analysis of still i rise poetry analysis essay

Still I Rise Summary & Analysis by Maya Angelou

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

“Still I Rise” is a poem by the American civil rights activist and writer Maya Angelou. One of Angelou's most acclaimed works, the poem was published in Angelou’s third poetry collection And Still I Rise in 1978. Broadly speaking, the poem is an assertion of the dignity and resilience of marginalized people in the face of oppression. Because Angelou often wrote about blackness and black womanhood, "Still I Rise" can also be read more specifically as a critique of anti-black racism.

• Read the full text of “Still I Rise”

The Full Text of “Still I Rise”

“still i rise” summary, “still i rise” themes.

Defiance in the Face of Oppression

• Lines 10-12

Lines 13-16

Lines 17-20, lines 21-24, lines 25-28.

• Lines 29-32

The Power and Beauty of Blackness

• Lines 19-20
• Lines 22-23
• Lines 27-28
• Lines 33-34
• Lines 39-40

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Still I Rise”

You may write ... ... dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness ... ... my living room.

Just like moons ... ... Still I'll rise.

Did you want ... ... my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness ... ... my own backyard.

You may shoot ... ... air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness ... ... of my thighs?

Lines 29-34

Out of the ... ... in the tide.

Lines 35-40

Leaving behind nights ... ... of the slave.

Lines 41-43

I rise ... ... I rise.

“Still I Rise” Symbols

Valuable objects

• Lines 7-8: “I walk like I've got oil wells / Pumping in my living room”
• Lines 19-20: “I laugh like I've got gold mines / Diggin’ in my own backyard”
• Lines 27-28: “I dance like I've got diamonds / At the meeting of my thighs”

• Line 10: “the certainty of tides”
• Lines 33-34: “I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”

“Still I Rise” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Line 21: “You may shoot me with your words”
• Line 22: “You may cut me with your eyes,”
• Line 23: “You may kill me with your hatefulness”
• Line 29: “the huts of history’s shame”
• Line 33: “I'm a black ocean”
• Line 40: “I am the dream and the hope of the slave”
• Line 4: “like dust, I'll rise”
• Line 9: “Just like moons and like suns”
• Lines 11-12: “Just like hopes springing high, / Still I'll rise”
• Line 24: “like air, I’ll rise”

Rhetorical Question

• Lines 5-6: “Does my sassiness upset you? / Why are you beset with gloom?”
• Lines 13-16: “Did you want to see me broken? / Bowed head and lowered eyes? / Shoulders falling down like teardrops, / Weakened by my soulful cries?”
• Line 17: “Does my haughtiness offend you?”
• Lines 25-28: “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?”
• Line 1: “You may”
• Line 3: “You may”
• Line 4: “But still, like dust, I'll rise.”
• Line 5: “Does my”
• Line 7: “’Cause I”
• Line 9: “Just like”
• Line 11: “Just like”
• Line 12: “Still I'll rise”
• Line 17: “Does my”
• Line 19: “’Cause I”
• Line 21: “You may”
• Line 22: “You may”
• Line 23: “You may”
• Line 24: “But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
• Line 25: “Does my”
• Line 30: “I rise”
• Line 32: “I rise”
• Line 36: “I rise”
• Line 38: “I rise”
• Lines 41-43: “I rise / I rise / I rise.”
• Line 2: “bitter, twisted”
• Line 4: “still, like dust, I'll”
• Line 24: “still, like air, I’ll”
• Line 33: “ocean, leaping”
• Lines 1-2: “history / With”
• Lines 7-8: “wells / Pumping”
• Lines 18-19: “hard / ’Cause”
• Lines 19-20: “mines / Diggin’”
• Lines 26-27: “surprise / That”
• Lines 27-28: “diamonds / At”
• Lines 29-30: “shame / I”
• Lines 30-31: “rise / Up”
• Lines 31-32: “pain / I”
• Lines 35-36: “fear / I”
• Lines 36-37: “rise / Into”
• Lines 37-38: “clear / I”
• Lines 38-39: “rise / Bringing”

Alliteration

• Line 1: “may,” “me”
• Line 3: “may,” “me,” “dirt”
• Line 4: “dust”
• Line 5: “sassiness upset”
• Line 6: “beset,” “gloom”
• Line 7: “walk,” “got,” “wells”
• Line 9: “suns”
• Line 10: “certainty”
• Line 11: “hopes,” “springing,” “high”
• Line 12: “Still”
• Line 13: “broken”
• Line 14: “Bowed”
• Line 17: “Does”
• Line 18: “Don't”
• Line 19: “laugh like,” “got gold”
• Line 20: “Diggin”
• Line 21: “You,” “may,” “me,” “with,” “your,” “words”
• Line 22: “You,” “may,” “cut,” “me,” “your”
• Line 23: “You,” “may,” “kill,” “me,” “your”
• Line 25: “Does,” “sexiness”
• Line 26: “Does,” “surprise”
• Line 27: “dance,” “diamonds”
• Line 29: “huts,” “history’s”
• Line 31: “past,” “pain”
• Line 33: “wide”
• Line 34: “Welling”
• Line 39: “gifts,” “gave”
• Line 1: “me,” “history”
• Line 2: “With,” “bitter,” “twisted,” “lies”
• Lines 4-4: “But still, / dust, I'll ”
• Line 4: “like,” “rise”
• Line 5: “upset,” “you”
• Line 6: “Why,” “you,” “beset,” “gloom”
• Line 7: “I,” “walk,” “like,” “I've,” “got”
• Line 8: “Pumping,” “in,” “my,” “living,” “room”
• Line 9: “like,” “like”
• Line 10: “tides”
• Line 11: “like,” “high”
• Lines 11-12: “springing / , / Still I'll ”
• Line 12: “rise”
• Line 13: “see,” “me”
• Line 14: “Bowed,” “lowered ,” “eyes”
• Line 15: “Shoulders,” “down”
• Lines 15-16: “teardrops, / Weakened by my ”
• Line 16: “soulful,” “cries”
• Line 18: “hard”
• Line 19: “I,” “like,” “I've,” “mines”
• Line 20: “my,” “backyard”
• Line 21: “You,” “shoot”
• Line 22: “You,” “eyes”
• Line 23: “You”
• Line 24: “like,” “I’ll ,” “rise”
• Line 25: “sexiness upset”
• Line 26: “surprise”
• Line 27: “I,” “like ,” “I've,” “diamonds”
• Line 28: “thighs”
• Line 29: “huts,” “shame”
• Line 31: “Up,” “past that’s,” “pain”
• Line 33: “I'm,” “wide”
• Line 34: “Welling,” “swelling,” “I ,” “tide”
• Line 35: “behind,” “nights,” “fear”
• Line 37: “wondrously,” “clear”
• Line 39: “Bringing,” “gifts,” “my,” “gave”
• Line 40: “I,” “slave”
• Lines 41-43: “I rise / I rise / I rise”

“Still I Rise” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• (Location in poem: Line 3: “trod”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Still I Rise”

Rhyme scheme, “still i rise” speaker, “still i rise” setting, literary and historical context of “still i rise”, more “still i rise” resources, external resources.

"Still I Rise" and Today's America — Read about the relevance and meaning of "Still I Rise" to America today. 

The Political Power of "Still I Rise" — Learn how the poem has remained relevant for contemporary political figures and celebrities. 

"Still I Rise" Art Exhibit — Learn how other artists have been inspired by and responded to Angelou's poem.

Maya Angelou Recites "Still I Rise" — Listen to the poet read "Still I Rise" aloud.

"Still I Rise" Music Video — Watch a video that creatively integrates Angelou's recitation of the poem with relevant images.

LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou

Harlem Hopscotch

Life Doesn't Frighten Me

On the Pulse of Morning

Phenomenal Woman

When Great Trees Fall

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Still I Rise

by  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 backyard. 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.

Meanings of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is highly suggestive of the defiance, resolution , and determination of a woman from a marginalized community to rise above others in the face of discrimination. Specifically, it speaks of the suppression of the women of African American community in the United States.

Meanings of Stanza -1

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.

This is the first quatrain or four-lined stanza of the poem that presents the defiance of the poet. She states that the historiographer may not appreciate her role in the history books and hide it through twisted lies and bitter truth or he may call her dirt. She will still rise up like dust. She means that she will rise up despite the fact that she has been crushed throughout history and that her role has been diminished. This stanza contributes to the main idea of racial discrimination by the use of “still” which points to the defiance of the poet.

Meanings of Stanza -2

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.

The poet asks her interlocutor two rhetorical questions and then responds to them. She asks him whether he has realized her teasing and why he is feeling sad. However, she, despite her seeming poverty and penury, is walking in a graceful manner as if she owns a petro-dollar industry. She states in metaphorical terms that it seems that oil wells are pumping in her living room. This stanza contributes to the overall meaning of the poem by showing that an African American woman is not afraid of demonstrating her confidence.

