What Criteria Make Up A Poem?

Angelou, in the first stanza, she talks about being characterized very negatively. This can be the effect of the history during the time that Angelou grew up, back when segregation was allowed in the United States. The “bitter” and “twisted lies” can represent the racist and negative comments that people made and thought during this time. Line three may illustrate the hate crimes that

In the poem, Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, Maya uses a selective word choice as well as similes and personification to express her message in her poem. The main idea of Still I Rise is that with all of the negativity that is thrown at a certain person, they will not let the hatefulness affect them in any way, but will allow the negativity to help them rise to be a better version of themselves. To prove my reasoning, a string of words in the poem releases a pessimistic atmosphere with words such as ‘pain,’ ‘fear,’ ‘terror,’ and ‘gloom.’ These words tend to spread an adverse feeling throughout the poem. The words that were previously listed represent the negativity that is targeted at a person. In contrast to the sullen emotions that crept through

In stanza four Maya Angelou asks a series of rhetorical questions in lines thirteen and fourteen. She knows that people want to see her broken, weak and crying from the criticism and hateful words that have been said to her. She not only had to deal with criticism from being an African-American in a time when whites did not accept them into their society but also dealing with the fact that she was an African-American woman. During the fifties women were expected to marry and be a helping hand around the house. They were not expected to be in the working field. Just imagine how hard it had to be to make as an African-American women trying to achieve her goals. But she refuses to show how difficult it was through her emotion she just rises above it.

When I first read this poem, I was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions. Maya Angelou depicts herself as a fighter that will never give up, no matter the circumstances. She has obviously faced some difficult situations in her life that should have stopped her but she continues to triumph in the face of adversity. In this way, I am inspired to continue pursuing my goals. I also felt discouraged and disgusted, mostly because of the types of obstacles that are described in this poem. It is symbolizes the obstacles that many African Americans faced in the past as a result of the abolition of slavery, racism and inequality. The discouraging part of this poem is that some of these very inequalities and injustices still go on today. So, while this poem illustrates strength,

Rumi described poetry as being dangerous, “especially beautiful poetry, because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.” I for one can certainly grasp this concept. Poetry I enjoy tends to be about a different world than mine. However, if I close my eyes I can see the story unfolding before me. Perhaps the characteristic most fundamental to the meaning of poetry is its unwillingness to be defined, labelled, or nailed down. This is what makes Maya Angelou’s poetry so effective. Her work challenged the status quo and improved the human condition of all people. She fought for equality and for humanity. In her body of work, we see the plights and triumphs of marginalized people. Angelou, like many other poets, used words to tell her story of struggle, and allowed the readers to experience her people’s pain. Alright, I’ll stop teasing you now. Let’s take a look at our first of Angelou’s masterpieces – “Equality”.

In “Still I Rise” Angelou uses similes to illustrate how judgmental people are. The first stanza shows how a nation can put you down “But still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou). Angelou added this to her poem to show how some people may forget about her, but she will still rise. This also means that she will always be the head and not the

Maya Angelou is a poet who fights for equality, questions the ways people are treated and shapes the world so that everyone have equal chances in life. “I know why the caged bird sings” and “Still I rise” are two of well known poems that highlight the inequality in our lives which takes a focus on racism. “Still I rise” displays the oppression of females created from our sociality. “I know why the cage bird sings” shows the result of oppression which is the loss of freedom.

First of all, She was an effective advocate of black civil rights and her maturity in her writing increased over time. Afterward, her work started to contain common themes to the life experiences of black Americans at the time. Some of these experiences are discrimination, exploitation, and being on welfare (Maya Angelou). A poem that strongly shows this is the poem Caged Bird, Maya says, “The caged bird sings/ with a fearful trill/ of things unknown...” (Caged Bird- Poetry Foundation). Her saying this means that African Americans are fearful of discrimination brought towards them and do not understand why are not all treated equal. By doing this, Maya is showing life experiences influencing her to be part of the Civil Rights Movement which over time increased her maturity. This is one of few influences that made Maya Angelou an outstanding poet and writer she is

Another way Angelou proves to be a strong woman in this poem is when 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.” She is telling the reader no matter what negativity or obstacles brought to her, she will conquer it and still come out above. “Did you want to see me broken?” This verse proves to the reader that she will not break or lower her values and standards to whoever she is speaking to. “Her poetry is not “serious”; rather, it is, as she herself puts it in the title poem Still I Rise (Sylvestor 1995).

The poem "Still I Rise," by Maya Angelou, uses language to achieve her purpose of showcasing her confident rise from the horrible history that her people, African Americans, had to overcome. In this poem, her strong attitude and tone further reinforces the theme regarding the slave trade, and black history.

Maya Angelou is a credible well-known writer and civil rights activist. Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise, constructed of 43 lines, 7 quatrains, and 2 end stanzas serves as a secular hymn or declaration to the oppressed on the determination to rise above society. The poem also aids as a sarcastic retort towards the people who look down on African Americans, otherwise known as the oppressors.

The repetition of variations of the poem’s title reflects the persistence of Angelou and fellow African Americans when it came to racism and oppression. The fact that Angelou had faced oppression herself, becomes clear through the repeated statement because she references not only herself with the pronouns ‘me’ and ‘I’, but also makes it possible for other African Americans to fill that spot and feel the empowerment for themselves. Angelou published “Still I Rise” in the year 1978, which fell after the civil rights movement, that had lasted until 1969. The civil rights movement was aimed to break the racial barriers that had come about in American society, especially after slavery had been abolished. The poem was written in a time where “the oppressive climate of the south [was] still [a] central concern” (Bloom 213). Angelou herself was extremely involved with the civil rights movement and its leaders. She believed it to be important to stand up and do anything that she was able to do for her own. It is said that when an artist experiences things first hand, it is not uncommon for them to use the underlying themes of the events in their work (Hagen). In the case of Maya Angelou, she used her experiences of oppression and perseverance before and during the civil rights movement to construct “Still I Rise”.

If you are reading this anthology, then there must be a part of you that is curious as to what is considered poetry and the reason that it has existed in our human culture for so long. Poetry is a form of communication that is adept at using creative techniques to tell a story, or express an emotion or idea. It provides insight and is a looking glass into people, culture, and experiences. It helps both the creator and the observer. For the writer, it provides a medium into which they can express their ideas, and tell their story in a way that can be understood by someone from any background. The observer is afforded the opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective and hopefully gain a better understanding of their own

There are many different uses for form and type. It is not only a structural formula of how to write a poem but also has other effects. The form and type of a poem are important because they are what can make a poem attractive and more interesting. Type describes what kind of writing the literature is while form is the physical structure of the literature. Cofer’s

All of these poems connect to Maya Angelou in a certain way. For example, “The Traveller”, and “Pickin Em Up and Layin Em Down” talk about how time has passed by and how Maya Angelou isn’t staying behind, she is moving along at the same pace. The poem called “Equality” is about the bad things she is about the bad things she has gone through and replaces it with a good thing she has done to show she covers up her mistakes. Now, the purpose of the poem “Still I Rise”, is to show how she has gone through a lot of bad experiences. Thus, Maya Angelou’s poems have a special connection to her and towards the world.