Ap English Comparative Essay

The author of “Still I Rise” is Maya Angelou, a well-known poet, author, and civil rights activist. This poem is about a poet who struggles to meet the social pressure and injustices of her time. Her poetry thus concentrates on two kinds of oppression – both racial oppression, and sexism. Amidst the challenges and adversities, she managed to survive and successfully claims that she will not be broken nor will she be defeated no matter how many times she is brought down by society. In this poem “Still I Rise”, I will be looking at critical works by Sandra Cookson, R. B. Stepto, and Lyman B. Hagen and stating why I agree with them.

“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.

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.

Title: Compare-Contrast Essay In twenty first century communication is very important aspect to humans. People have to talk the way listeners like. When there is male and female working together, there always occurs a problem of communication. Men like to talk about one topic whereas women like to talk about different topic. This problem commonly occurs in newlyweds. The husband thinks that his wife is so over caring, on the other hand the wife thinks that her husband is not emotional. This problem occurs because both men and women have different types of talking styles, different ways of thinking, and different point of views. I am reading two articles based on this problem. One of them is “His Talk, Her Talk” by Joyce

“Still I Rise” was written by Maya Angelou, who is an African-American poet. A majority of her poems are written on slavery and life as a African- American woman. “Still I Rise” is one of the many well known. She discusses how she is treated differently and refers to her ancestry and relates to events they went through during the time of slavery and the events she continues to go through during her time period of life.

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, 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.

Stepto analyzes the significance of the word choice and diction in Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” and how Angelou’s title poem, reminds us of Brown's famous "Strong Men," that it is the discovery of that point which helps us define Angelou’s particular presence and success. The poetic and visual rhythms created by the repetition of "Still I Rise" and its variants clearly revoice that of Brown's "strong men . . . strong men gittin' stronger." (Stepto 313) Stepto later suggests Angelou’s word play and draws the reader’s attention to Angelou’s usage of the word ‘I’ “But the "I" of Angelou’s refrain is obviously female and, in this instance, a woman forthright about the sexual nuances of personal and social struggle.” (Stepto 314) I plan on using this essay to further examine diction and its importance in this

“Still I Rise”, written by African-American writer Maya Angelou, includes a character who rises “Up from a past that’s rooted in pain.” No matter what words are said against her, lies are told about her, threats are made towards her, or words are written against her, she takes the past and uses it to fuel her confidence. The way she writes creates a deep sense of pride and feeling, while giving the poem life and helping the audience realise that they, too can rise. The diction, literary devices, and theme help the speaker portray her feelings about the topic of oppression in her experience.

In the poem, it utilizes point of view to base what the traveler in the transport is encountering. " in black sneakers laced with white in a complex pattern like a set of intentional scars." The lady realizes that the whites and blacks have had their terrible history in the past as she relates the dark shoes and the white bands bringing on an issue inside the shoe. The scars being every one of the contentions between the races previously. "We are stuck on opposite sides of the car," Referring to how blacks and whites were isolated and how she additionally observes it that

Through an examination of the female experience, Maya Angelou's Still I Rise (1978) and Anne Sexton's Her Kind (1960) utilise the authors' individual styles to inspire and shape our understanding of oppression and empowerment. In the difference in presentation of their common themes, the implications of different styles are shaped. Though there are similarities between the poets, it is the way they choose to utilise literary devices that creates a text that resonates with the audience in different ways.

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”).

Strength is one of the themes in this poem ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou. Strength is a universal theme. This poem was written from a woman’s point of view but not just any women an African-American woman. This is enhanced with direct references of ‘sexiness (line 25), sassiness (line 5), and diamonds at the meeting of my thighs’ (line 27). However, the poems thematic power lies in this applicability. Angelou’s sonnet is commanding by the way it delineates people who confer themselves to saving and triumphing over a foe that wishes to evacuate their voice. The closing of the first stanza explains this. ‘You may tread me in the very dirt/But still, like dust, I’ll rise (line 3-4) these words cold be uttered by a person who has marginalized and commits to be heard. This is where the poems resilient theme is universal. The refrain of ‘I rise’ is applicable to oppressive situations. This poem speaks for underrepresented and dispossessed. It gives them a voice which has been absent or might have been absent. That is what makes this poem