Meanings of Stanza -3

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.

Using two beautiful similes, Maya Angelou states that she is going to rise up, and it is her fate. It is a divine work like that of the moon, the sun, and the hope that does not subside in her. She states with certainty all these things will rise up and that the tide has turned as she is destined to rise. The poet is confident of good days coming ahead. The stanza contributes to the main idea in that it presents a hopeful African American woman determined to achieve something in life.

Meanings of Stanza -4

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?

Presenting a number of rhetorical questions, this stanza shows African American woman, or the poet herself, in a highly defiant tone , looking squarely at the interlocuter to point out his/her machinations. She asks them whether they want to see her as a broken lady. Do they want to see her submit to their will or a weak soul crying before them? This question wrings in her ears and comes on her lips, knowing full well the consequences. This also shows the confidence of the lady in question. Interestingly, this stanza contributes to the main idea of resolution and determination by presenting a confident lady.

Meanings of Stanza -5

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 backyard.

This stanza presents one rhetorical question in which the poet asks her interlocuter whether her pride in her achievements offends him/her. Then she explains that she is habitual of showing as if she is a very rich lady and that she has gold mines and that too in her backyard. She means that she is habitual in showing pride in her race and color and that the listeners or interlocutors should not mind this direction of her behavior. This stanza further contributes to the meaning of the poem about her resolution to rise up.

Meanings of Stanza -6

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.

This stanza presents the reverse picture. It shows how the interlocuter is alleged of racial suppression. The poet states using the second person that the person in question uses words to express their hatred toward the poet and other women of her race. They could kill her, but they could not stop her from rising up. This is a direct conversation with the interlocutor after the rhetorical questions in which the poet asks the interlocutors that they should stop obstructing her and her race through words or deeds. This stanza contributes to the overall meaning of the poem about the resolution of the poet.

Meanings of Stanza -7

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?

This stanza presents more rhetorical questions, but they are related to her sexual attraction. She states that it could be that her sexiness comes as a surprise due to the color of her skin, but that she has another thing that is like diamonds and that lies between her legs. This is her sexuality, she states, is precious to her and that it has the same attraction as other ladies. This stanza contributes to the main idea by stating the reasons for her defiance and resolution.

Meanings of Stanza -8

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.

This stanza presents the past of the speaker . She is of the view that she has been shamed and blamed during the entire period of history. She has suffered heavily. She has been drowned in the sea of blackness whose tides have made him swell and well. This history of ups and downs, however, is punctured with her rise that is definite now . The stanza contributes to the main idea of resolution, which is definite and final.

Meanings of Stanza -9

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.

This stanza again presents her determination. She states that the nights of terror and fear have gone. The dawn is now clear and beautiful. Her ancestors, who were slaves, have given her the gifts due to which she is destined to rise. The repetition of the anaphora “I rise” shows her confidence in her resolution and determination to rise up against heavy odds in life.

Summary of Still I Rise

• Popularity of “Still I Rise”: Maya Angelou, a famous American poet, wrote this poem. It was first published in 1978. The poem speaks about the resolution the poet to overthrow prejudices and injustices. It also summarizes the struggle and the positive attitude of the speaker against racial and gender discrimination.
• “Still I Rise” As a Representative of Courage : As this poem is the reflection of the speaker’s determination, she expresses her thoughts about how she will face the haters. She is determined to be strong and is ready to overcome everything with her self-esteem. At the outset, she narrates how people judge and perceive her, the problems she undergoes, and the resultant torture she suffers. She displays a highly positive attitude even after facing criticism. She resolves and says that she will never allow anyone to let her down and will continue to rise.
• Major themes in “Still I Rise”: Courage , pride, and injustice are some of the major themes crafted in the poem. The poet speaks about the biting criticism of dark skin in society. Also, she details how people want to kill them with hatefulness. But, the speaker is really proud of her identity, which she expresses in various ways in the text. She openly challenges those who want to hold her down. Instead of wallowing in stress and fear, she aims to live a happy and confident life.

Analysis of Literary Devices in “Still I Rise”

literary devices are used to bring depth and clarity to the text. Maya Angelou also employed some literary devices in this poem to describe her feelings. The analysis of some of the literary devices used in this poem is given below.

• Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i/ in “W i th your b i tter, tw i sted lies”.
• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, “You may write me down in history”; “You may shoot me with your words” and “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide.”
• Rhetorical Question : Rhetorical question is a question that is not to receive an answer; it is just posed to make the point clear. Such as, “Does my sassiness upset you?”; “Does my sexiness upset you?” and “Did you want to see me broken?”
• Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line. For example, the sound of /l/ in “Welling and swelling I bear in the tide” and the sound of /t/ in “Out of the huts of history’s shame”.
• Simile : It is used to compare an object or person with something else to make the meanings clear to the readers. There are a lot of similes used in this poem, such as, “But still, like dust, I’ll rise”; “Just like moons and like suns” and “’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines”.
• Anaphora : It refers to the repetition of a word or expression in the first part of some verses . The poet repeats the words “You may” in the opening lines of the poem to express her ideas. For example,

“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.”

• Enjambment : It is defined as a thought or clause that does not come to an end at a line break and moves over the next line. For example,

“You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”

Analysis of Poetic Devices in “Still I Rise”

Poetic Devices refer to those techniques a poet uses to bring uniqueness to his text. The analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem is given below

• Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. In this poem, there are nine stanzas with each stanza having four verses.
• Quatrain : A quatrain is a four-lined stanza borrowed from Persian poetry. Each stanza in the poem is a quatrain.
• Trochee: Trochee means there is a one stressed and one unstressed syllable in a line.
• Stressed and Unstressed Syllables: These two types of syllables are used in trochee such as the first is stressed and second is an unstressed syllable in “Still I Rise” and this pattern continues throughout the poem such as, “ You may write me down in ”
• Repetition : There is a repetition of the words “I rise” which has created a musical quality in the poem.
• Refrain : The lines that are repeated at some distance in the poems are called refrains. The phrase , “Still I’ll rise” is repeated in the first, third, and fifth stanzas with the same words. Hence it has become a refrain .

Quotes to be Used

The lines stated below can be used in a speech to lift the spirits of the people, motivate them and teach them how to ignore negative voices . These powerful words speak about the unbreakable courage of a person.

“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.”

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A Summary and Analysis of Maya Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Still I Rise’ is a poem by the American poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014), published in her 1978 collection And Still I Rise . A kind of protest poem which is defiant as well as celebratory, ‘Still I Rise’ is about the power of the human spirit to overcome discrimination and hardship, with Angelou specifically reflecting her attitudes as a black American woman.

You can read ‘Still I Rise’ here .

‘Still I Rise’: summary

Beginning with a pointed and direct reference to ‘you’, Angelou opens her poem with a neat piece of wordplay: ‘write down in history’ means both ‘write down the history of me and my people’ but also ‘write me down, i.e., downplay me and my achievements by lying about me’. Although people may seek to belittle her and other African-Americans, Angelou asserts that, even if she is trodden into the dirt, like the dust rising from someone’s boot, she, too, will rise and will not be defeated.

In the second stanza, Angelou poses a direct question. Is her sexuality, her confidence in herself and her own attractiveness, upsetting? She walks with confidence, as if she is as rich as an oil baron. And (moving to the third stanza) like the sun and the moon which rise every day and night, and like our hopes for a brighter future which persist despite hard times, she will continue to rise, too.

The moon image suggests the tides of the sea (which are a result of the moon’s gravitational pull on the earth’s seas), which also go out but come in again, as regular and dependable as the sunrise and sunset every day.

In the fourth stanza, more questions follow: Angelou accuses her addressee of wanting to see her spirit broken. But in the fifth stanza, she asserts her ‘haughtiness’: she holds her head high, rather than bowing it in submission or defeat. She laughs with the confidence and self-assurance of someone who is rich beyond their wildest dreams, with gold mines in their back yard.

The sixth stanza sees Angelou asserting her defiance: cruel words and unkind looks, and ‘hatefulness’ (a word which flickers with the dual meaning of both ‘detestable attitudes’ and ‘hatred for others’), may be slung at her and other black people, but they will rise ‘like air’: naturally and lightly.

The seventh stanza revisits the ‘sassiness’ mentioned in the second stanza, only this time it has been transformed into out-and-out sexiness. Angelou offers another variation on the confident swagger mentioned in earlier stanzas: this time, she looks as though she has diamonds at the ‘meeting’ of her ‘thighs’. The bodily or sexual and the wealthy and material have finally met and become one.

‘Still I Rise’ concludes by departing from the quatrain form used up until this point, instead ending with fifteen lines which see the refrain ‘I rise’ repeated multiple times. Angelou asserts that she, and others, rise from the ‘huts of history’s shame’ at how it has treated black people over the centuries. She is a ‘black ocean’, powerful, energetic, and vast, and she can bear and weather the tidal fluctuations that life throws at her.

