. Slavery was long abolished but Angelou saw its effects on society and black people. In this poem she declares that no hatefulness of society will determine her success. In the poem ‘Still I Rise’ she is not only proclaiming her triumph but also calls others to stand up for themselves and live against society’s expectations.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” written in 1978, acknowledges the racism and segregation during the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, although no longer slaves, the African Americans have been given little rights and opportunity in America. Maya Angelou wrote this poem to prove to other American citizens that she is unfazed by their hate, while she strengthens her people’s motive to reach equality. Angelou utilizes metaphor, imagery and repetition to reveal how proud she is of her minority’s strength.

“This poem has been an inspiration to people from all different walks of life.” “Still I Rise” is an amazing poem that not only speaks of the troubles of slavery and Maya's struggles in life but I think this poem is also a victory call a banner of hope and encouragement to all those that

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.

Perhaps the reason that Maya’s poetry has had such a lasting impact on Americans is because of her poems such as ‘Caged Birds’ and ‘Still I Rise’ that demonstrate the issues that African – Americans faced, which she has done through the power of her words. She also challenges the readers with the theme of oppression that is carried out through her pomes as she felt very strongly about it by being surrounded by it her entire life. Maya Angelou has left an everlasting mark by influencing the society through her poems by inspiring others to persist towards their goals and dreams with strength and pride. Overall, Maya Angelou’s work can be attributed to the fact that her personal and cultural experiences of power have not been forgotten by overcoming adversity and oppression, which is clearly reflected in her inspiration body of work seen

Maya Angelou, an African-American woman, wrote the poem, “Still I Rise,” in 1978 when racism was still prominent. Maya Angelou was reaching out to a racist community to prove oppression will not bring her down. Angelou brings up topics of what she and every other African-American person has to endure when living in their communities, and how they feel. She also brings up topics of oppression and marginalization throughout this speech to state that she will continue to rise up above it. Maya Angelou utilizes rhetorical questions, hateful diction, as well as, similes and metaphors to prove to others that she, and other African-American’s will rise against the racism and oppression they face.

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.

Majority of African American women get judged on the day to day basis. When scrolling through social media there will be large amounts of individuals who will bully or even belittle a colored female because of the natural kinks of her hair, her sense of fashion, the full shaped curves of her body, and the color of her skin . The poem “Still I Rise” by the well-known poet, Maya Angelou, specifically describes the reasons why she had so much confidence; even if she were to be judged by her appearances and mindset. This poem is about embracing females, but it mainly introduces similar life situations that many African American women have experienced. The symbols and point of view that Angelou specifically added in her poem made her readers realize that there are many meanings to this poem.

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”).

Marywood University has five core values they strongly enforce. These values include Catholic Identity, Empowerment, Service, Respect, and Excellence. In the novel A Good Man by Mark Shriver, and the poem, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, all of these values are represented, however, the core values of Empowerment and Excellence are both strongly represented in similar yet different ways. In “Still I Rise,” the entire poem has a flare of over-confidence to its tone.

Mrs. Jones and the speaker in “Still I Rise” are both strong women. However, The two women are strong in their own ways. Mrs. Jones is strong because she does the unexpected. When Roger tries to steal her purse she shows mercy to him by not calling the cops. In my opinion it takes a lot of strength to show kindness to someone who has done you wrong. Instead Mrs. Jones helps Roger, and gives him money to buy shoes. This proves my point of how she is a strong women. Unlike the speaker in “Still I Rise” Mrs. Jones was like the person that did her wrong. She wants to make a point to teach him a lesson like someone did for her. Mrs. Jones changed and became a better person.

Maya Angelou’s 1978 poem, Still I Rise main themes are discrimination and self respect and it also talks about two different types of oppression; sexism and racial oppression, not just black women but also women in general can also. This poem contains a number of different tones and several other language devices, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, imagery and rhetorical questions, uses certain words to position the responders the way she wants The very first word of Still I Rise is ‘You’. This suggests that the poet is clearly addressing the person reading the poem and making them feel as if they are being spoken to directly and personally and making them think about whether or not they are someone that oppresses people in this way. Angelou uses words like: weakened, soulful cries, kill, hatefulness etc.

Difficult times can bring out the strength in people. The famous American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou was once considered to be an outcast. In her memoir, “Gather Together in My Name”, she narrates how she goes through many difficult times throughout her life trying to find a place in society for herself and her child. At first, she was very unsuccessful in securing a good job and finding her ideal partner, “My clothes were gone, I had no job and I had been rejected by the Army...my life had no center, no purpose” (112). However, through her perseverance, she overcame her hardships, “...I had given a promise and found my innocence. I swore I’d never lost it again” (214). Although her life had been rocky, she came out of it equipped with knowledge and