Still I Rise
---Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
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.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
Topic sentence: Maya Angelou’s poem
It is a very unique poem in terms of its structure as well as the way she portrays the themes. Maya Angelou being an African-American herself and growing up during the Civil Rights movement time describes, as the main themes of the poem, the oppression of African-Americans and their efforts towards freedom. The poet utilizes many literary terms such as repetition in which she repeats the phrase “I’ll rise” and “I rise”. This repetition is used so that it reinforces the main themes of the poem. The poet makes sure that these get across to the reader by using a very direct style in her poem and that is achieved by the use of the second person “You may write me down in history”. Moreover by employing the use of similes together with very strong and bold visual images such as “moons”, “suns”, “tides”, “gold mines” and “diamonds” the poet manages to create a very strong impression in the reader. The poet is using metaphors in the poem to describe the torture inflicted on the African-Americans “You may shoot me with your words”. Furthermore some of the images used in the poem, might have a more literal meaning and allude to the origins of the African-Americans in Africa. For example “diamonds”, “gold mines”, and “oil wells” also demonstrate the economic value of these and their exploitation by the western world.
The structure of the poem differs between the first 7 stanzas and the last one. In describing the reaction to the oppression, the poet is using future tense in the first seven stanzas “But still like dust I’ll rise” whereas in the last stanza present tense is used “I rise” to describe the resurgence .We notice a gradual change I the maturity of the oppressed people; “sassiness” to “haughtiness” which implies a different approach towards the people that oppress.
Maya Angelou manages very effectively to portray the oppression that the African-Americans suffered and in a wonderful way demonstrate their free spirit and rise out of the oppression.
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