Indeed, she is leaving behind those dark times of ‘terror and fear’ and a new dawn is beginning, which is brighter and more hopeful. Her ancestors, who had to endure slave labour and then, even once freed, generations of racial prejudice, dreamed of such a time, and now it is here: their ‘gift’ to her is in establishing the dream, which has now been realised, thanks to the struggles and fights of the Civil Rights campaigners like Angelou herself.

‘Still I Rise’: analysis

Maya Angelou’s work, both her poetry and her autobiographies, is about the importance of not being defeated by the obstacles and challenges life throws at you. When ‘you’ here denotes an African-American woman who grew up with more than her fair share of hardship, the message of her poems becomes even more rousing: Angelou had known what it was to struggle.

Despite these hardships, which included growing up as one of the few black girls in the town in Arkansas where she spent ten years of her childhood, Maya Angelou consistently reaffirms the positive and inspirational aspects of humanity, and ‘Still I Rise’ is one of her best-known poems which assert the life-affirming qualities within the human race.

Angelou acknowledges and even confronts directly the many oppressions and discriminations faced by black people throughout history, but the poem’s message is overwhelmingly positive and hopeful.

‘Still I Rise’ can be classified or categorised as an example of a lyric poem, because although it is not designed to be sung, it is a poem spoken by a single speaker, in which she expresses her thoughts and feelings. And the poem is both a personal lyric, a channelling of Angelou’s own tough upbringing and experiences, and a poem about a nation developing during the Civil Rights era, in response to writers and activists including Angelou herself.

‘Still I Rise’ is composed largely in quatrains rhymed abcb . The line lengths vary and the number of syllables and beats in each line also varies, giving the poem a sprightly, unpredictable feel. It belongs to a strong spoken-word tradition where poetry is returned to its oral roots: these are words meant to be recited, chanted, declaimed out loud in the living voice.

And the shift from more ordered abcb quatrains into a less predictable form in the poem’s final stanza is perhaps best analysed as a broadening out rather than a breaking down: the poet’s passion, confidence, and optimism burst into new life, and can no longer be contained by the conventional four-line stanza form. The form of the closing lines of ‘Still I Rise’ thus enact their meaning: they are rising above the past (embodied by the more traditional quatrain) and becoming something more individualised, spirited, and bespoke.

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General Education

Maya Angelou is one of the most important literary figures in twentieth century American history . Her poetry is often included on reading lists for high school English courses, and it may even make an appearance on the AP Literature exam.

In this article, we’ll give you a full introduction to Angelou and her engaging poetry so that you’ll be equipped to analyze it all on your own. To do this, we’re going to guide you through a close analysis of one of Angelou’s most famous poems, “Still I Rise.”

To help you learn what Angelou’s “Still I Rise” poem is all about, we’ll cover the following in this article: 

• A brief intro to the poet, Maya Angelou
• “Still I Rise” poem background
• The overarching meaning of “Still I Rise”
• The top three themes in the poem
• The top two poetic devices in the poem

Are you ready to dive in? Then let’s go!

Maya Angelou, speaking at Wake Forest University, in 2008. (Kingofthedead/ Wikimedia )

Meet the Poet, Maya Angelou

In order to fully understand the meaning of a poem, it’s important to start by looking at the life of the poet who wrote it. Why? Because poets sometimes reference their own life experiences, relationships, and personal identities in their works. In this instance, we’re going to look at the life of Maya Angelou, the poet who wrote the poem, “Still I Rise.”

Maya Angelou, whose given name was Marguerite Annie Johnson, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. Her father, Bailey Johnson, was a doorman and navy dietician, and her mother, Vivian Johnson, was a nurse and card dealer.

Growing up, Angelou’s home life was chaotic and sometimes emotionally distressing. Angelou’s parents divorced when she was three, and her home life became unstable. In the years following, Angelou and her brother were shuffled from place to place, including their grandmother’s home in Stamps, Arkansas. 

After returning to St. Louis at age eight, Angelou was sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend, Freeman. Angelou told her brother, who told the rest of the family, and Freeman was arrested and charged. He was only held in jail for one day, but he was murdered shortly after his release. Some scholars think Angelou’s uncles were responsible, seeking revenge for what Freeman had done to Angelou. 

After Freeman’s murder, Angelou returned to live with her grandmother in Arkansas and spent five years virtually mute. It wasn’t until a teacher and family friend, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, took an interest in Angelou that she was able to find her voice again. 

Flowers introduced Angelou to authors such as William Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe, as well as Black female artists such as Frances Harper and Jessie Fauset . Years later, Angelou stated that she could no longer speak because she believed that her voice had killed Freeman. She felt that Freeman’s murder was proof that her words had the power to kill. Nevertheless, it was during this difficult period of her life that Angelou’s interest in poetry and writing began to take root. During this time, she also graduated high school and had her son, Clyde, at the age of seventeen. 

Angelou married her first husband, Enistasious Tosh Angelou, in 1951 . Around this time, she began pursuing art more seriously. After her marriage ended in 1954, Angelou began dancing professionally at clubs in San Francisco. Her managers at the Purple Onion, a night club, suggested she formally adopt the name, “Maya Angelou,” which she did. 

In 1959, Angelou moved to New York City to concentrate on her writing career. She joined the Harlem Writers Guild , where she met several other African American authors and began publishing her work. In 1960, she met civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. After hearing him speak, Angelou began volunteering to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and taking a stand as a political activist. 

Angelou’s professional writing career took off when she and her son moved abroad in 1962. She worked as an editor at a newspaper in Cairo, Egypt, and wrote for various publications in Ghana as well. Angelou also met and began working with human rights activist Malcolm X during her years in Africa. When she returned to the United States in 1964, Angelou helped Malcolm X set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity. The organization disbanded when Malcolm X was assassinated the next year. 

Angelou pursued writing more intensely in the years after traveling broadly, witnessing the need for human and civil rights, and processing the assassination of her fellow activists and friends, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Throughout the 1970s, Angelou experienced her most productive writing period, writing articles, short stories, TV scripts, documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry.

Arguably, Angelou’s most famous work is her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , published in 1969. But Angelou’s poetry is also highly acclaimed. Both her autobiography and her poetry explore the complexities of her childhood growing up in Missouri and Arkansas, racial discrimination, sexual assault, and womanhood. These works also emphasize the power of storytelling and the spoken word —two themes that find root in her childhood experiences as well. 

Up until her death on May 28, 2014, Angelou continued to write, teach, give lectures and poetry readings, and participate in political campaigning. She even directed a feature film! Angelou was a prolific artist whose work evokes powerful images of what being a Black child, woman, and artist was like in twentieth century America. 

Want to hear Maya Angelou recite "Still I Rise" herself? Just click on the video above!

Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” Poem

“Still I Rise” was originally published in the 1978 poetry collection, And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. “Still I Rise” is the volume’s title poem and plays a crucial role in developing the collection’s key themes. It is also one of the most famous and widely read poems from this collection by Maya Angelou . 

Before we can dig into what the meaning of “Still I Rise” is, we need to actually read the poem. Take a look at the full text of “Still I Rise” below.

“Still I Rise” by 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 backyard.

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.

"Still I Rise" was written to address the discrimination that Black people face due to systemic racism in the United States. 

The Background Behind the “Still I Rise” Poem

One way that we can discern the meaning and themes of a poem is by looking at its background, including experiences in the poet’s life and broader historical events that may have influenced the poet. Still I Rise” was written to portray the resilience of Black people in response to racial discrimination and injustice. 

“Still I Rise” was written during the 1970s, when Angelou became involved in the civil and human rights movements, engaged in political activism, and traveled abroad to Africa. These experiences likely gave Angelou an intimate look at many forms of discrimination around the world. 

Angelou also met and worked with some of the most inspiring leaders of the civil and human rights movement during the 1960s and 1970s. This means that, while Angelou witnessed injustice, she also got to see the resilient spirit of Black people united in action. These experiences with racism and resistance influenced Angelou’s writing during the 1970s and shaped the themes in many of her poems, including “Still I Rise.” 

On top of these influences, Angelou also had a traumatizing childhood, which included her own personal experience with racial discrimination and sexual abuse. For Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise” and other poems are an outlet for processing that personal pain and finding ways to rise above the wounds individual people and society inflicted upon her. 

Now it's time to do a little investigation and figure out what Maya Angelou's poem is actually about! 

“Still I Rise”: Meaning and Themes

Now, let’s dig into the meaning of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Go ahead and reread the poem one more time so that it’s fresh in your mind as we talk about the “Still I Rise” poem’s meaning and themes. 

“Still I Rise” Poem Meaning

The central meaning of “Still I Rise” can be summed up like this: despite America’s violent and discriminatory treatment of Black people, Black resilience is an unstoppable force and a beacon of hope. 

