Still I Rise Metaphors

This act of persistence is evident through this quotation “she neither marched up to the stage like a conquering Amazon, nor did she look in the audience for Baily’s nod of approval.” This quotation depicts how even after being belittled by her White oppressors, she stood up for the black community, for her own education, and for the ideals of equality and freedom. Furthermore, her not looking at Baily for reassurance demonstrates her independence and her coming of age, an independence that is transgressive in the eyes of society, she is now able to affirm her own choices. Even though, in the beginning of the essay, she is shown to have an aversion to her own skin color as she has internalized all a lot of hatred that she faces, in this quotation it is clear that now she marches for herself and her whole community. Moreover, even though she is only sixteen, her enduring and unyielding battle against racial injustice and educational inequality is a testament to her indefatigable spirit. This is evident in this quotation “We were on top again. As always, again…. I was a proud member of the wonderful, beautiful Negro race.” This quotation demonstrates persistence as Angelou goes on to appreciate her race and realizes that they could be on top even after being continuously discouraged because of her skin color. She now referred to herself as a part of the wonderful, beautiful race, coming to terms with her own

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’ 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.

    Angelou utilizes metaphors to prove to her readers that she is determined and willing to end the conflict of racial segregation in America. She describes the past slavery and the harsh terms that her ancestors used to go through, but now in the current situation of America, she can come, “out of the huts of history’s shame /I rise” (29-30). The audience is reminded of the fact that slavery is now in the past, and Angelou does this in order to rhetorically ask the audience ‘why America overcame slavery. ’ She describes herself emerging from a ‘hut of history’s shame’ as she is referring to the huts that slaves used to be kept in, as well as proving to be the generation that puts an end the shameful segregation in America, ‘I rise.’ The relation of rising from a slave hut into the world reveals the statement being made that Angelou will no longer accept the African American’s current treatment. She goes further on the topic of America’s history of slavery and

She refers to “…hopes springing high” in line eleven with the knowledge that everyone has high hopes and dreams for their lives. Everyone will always keep hoping. Just as peoples hopes will rise she will continue to rise also. She rises above the negativity of the words and actions that try to tear and crush her spirit.

Another use of a metaphor in the last stanza relates back to the key idea of the poem. In the line, ‘I am the dream and the hope of the slave,’ Maya Angelou is directly comparing herself to what a slave dreams about, which is equality and freedom. She is calling herself the ‘ambassador’ of equal rights, and therefore stating herself as a leader who will make the first step to rise up against racism and fight for equal rights. This again shows her strong, powerful approach to overcoming racial inequality.

During the time of the civil rights movement, in Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise, her use of figurative language appeals to the reader's emotion to understand the shrewdness of the treatment towards women. In her poem she writes, “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness.” These lines from her poem illustrate the painful affect that ill mannered behavior has on not just women, but all people. Angelou presents her message of cruelty to women through judgement and rudity by using figurative language, and this helps to give her purpose a weightier impact on the

Maya Angelou described situations that occurred because of one's color. Angelou discussed the past pain of black slaves. "I am the dream and the hope of the slave." (L. 40) I think Angelou stated this line to explain that the past occurred but the new generation is the hope to bury the past. Hoping to bring achievement and success of African-Americans.

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.

She compares herself to a "black ocean, leaping and wide," an indication of the infinite power of her resilience. She closes the poem claiming that she is the "dream and the hope of the slave" followed by the thrice repeated phrase, "I rise." “Angelou captures the both the repression and the progress of the African American people over the course of history.” (Bouchard 1) I will use this essay in my final paper to analyze and determine the importance of simile in this poem and how it deeply affects the way in which the poem is meant to be

This quote shows that even though people would still be prejudiced and discriminatory towards her, she and all the other black people living during this time would have to fight hard to rise above it and ensure a better future for themselves and their families.

Angelou also uses a metaphor comparing her self esteem to being rich, I'm the poem she says she walks with so much self esteem that one would think she's rich enough to own oil wells at her home. The way Angelou uses figurative languages throughout the poem help give the poem imagery, the perfect example is in stanzas four when she said "Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes?" "Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful

Aniece Moore Scloesser 6th Poem Essay It’s hard to rise above all things that seem to tug and pull a person down. Is it possible for someone to rise with all the heavy weights on their shoulders full of hate, misunderstanding and ignorance? The answer is yes, A poem by Maya Angelou called “Still I rise” proves to readers and people that a person can rise with heavy weights on their shoulders the poem “Still I rise” by Maya Angelou is a poem about how she still rises through the struggles of being a woman but also a black woman. She describes how she rises through the hate, misunderstanding including ignorance using metaphors.

Angelou expresses this to show that no matter how many times society judge her, degrade her, or dehumanize her she will continue to believe and have faith in herself because she's aware that she can stand above any anything if she adopts this mentality. An example of this is “Just like moons and like suns, with the certainty of the tides, just like hopes springing high, still, I’ll rise”. In this line, Angelou uses metaphor to compare herself to a force of nature which, in this case, is the “moons”, “suns” and the “tides”. She does this to show that they “rise” each day, and the strength within this inevitable event is what Angelou compares her own strength with; she asserts that as long as the universe is in existence, she will continue to "rise". It is in the author’s intention to show her unwavering optimism and fierce determination, which implies that although the author is a black person, she refuses to submit and undergo a life of oppression as her ancestors before she had.

Next let’s have a look at imagery which is words that appeal to our five senses to create a vivid