The poem’s title, “Still I Rise,” suggests that the poem’s speaker is rising up despite or in response to challenging circumstances. As the poem develops, we learn that the speaker rises up in response to American society’s hatred and oppression of Black people.  

The speaker of the poem is Black, which we learn in these two lines in the last stanza: 

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

The speaker’s reference of slavery and ancestors situates them in a very specific cultural and racial role as a Black person. 

Additionally, we see how this Blackness rises up in opposition of hate, discrimination, and oppression throughout the poem. For example, in the second stanza, the poem’s speaker asks the reader:

The fourth and fifth stanzas pose questions to the reader in a similar fashion, asking:

Angelou opens each of these stanzas with questions as she calls out everyone who has participated in the oppression of Black people. She demands an explanation for their hatred, and each question calls out a specific instance of or type of mistreatment. Speaking on behalf of Black people who have experienced discrimination, the speaker questions why Black people are treated with violence and contempt. 

As the poem goes on, it becomes clear that those who hate Black people do so because of the strength, beauty, and resilience of Black people... even though the Black community remains oppressed. We see this in the similes that compare the spirit of Black people to resources that are an endless wellspring of riches, like “oil wells / Pumping in [the speaker’s] living room” and “gold mines / Diggin’ in [her] own backyard.” Using these comparisons, Angelou asks the reader to consider why it’s the enduring hope, joy, and strength of Black people  that makes others want to break them down.

While the strength and beauty of Black people incites hatred and intolerance, Angelou also portrays these qualities as the ultimate source of Black people’s strength to keep rising back up. The speaker argues that Black people refuse to give up in the face of society’s racism and oppression. Instead, they respond with remarkable strength. 

Now, let’s take a closer look at the three major themes that define Angelou’s poem: the relationship between personal and collective experience, the irrationality of racial hatred, and the enduring nature of Black resilience. 

Angelou not only talks about the ways in which Black people collectively experience racism, she is asking readers to examine their role in perpetuating racism, too.

Theme 1: The Relationship Between Personal and Collective Experience

The first theme we’ll discuss that’s important to understanding Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” is the relationship between personal and collective experience. 

First, there are two major characters in “Still I Rise”: the Black speaker of the poem, and the person to whom they’re asking their questions (the “you”/addressee).  

Let’s look at the poem’s addressee. Throughout “Still I Rise,” the poem’s speaker addresses an unknown “you.” At first glance, it may seem like this “you” could be anyone, but as we get deeper into the poem, it becomes clear that Angelou is addressing a specific type of person: anyone who despises or hurts Black people because of their racial identity. 

So, though it sounds like the speaker is addressing an individual when she says “you,” she’s actually referring to a group of like-minded people: all those individuals who participate in racial discrimination. When you read “you” in the poem, that’s who should come to mind. In that way, Angelou targets a collective experience of racism and racist behavior as the main topic of her poem. 

But we can also break down the identity of the poem’s “you” a bit more. We could also read Angelou’s use of “you” as her way of asking all readers to look inside themselves to see if they’re complicit in racism, too. 

In other words, Angelou could be asking us to examine ourselves for hidden biases: do we experience any of the negative feelings toward Black people that the “you” portrayed in the poem experiences? And if we do, do we want to be included in that hateful “you?” By addressing the reader as potentially being a part of that “you,” Angelou gives us an opportunity to reflect on their internalized biases and reject harmful ones that we may not have realized we were harboring. 

In that way, Angelou draws a strong connection between collective actions and our individual responsibility. It’s easy to write off a group of people as “racist,” but we have to remember that group is made up of individual people. And more importantly, “Still I Rise” argues that it’s our responsibility to make sure our own individual ideas, beliefs, and actions aren’t feeding a system that harms others. 

The poem’s speaker also exhibits the relationship between our individual selves and collective experiences. Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to themselves in the first person, often using “I” and “my” to refer to their experiences with racial discrimination.

But in the first and last stanzas of the poem, Angelou’s speaker indicates that their experiences are common and shared among Black people. The speaker does this by referring to the role of history in documenting both the oppression of Black people and their response to this oppression. 

Throughout the poem, the speaker’s individual experiences tie into the collective experiences of Black people. As the speaker “rises” from each individual attempt to break her or push her down, so do Black people as a whole. This is on display in the following stanza: 

In this final stanza of the poem, the speaker reveals that their resilience, and that of their people, comes from a shared and enduring collective experience. When the speaker refers to “the gifts that my ancestors gave,” they’re talking about how the strength of past Black people continues to undergird the Black community in the present. This is the historical narrative that truly defines who she is—not the bitter, twisted lies of their oppressors. 

So in this case, the speaker’s individual decision to rise in the face of discrimination contributes to Black people’s collective experience in the face of racism . And more importantly, her individual actions will help future generations continue to rise up and above as well.

Theme 2: The Irrationality of Racism

Another important theme that Angelou portrays in “Still I Rise” is the irrationality of racism. Angelou conveys this theme through rhetorical questions that demonstrate that the reasons people cite for hating Black people are trivial. 

The “you” who is addressed by the poem’s speaker is portrayed as being upset and offended because the speaker is sassy, hopeful, haughty, and sexy. Those seem like weird things to hate someone for, right? And you certainly wouldn’t oppress someone just because they exhibit those qualities! 

That’s exactly Angelou’s point in this poem. She’s showing that hatred and fear of Black people is irrational. The “bitter, twisted lies” that came to define America’s understanding of Black people since the early days of the country’s existence didn’t make sense then, and “Still I Rise” argues that they don’t make sense now. The poem reiterates that the lies that paint Black people as dangerous or “less than” others are baseless and untrue. 

Instead, the speaker rewrites the story of who they are in order to rise up against the hateful “you” that they’re addressing in the poem . By revealing the truth of who she is—sassy, sexy, human— she challenges the historical lies that support racist ideas. By asking the “you” if they are offended and upset because of who she truly is, Angelou’s speaker exposes the irrationality of the hatred directed toward Black people. 

Theme 3: The Enduring Nature of Black Resilience

A final central theme that characterizes “Still I Rise” is the enduring nature of Black resilience. Throughout the poem, the speaker portrays the nature of their resilience through comparisons to things that are known for their toughness or ability to endure. Ultimately, these comparisons between the resilience of the speaker and durable things symbolizes the resilient spirit of Black people in general. 

Angelou’s speaker characterizes their resilience as being similar to things from the natural world that endure through the weathering down that occurs as time passes. For instance, Angelou tells the poem’s “you” that, while they may be trodden into “the very dirt,” like “dust” they’ll rise again. And just like the moon, sun, and the tides of the ocean—all of which fall and rise—the speaker will continue to rise as well. 

Angelou makes these comparisons to portray the speaker’s resilience in a specific way. Like the “certainty” of the patterns of the sun and moon,  the speaker’s resilience is certain. It won’t fade away or diminish; it will endure. The speaker is ensuring the poem’s “you” that no matter what hateful things they say or do, the speaker will rise up no matter what. 

The references to human activities like pumping oil and mining gold work also the importance and value of resilience. 

The speaker says they walk like they’ve got oil wells pumping in her living room, and laughs like they’ve got gold mines in their backyard. Of course, the poem’s speaker doesn’t actually have oil wells and gold mines. Instead, the speaker makes these comparisons to show their resilient spirit is more valuable than oil and more precious than gold. 

Ultimately, the poem’s speaker is recognizing that the poem’s “you” can’t comprehend the value of the speaker’s resilience, nor can they diminish the driving force behind the speaker’s resilient spirit. 

The Top 2 Poetic Devices in “Still I Rise”

Poetic devices are literary devices that poets use to enhance and create a poem’s structure, tone, rhythm, and meaning. In Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” Angelou uses repetition and rhetorical questions to reinforce her poem’s meaning . 

Poetic Device 1: Repetition

Repetition is often used in poetry to solidify a key idea or theme. Similar to the refrain of a song, repetition can also be used to create a particular rhythmic effect and set a poem’s mood. In “Still I Rise,” Angelou’s speaker repeats the refrain, “Still I rise” and, “I rise” to convey the power of Black resilience and set a triumphant tone . 

The repetition of “Still I rise” and “I rise” set up a stark contrast between the hateful actions of the poem’s “you” and the resilient response of the poem’s speaker. Angelou describes how the poem’s “you” attempts to keep the speaker down. The “you” addressed by the speaker may “trod [them] in the very dirt,” “shoot [them] with your words,” and “cut [them] with your eyes.” These actions are all designed to break the spirit of the speaker. But in response to each of these attempts to oppress them, the speaker repeats the phrase, “I rise.” 

So whereas the hatred portrayed in the poem is dirty and low, the speaker’s resistance rises high above these kinds of exchanges. Rather than responding with hatred, the speaker walks, laughs, and dances, rejecting the lies of those who would oppress them. 

The repetition of the phrase, “I rise” is also symbolic: it conveys the ongoing resilience of the spirit of Black people in response to ongoing racism and discrimination. With each repetition of “I rise,” the reader gets a sense of just how strong and resilient the speaker is. This repetition emphasizes the speaker’s message that attempts to keep Black people down will never be successful. As the poem’s eighth stanza says, the resilience of Black people is like the ocean: 

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.

In other words, “rising up” is not something that the speaker and, by extension, Black people, do only once. Because racial oppression also endures, Black people find themselves rising up again and again. 

Poetic Device 2: Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are the other main poetic device that Angelou uses to convey the “Still I Rise” meaning. Rhetorical questions are questions that a writer poses in order to make the reader come up with their own answer--and think more deeply about complicated issues in the processes. Writers often use rhetorical questions to guide readers toward answers that reinforce the poem’s message. 

In “Still I Rise,” rhetorical questions appear at the beginning of four of the stanzas. Each rhetorical question in this poem is addressed to the poem’s “you.” Each question asks about the ways in which the speaker offends the addressee. This technique allows Angelou to investigate why the addressee hates the speaker...which also allows her to shine a light on the flimsy reasons behind racism as well.

The repetition of these rhetorical questions sets a tone that feels more like an interrogation than a conversation—and this is intentional. Each rhetorical question directed toward the hateful “you” in the poem serves to condemn their hatefulness, especially when Angelou’s speaker begins answering the questions herself. 

Additionally, the speaker answers the rhetorical questions for the reader in order to help readers see the insubstantial motivations behind their hatred of Black people. Take the question and answer sequence in the poem’s fifth stanza for example: 

The stanza above begins with a rhetorical question directed at the reader about haughtiness. But Angelou’s speaker also answers the question themselves, revealing that they already know the “you” in the poem is offended by her haughtiness. 

Ultimately, Angelou uses rhetorical questions to ask the collective “you” addressed in the poem to reflect on their own hatefulness and intolerance. By answering these questions with declarative statements throughout the poem, Angelou is signaling to the poem’s “you” that Black people aren’t confused about where this hatred comes from. They understand that Black people’s refusal to give up in the face of ongoing lies and cut downs only makes those who are filled with hate even angrier.

In fact, these rhetorical questions, piled up one after the other in the poem, convey an attitude of defiance. They prompt the poem’s “you” to essentially ask themselves, “Did you really think your hatred could keep us down?” Nevertheless, by stating the violence against Black people with each rhetorical question and communicating a resilient response to each cut down in her answers, Angelou emphasizes just how strong Black people are.

What's Next?

Analyzing poetry can be tricky, so it’s helpful to read a few expert analyses. We have a bunch on our blog that you can read through, like this one about Dylan Thomas’ “Do not go gentle into that good night” or this article that explains 10 different sonnets!

It’s much easier to analyze poetry when you have the right tools to do it! Don’t miss our in-depth guides to poetic devices like assonance , iambic pentameter , and allusion .

If you’re more about writing poetry than analyzing it, we’ve got you covered! Here are five great tips for writing poetry (and a few scholarships for budding poets , too).

These recommendations are based solely on our knowledge and experience. If you purchase an item through one of our links, PrepScholar may receive a commission.

Ashley Sufflé Robinson has a Ph.D. in 19th Century English Literature. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams.

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Easy Insightful Literature Notes

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou – Summary and Analysis

• Maya Angelou ’s landmark poem “Still I Rise” is an expression of grit and resolution of the black community in the face of oppression in the late 20 th century America.
• The poet-speaker expresses her pains and sufferings in a white-dominated society.
• But with an underlying tone of assertion, the speaker declares that however hard the society tries to humiliate her, she will rise above all odds.

Still I Rise – Explanation

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.

The poem starts with the word “you” as if the speaker directly addresses someone who is trying to “write her down in history”. So, the speaker alleges that this history is full of lies. Someone is trying to alter the history with “bitter, twisted lies” to show her lesser and in the wrong dimension. The speaker here shows a “don’t care” attitude though. She is firm in her courage.

She states very loudly that if she is put down to the level of dirt, she will rise from it. Just as the dust leaves the land and rises up in the air, she will rise again and prove herself. She has got the confidence.

In reality, the poet Maya Angelou is a representative of the Afro-American community and a civil rights activist. The poet here claims that the African-Americans were shown as less important by the White Americans who governed the country by large. So, these lines can be seen as a challenge thrown by the poet to the Whites who always try to demean the black people.

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.

The second stanza of the poem “Still I Rise” opens with a question. The poet-speaker refers her voice as “Sassy” (spirited or lively) and asks to the listeners whether her sassy tone is upsetting them. She also notices that the people in her society are looking gloomy or sad. She asks the reason behind it. Maybe they are jealous of her achievements.

The poet-speaker is proud that she is successful in her life now. She has the attitude as if she has got the oil wells. In the then America, the businessmen of oil Industry were among the richest. So, the idea of “oil wells pumping in my living room” symbolizes her success. She conveys her happiness, confidence and her powerful positive attitude that are behind her success.

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.

In this stanza, the speaker compares herself with the moon and the sun. The movements of the moons and the suns (the stars and the satellites) are eternal facts of the universe which never change. Just like every new day the sun shines, and when the sun sets, the moon rises, the speaker is damn sure of her rise.

The speaker reiterates the certainty of her success. That is as inevitable as the certainty of tides in rivers and seas. She compares her rise to rising hopes. Even though the White Americans try to humiliate her, she will rise with the certainty of the sun, the moon and the tides. “Still I’ll rise” is the promise she makes and the challenge she poses.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?

The speaker asks if others wanted to see her in a state of mental breakdown – unhappy, broken and shattered. She knows that some people are unhappy with her rising success and they would rather want to see her in a disaster.

They wished that she were a broken lady with bowed head and lowered eyes, and with fallen shoulders like the teardrops from her “soulful cries”. It means they wanted to see her not only devastated just from outside, but also deserted from deep within her soul.

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 backyard.

Now the speaker asks if her haughtiness (proud nature) offends others. She guesses that everyone is annoyed at she being bold. She advises people not to take it so seriously.

She tells them not to get offended by her attributes. She uses here the reference of “gold mines”. She flaunts her “success” before the society in such a way that people feel as if she has found a gold mine in her own backyard. Apparently, the speaker is enjoying the success she has found.

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.

Angelou now mentions the gestures of the people which are not so good. They are using abusive words against her which is like shooting her. They give her nasty looks. It feels like they’re cutting her by those sights. She is not being loved by others. Her enemies use “hate” as weapon to kill her.

She feels very sad and upset at these gestures. But still she is a strong lady. Despite such hindrances, like the air, she will rise. These looks, abusing words and hatred can’t do any harm to her. She can’t be stopped by anyone.

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?

The speaker continues her questioning of society. According to others, she has no physical charm and is inferior. So, people get upset when they see her desirability and the graceful way she presents herself. They also get surprised seeing her dance and the way she enjoys herself. She dances as if she got diamonds at the joint place of her thighs. The image of “diamond” is used to describe her womanliness.

The truth is that she is simple like anyone else and has no extraordinary beauty. But her confidence and the way she presents herself makes the difference and makes people surprised and jealous.

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.

Now the speaker’s tone turns serious in this stanza. She is determined to rise from the shameful events that happened to her in the past. Here “history’s shame” is an illusion to the practice of slavery. She recalls her painful days. The past was brutal and unfair to the black community and it’s hard to bear such painful memories. But she wants to move forward and rise above it.

She compares herself to a black ocean. So, here the speaker gives a direct hint that she is from the black community. As we know it, the whites have always tried to suppress the blacks. Angelou declares that she can leap across anything. Her personality is like the water that wells (rises) and swells. She bears through everything in life which is compared to the tide here. Though it is very hard to get over the tide of life, she will rise.

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.

The final stanza of Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” gives us a powerful concluding message. In the previous stanza, we get to know about Afro-American people and their sufferings. Their nights of terror and fear are passed. The night has gone, the day is breaking out. The speaker is hopeful and could see a wonderful clear and bright future lying ahead of her.

She is proud of her ancestry, so she celebrates its gifts. Her ancestors were brought into the continent as slaves. They had fought their fight. She got this energy and boldness from her ancestors who had suffered a lot and gave her the lesson of bravery and survival.

Now, as she has got success, she has become the dream and the hope of the slaves, of those trodden-down people. And this responsibility gives her further strength and courage to rise against all the sufferings. She is resolute to rise and she will keep rising.

Still I Rise – Into details

Publication.

“Still I Rise” is an inspiring and emotional poem that’s based on Maya Angelou’s experience as a black woman in America. This poem was published in the year 1978 in a poetry collection named “And Still I Rise”. It is the title poem of this collection and it appears in the third part of the book. It was published by Random House.

Angelou wrote the poem “Still I Rise” in the decade following the American Civil Rights Movement . Angelou herself became involved in the civil and human rights movements. The main focus of this movement was to achieve equality for the black people in the United States. The Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. Angelou wrote this poem in the late 1970s, during the post-Civil Rights Movement Era.

She wrote this poem in the context of the oppression of the black people in the white-led society. Her ancestors were brought to America as a slave. White people tortured them brutally. Angelou closely witnessed the injustice towards the black people. Her experiences with racism and her struggle influenced Angelou to write this poem.

In this poem, Angelou reveals her resolution to overcome the odds through her self-esteem. She is firm in her belief. Nothing can get her down. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, including her skin color, can hold her back. Through this poem, Angelou motives the black community with hope and courage.

After reading the whole poem, we can assume that the poem is set in America. Angelou is one of the most important literary figures in the 20 th century American history. The main agenda of the poem “Still I Rise” has been a sharp message to the white people that they cannot suppress the black community for long and they will eventually rise from the dust with the courage and strength they have got from their ancestors.

In this poem, she mentions the Afro-American people’s sufferings. So, the poem is set in the late 20 th century America.

The title “Still I Rise” suggests that the speaker is rising up despite some challenging circumstances. Being a black woman, Angelou witnessed the brutal torture towards black people. American society showed their hatred and oppression to the Afro-American people. This poem can be seen as a response to that oppression. We see throughout the poem, how her confidence rises up in the face of hate, discrimination and oppression. So, in this context, the title is appropriate.

Form and language

“Still I Rise” is a nine-stanza lyric poem that’s separated into uneven sets of lines. The first 7 stanzas are quatrains – made up of 4 lines each. The 8 th stanza has 6 lines and the 9 th has 9 lines. So, there are total 43 lines. The poem is full of figurative language like similes and metaphors. It is enriched with so many rhetorical questions which are unanswered.

The language is straightforward and the tone is assertive depicting the poet-speaker’s confidence and strong personality. The speaker uses first person pronoun ‘I’ repeatedly to convey her own feelings and emotions to the readers. Also going by its subject-matter, which related to the poet Maya Angelou herself, the poem is highly subjective .

Meter and Rhyme scheme

The first seven stanza of Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” follow a regular rhyme scheme of ABCB. The rhyme scheme of the eighth stanza is ABABCC and the ninth is ABABCCBBB.

The poet uses irregular metrical pattern here. The prominent meter of this poem is a falling meter or trochee where a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed one.

You may | write me | down in | his to ry

With your | bi tter, | twis ted | lies ,

You may | trod me | in the | ve ry dirt

But still , | like dust , | I’ll rise .

In the first stanza of the poem, we see that the first three lines runs on a trochee meter while the last line has an iambic (unstressed-stressed) meter.

However, this falling meter in the first three lines and the contrasting rising meter in the last line of the stanza may well indicate the tone of sufferings (fall) of the speaker and his eventual rise from the fall. Again, the use of a spondee (two stressed syllables) in “I’ll rise” emphasizes the idea of her rise.

Still I Rise – Themes

Defiance in the face of oppression.

In the poem “Still I Rise” the poet-speaker Maya Angelou represents the black Afro-American community and presents her defiance in the face of oppression. The white people in the American society dominated the black people. This poem is a bold statement against the brutality of the whites.

The society constantly tries to humiliate her. Her past experience is painful. But she is not defeated. She has the strength and courage to rise above all odds. Her poem “Still I rise” can be seen as a powerful statement specifically against anti-black racism in America. She thinks herself as the dream and hope of the oppressed section of the society and therefore motivates them through this poem. That is why she repeats the words “I rise” so many times in the poem.

Beauty and strength of blackness

Maya Angelou looks to shatter the idea of white supremacy in her landmark poem “Still I Rise”. She reiterates that black lives also matter. They can also be successful. She repeats the words “I rise” and “still I rise” again and again throughout the poem to convey the confidence and power in their blackness.

Though their white counterparts want to show them in bad light, they still rise above all oppression. Black people can be happy and proud too. They too can walk and talk proudly; they too can dance and enjoy themselves; they too have inner beauty within themselves. And it’s time everyone recognizes and appreciates the beauty and power in even in the blackness of those African-American community.

Still I Rise – Symbols

Black ocean.

Ocean is a powerful force of nature. In the poem “Still I Rise”, the speaker compares herself with black ocean. This black ocean represents black community. In America in 1970s, Black people were oppressed by the whites. She declares that despite all hurdles, she will move up. She, like the ocean, is strong and forceful. The poem uses the ocean to represent the speaker’s power inherent in her blackness and the inevitability of her rise above oppression.

Oil wells, gold mines and diamonds

Maya Angelou has mentioned oil wells, gold mines and diamonds – all the valuables to indicate her own value, her confidence, success, happiness and achievements. She says she walks like she’s got oil wells pumping in her living room, she laughs like she’s got gold mines in her backyard and she dances like she’s got diamonds at the meeting of her thighs. All these things also symbolize the potential of the black community and the beauty in blackness.

Still I Rise – Literary Devices

End-stopped lines.

An end-stopped line in poetry is a line of verse where a sentence or phrase comes to an end with the end of the line, generally with a punctuation mark like a comma, colon, full stop etc.

In poetry, when a sentence continues to the next line of a verse without pause, it is called an enjambment. Here are a couple of examples of enjambments from the poem “Still I Rise” –

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines Diggin’ in my own backyard. ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room.

A caesura in poetry is a pause (with a comma, semicolon etc.) in the middle of a line. Here’s an example from the poem “Still I Rise” –

Assonance is a literary device where similar vowel sounds get repeated in nearby words, often in the same line of verse. There are so many occurrences of assonance in the poem “Still I Rise” –

You may write m e down in histor y W i th your b i tter, tw i sted l ie s, You may trod m e in the ver y dirt But st i ll, like dust, I’ ll rise.

Consonance is like a counterpart of assonance – repetition of consonant sounds in neighbouring words.

You m ay w r i t e m e down in his t o r y With your bi tt er, t wis t ed lies, You m ay tr od m e in the ve r y di rt But st i ll , l ike du st , I’ ll rise.

See how the ‘m’, ‘t’, ‘r’, ‘s’ and ‘l’ sounds get repeated in the first stanza itself. Consonance is used in abundance throughout the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.

Alliteration

Alliteration is a type of consonance. It is the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning (or, stressed syllables) of nearby words.

You m ay trod m e in the very d irt But still, like d ust, I’ll rise.

(repetition of /m/ and /d/ sounds at the beginning of words)

That I d ance like I’ve got d iamonds Out of the h uts of h istory’s shame

Sibilance is also a sub-type of consonance where the /s/ sound is repeated several times creating a hissing sound.

But s till, like du s t, I’ll ri s e. Doe s my s a ss ine ss up s et you?

A simile is a direct comparison between two different things using ‘as’ or ‘like’. Here in the poem “Still I Rise” we can see at least one simile in each of the first seven stanzas, and all of the similes found in the poem are constructed using the word ‘like’. For example –

But still, like dust, I’ll rise .

In the above line, the poet-speaker has compared herself to dust using the word ‘like’, as she is determined to rise from the ground like dust itself.

’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room.

Here, the speaker again compares her attitude to that of the owner of an oil-well. She walks so proudly as if she has got oil wells pumping in her living room.

In contrast to simile, a metaphor is an indirect comparison between two different things where there is a point of similarity.

You may shoot me with your words , You may cut me with your eyes , You may kill me with your hatefulness ,

In the above lines, the speaker claims that the white-dominated racist society ‘shoots’ her with words, ‘cuts’ her with their stares and ‘kills’ her with their hatefulness. But words cannot literally ‘shoot’ one or hate cannot ‘kill’ one. But it implies how much it pains and hurts when people use their abusive words, evil glances and hatefulness to demean her. That is like shooting, cutting and killing her. This is a comparison made indirectly between ‘killing’ and ‘hurting’. So, these are all instances of metaphors in the poem.

I’m a black ocean , leaping and wide,

The above line is also an example of metaphor where the speaker compares herself with a black ocean. She is from the black Afro-American community and has got the strength of an ocean to leap and rise above all oppressions. That is why she makes this indirect comparison with a black ocean.

Rhetorical Questions

In literature, a rhetorical question is a question which is not meant for an answer. It is used to create an emphasis or to make a point rather than to get an answer. Angelou has used a number of rhetorical questions in “Still I Rise” to convey her feelings and emotions effectively.

Does my sassiness upset you? Did you want to see me broken? Does my haughtiness offend you?

Repetition is also a literary device where same words or phrases are used again and again in a piece of writing. Here are examples from the present poem –

You may write me down in history (line 1) You may trod me in the very dirt (line 3) You may shoot me with your words, (line 21-23) You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness,

Look at how the words “You may” have been repeated in the above lines.

Similarly, the phrase “ I rise ” has been repeated 7 times, “ I’ll rise ” is repeated thrice, “ Does my ” is repeated thrice, “ Just like ” is repeated twice and “ But still ” is repeated twice in the poem.

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“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou Analysis – Understanding the Poem

Still I Rise is an ideal example of the kind of work that Maya Angelou produced over the course of her life. This is one of the best-known poems that she produced over her long and illustrious career as a writer, which is why we are going to provide a Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis in this article. This will entail an in-depth analysis of the poem to explore the Still I Rise meanings that can be determined, alongside some more general points such as the theme of Still I Rise , a brief look at Maya Angelou herself, the poem’s use as a piece of spoken word poetry, and a final Still I Rise summary list for those who need it. This should be useful for anyone who wants to learn more about this fantastic and influential poem!

Table of Contents

• 1 Still I Rise by Maya Angelou Analysis
• 2 Maya Angelou: The Poet Behind the Words
• 3.1 Stanza One
• 3.2 Stanza Two
• 3.3 Stanza Three
• 3.4 Stanza Four
• 3.5 Stanza Five
• 3.6 Stanza Six
• 3.7 Stanza Seven
• 3.8 Stanza Eight
• 3.9 Stanza Nine
• 4 The Theme of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
• 5 Still I Rise As Spoken Word Poetry
• 6 Still I Rise Summary Points
• 7.1 What Is Still I Rise by Maya Angelou?
• 7.2 What Is Still I Rise About?
• 7.3 Who Was Maya Angelou?
• 7.4 What Else Did Maya Angelou Write?
• 7.5 What Is the Difference Between And Still I Rise and Still I Rise?

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou Analysis

Still I Rise is one of the most famous poems that Maya Angelou ever wrote, and because of that, many may wish to ask: “What is Still I Rise about in the first place?”. This poem deserves a lengthy, in-depth analysis to examine various parts of the text and how they work with one another to produce the Still I Rise meaning that Angelou may have intended. However, before we get to that part of the article, let’s first have a look at the woman behind the poem that we will soon analyze.

Maya Angelou: The Poet Behind the Words

Maya Angelou is often considered to be one of the greatest poets of the 20th and 21st centuries. Her work has been profoundly influential on a great many poets and writers. She would become one of the central literary figures in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States, and her work was often concerned with African American people, civil rights, oppression, and rising above it.

Maya Angelou grew up poor and suffered through racial, sexual, and economic oppression, and these hardships influenced much of the work that she produced over her long career.

In addition, she became immensely well-known for her autobiographies, plays, films, children’s books, and much more. She was incredibly accomplished and served as an inspiration to many others. She would eventually pass away in 2014, but her influence and large collection of work have remained to influence others. The last of the figures of her generation is passing away, but the many hardships that they faced paved the way for many who would follow in her footsteps, and today, we will examine one of her best-known and most poignant poems: Still I Rise.  

An In-Depth Analysis of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

It’s time for us to start on our in-depth Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis. This analysis will go stanza by stanza to investigate the different ways in which this poet presents the information that she wants to convey to the reader or listener of this poem. It is worth examining a poem on a molecular level because we will only be able to see all the different parts and how they relate to each other when we do so.

Now, before we jump into the first stanza, we should first consider the title of the poem: Still I Rise. Why has this particular title been chosen for this particular poem?

We have not yet read anything in the poem, but if we do know something about the poet, and we have briefly examined her work, we should be able to determine that something like this may be along similar lines to the kind of work that Maya Angelou often wrote. The name also evokes a certain kind of perseverance. It is a statement that implies that the poet has fallen but that she still rises. This is likely metaphorical. So, before we even get started on the poem, we may be able to determine that this poem is about perseverance of some kind. Let’s see if these presumptions about the title are in any way true.

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.

The first line opens with the idea of history, and it makes use of a confrontational tone. The speaker is confronting an invisible subject, and that subject is the kind of person who wants her, or people like her, to fail. They use “bitter” and “twisted” lies when they write about her. The concept of “history” in this case does not necessarily refer to history as it may be taught in school, but rather on an individualized level.

These are the kinds of people who may attack and try to produce a certain kind of image of her for others. They are trying to turn others against her, or even against herself.

The next lines refer to her being in the dirt, and in this instance, “dirt” is obviously used in a metaphorical sense, but it is used in a way that may evoke very real and understandable images of oppression. In many oppressive systems, those who enforce the oppression may, quite literally, push someone into the dirt. As Maya Angelou often wrote about the experiences of African American people in the United States, it makes sense that this kind of imagery would be used. It implies an immoral kind of law enforcement that intentionally oppresses people.

From here, it starts with the concept of rising above it. It states that “like dust”, she will rise above it. In this case, the concepts of “dust” and “dirt” are directly compared to one another. We often use these kinds of terms together, but there is a more positive connotation for dust rather than with dirt. “Dirt” implies something disgusting and dirty. “Dust”, on the other hand, can be linked to more biblical ideas of us coming from dust and returning to dust. This could, therefore, be seen as a kind of biblical metaphor for coming from nothing to become something.

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.

This stanza starts the poem’s use of questions. Each of these questions is intended to reinforce some kind of a confrontational view of the subject that the speaker is addressing. We have already noted that the speaker is addressing someone who seeks her oppression, and these questions serve to continue that confrontational tone. The first directly questions whether the sassiness of the speaker upsets them. This is a personalized attack, and it does call to mind the stereotypical way in which many African American women are described as “sassy”.

However, instead of arguing against the idea of being called sassy, the speaker wants to know why this character trait is seen as so negative. It’s a rhetorical question meant to ask why a trait such as this is one that deserves criticism.

The second question, on the other hand, is more focused on the person that is being addressed. It asks why they are the way they are. This section does not act as if the character traits of the speaker are the problem, but rather that the traits of the subject are the problem. They are angry and want others to be oppressed. Why? What is wrong with these people that they would want to hurt someone like the speaker? What has happened in their lives to make them attack someone simply for the crime of living their lives? This can, obviously, be seen, considering the first line’s use of a more racialized question, that these people may be racists or misogynists (or a combination of such bigotries). The people who attack her are those who may not be worthy of any time or attention, but she addresses them regardless of that.

The last two lines make use of enjambment to have them flow into one another as a single statement rather than being read as two separate lines. This allows for a longer thought than many of the previous lines have allowed. This is not a question, but an answer to the questions that have already come through the use of a simile. It states that the answer to those questions is that she acts as if she’s rich as if she’s confident. The wealth connotation comes from the idea of the speaker having “oil-wells” in her home. Anyone who is able to pump oil is clearly someone with money, and having money can often make one very confident.

In this case, she acts as if she has wealth even when she does not. She does not shy away from them and acts in a way that these others would want. She acts as if she is equal to, or even above, them.

Stanza Three

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

This stanza ditches the question format to instead make use of two similes in a row. It compares her to the moon and the sun, to something certain rather than something that can be questioned. It sees her as possessing hope, and hope is seen as a powerful thing, and it, for the first time, uses the word “still” before the already stated “I’ll rise.” The poem is building to its reinforcement of the rising above oppression that it wishes to explore.

It is setting up the repetition that will lead to the affirmation that is the point of the poem. The next stanza returns to the use of questions.

Stanza Four

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

This stanza, unlike any of the others, makes use of three questions. It wants to reinforce the confrontation that is being levied against the subject of the poem. It asks if the subject wants to see the speaker as someone who has been broken down and someone who has a lowered head and eyes. These two images draw immediate comparisons to oppression, and, considering the one who wrote it and the ideas that will be discussed later, the concept of African American slavery in the United States.

To have someone metaphorically “broken” is to have them be something that has lost their self-respect, their self-confidence, their self-reliance, and so on. Oppression can break people down in this way, and the next line, in which it evokes the image of lowering eyes further implies this concept.

When one is oppressed, one does not look at one’s oppressor. To gaze upon the oppressor is to invite further oppression, as was explored by bell hooks through her concept of the oppositional gaze. One who is oppressed is taught that if one wants to remain as comfortable as possible in oppression, one must not look upon the oppressor. That only makes the oppressor angrier at them.

However, to have one’s head bowed and one’s eyes averted is to treat the oppressor as a god. An oppressor wants to be seen as a god, and this is why the question asks if the oppressive subject wants to see her with “bowed head and lowered eyes”. They want her to be someone who is under them, someone who is afraid to look at them, because when someone is afraid to look at you, you, as an oppressor, can feel that you are superior to them. So, when the speaker refuses to bow her head and avert her gaze, she is challenging what they want from her and all oppressed people. Essentially, she refuses to stay in her place.

The last two lines continue with these questions in a similar vein. They reinforce the idea of the bowed head and averted eyes with the image of slumped shoulders and weakness.

Each of these images evokes someone who has given up. Someone who has accepted their fate. By asking these confrontational questions, we can presume that the speaker has refused to do these things that they are seemingly meant to do, according to the oppressors.

Stanza Five

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 backyard.

The first line, once again, uses a question. This line draws a direct comparison to the idea of her being sassy from an earlier stanza. The idea of “haughtiness” is also one that is stereotypically applied to African American women. She is sassy and haughty, and these positive attributes are something that oppressors don’t like to see. She refuses to act the way she is supposed to act, in their opinion.

She acts as if she is allowed to talk back to them, to refuse to avert her eyes. and to refuse to treat them as her superiors.

The second line is, essentially, a sassy remark. It pokes at the oppressor and states that they shouldn’t “take it awful hard”, and this is a rather condescending statement. The condescension that oppressors aim towards oppressed people is turned on its head here. Rather than them acting as if the oppressed are like children, the stereotypically oppressed are acting as if the oppressors are children. This reinforces the confrontational tone that can be found in Still I Rise .

The final two lines are essentially a rephrasing of the idea of her having “oil-wells” in her home. This time, it uses the image of gold mines, which also produce a wealth-oriented image. However, this wealth is connected, through a simile, to her laugh. She laughs and enjoys herself as if she has wealth and power. She does not, and this angers the oppressor, because she acts as she wants to act and does not pretend that she must hide herself away and be weak in the way that they want her to be weak.

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.

This stanza makes use of immensely violent imagery. We have already seen that the poem uses slave imagery, although it has yet to directly use that term, but the history of African Americans in the United States was one of slavery followed by racial separation laws followed by a fight for civil rights.

The image of police, and other oppressive groups, fighting against protestors is one that can be seen in the imagery of shooting and cutting used in the first two lines.

These images are used in a metaphorical sense, as the shooting is done with words and the cutting with the gaze of the oppressor. The confrontational tone continues here as it attacks those ideas. It says that the oppressor “may” attempt these things, which also implies that they will not work. They will simply be intended.

The third line veers straight towards death with the idea of them killing her with their hate, and it is difficult to see this kind of hatefulness as applying to anything other than bigotry. However, the stanza ends with another repetition of the “still” and “I’ll rise” ideas.

Stanza Seven

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?

Once again, this is another question. This one uses the idea of sexiness. This is a concept often associated with women in general, and so the misogyny angle may be stronger than the racial angle in this particular stanza. However, there are many racist archetypes that are used in various literary works, such as the noble savage, and the idea of the highly sexual and alluring exotic woman is one of those archetypes.

She may be evoking that kind of image to attack the puritanism of the oppressors. They do not want her to be sexy. They want her to be afraid of her own sexuality, to be repulsed by it.

Thereafter, the stanza makes use of another metaphor to connect another wealth image with an overtly sexual one. This time, it discusses diamonds, which have long been associated with wealth, but it also states that she has them “at the meeting of my thighs”. This is quite an overt way of referring to female genitalia, and by comparing wealth to her own genitalia, she is confidently asserting and celebrating her own sexuality. She refuses to act as if it is something shameful. She knows she is sexy, and she doesn’t care what the attempted oppressor thinks of that.

Stanza Eight

Out of the huts of history’s shame

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

The second-last stanza ditches the prior quatrain, or four-line, structure and instead intersperses the four standard lines with an affirmation. The first line now directly and overtly mentions the history of the African American people. It uses the alliteration of “huts” and “history” to call attention to the idea of traditional African huts. The kind of huts that African American people were stolen from when they were taken as slaves and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean as if they were objects. The second line states that “I rise”.

The third line further reinforces the historical message. It states that this history is rooted in pain, and the idea of “roots” is a common one in African American literature.

The roots of the slaves were found elsewhere, outside of the United States, and their roots are important. The next line once again repeats the “I rise” statement. The use of this line after two strong and powerful historical statements is confident and confrontational. It does not shy away from the horrors that the African American people, and, by extension, the speaker, have experienced.

The last two lines make use of a metaphor. Prior to this, the structure of the poem had used a simile in this particular place, and so the shift to a metaphorical arrangement is significant. It calls her an ocean. She is a powerful ocean, and words like “leaping”, “wide”, “welling”, and “swelling” make use of rhyme and consonance to directly compare them to one another and to show the power of this ocean.

Stanza Nine

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

Once again, the quatrain structure is gone, but it does still persist in some sense. Four of the lines are longer, while the others are repetitions of the phrase “I rise”. Those four lengthier lines call images of night and day to the fore of the poem. The first line shows the horrors of the metaphorical night that she has left behind in favor of the metaphorical day in which things can be better.

The final two lengthier lines are more overt in their presentation of the African American people. It mentions her ancestors and directly uses the term “slave”. It states that she is what the slaves dreamed and hoped they could one day achieve.

She has her freedom, and no one can take that from her. She refuses the attempts of the oppressors to push her back down. She has her confidence, and she will not back down anytime soon. She has risen above it, and the final three lines reaffirm that.

The last three lines of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou are simply the same statement three times in a row: “I rise”. This repetition serves as a means of reinforcing for both herself and all others, that she has risen above it all. She will not heed the voices of the oppressors. Why would she? Why would she listen to any like that? They are not worth her time or energy, and they can sit around and be angry and furious that someone like her is unafraid of them, but she does not care.

It can also be noted that the last three lines only use a period at the very end of the last line. This implies that these three lines are one sentence and are stated in rapid succession.

They are an affirmation. They are something to say to oneself to remind oneself about how far one has come. The speaker is no longer susceptible to what the oppressors have to say or think. She has risen above. And that has been our in-depth Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis.

The Theme of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

We may have concluded our actual Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis, but let’s quickly look at things in a more general sense for a time. Let’s have a look at the theme of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. However, one cannot truly discuss the “theme of Still I Rise ”, as there are actually many different themes that can be seen in the poem. So, let’s briefly discuss some of those themes.

Perhaps the most overwhelming theme that can be found in this poem is concerned with confidence in the face of oppression.

The use of various oppressive ideas and statements has been explored throughout the text, and the in-depth Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis section of this article should have provided substantial evidence of that, and those ideas are constantly refuted through a confrontational tone.

The confidence in the confrontational tone is another important aspect of the poem’s theme of confidence. To be confident, one must speak one’s mind and one must not shy away from voicing what needs to be voiced. The poem shows that the speaker, and by extension, those who also try to rise above it, can confidently express themselves and refuse to feel shame or sorrow for who they are.

This leads to the theme of empowerment. This poem is aimed towards marginalized people, but many of the references are directly connected to the experience of African American women. However, anyone who has experienced oppression can draw something from the confidence of the poem, and through that confidence, they can become empowered against the oppression that they have faced in their lives.

Furthermore, the themes of resilience and perseverance operate alongside these empowerment and confidence themes. They strive towards producing dignity and celebration in those who have suffered through oppression in their lives, and it also serves as a means of refusing to be silenced, to live as the oppressor wants them to live. It is a powerful expression of going against certain societal expectations and fighting for what should be yours to possess.

Also, of course, the poem does quite explicitly criticize racism and misogyny. The majority of the critique is focused on the former of these two points. Racism, predominantly the racism experienced by African American people in the United States, is something that Maya Angelou critiques quite heavily in this poem through various confrontational statements.

However, while she may have come from an American perspective, this kind of racism can be found throughout the world, and so it will be an understandable feeling to many around the globe.

Still I Rise As Spoken Word Poetry

While Still I Rise by Maya Angelou can be read as a standard piece of poetry, it has also been used as a piece of spoken word poetry . This means that it has been performed aloud, and it has been performed by Maya Angelou herself. In these kinds of performances, the humorous angle can be of special focus, and the cavalier attitude with which confidence can be produced is on full display.

It is worth seeing Still I Rise performed as spoken word because while reading the poem, it may appear very solemn and confrontational, but it can be read in a far different way.

It can be joyous and fun. The flow of the poem can also be seen far more powerfully when it is performed aloud. However, this poem can be enjoyed when read or heard. Both have their own feelings and tones, and different performances could also capture different feelings and tones than those you may experience when reading it or what Maya Angelou did when performing it.

Still I Rise Summary Points

We have practically reached the end of this analysis, so, before we finish off completely, let’s have a look at a few Still I Rise summary points for those who may need them. These should give a good final summary of aspects of the poem that are worth mentioning:

• The confrontational tone: The poem makes use of a confrontational tone throughout the duration of the poem to directly confront the supposed authority of the oppressive voices that stand against her.
• The repetition of questions: The poem makes use of a constant repetition of confrontational questions that are meant to serve as a means of attacking the voices of the oppressors, and many of these questions are focused on the confident expressions of the speaker.
• The repetition of “still” and “rise”: The poem makes use of the repetition of the phrase “Still I rise”. This can be seen in instances of “still” and “I’ll rise” being connected to one another, and the later extensive repetition of “I rise”. This is the primary message of the poem, and so the use of this expression being reused repeatedly is an important part of the poem.
• The use of similes: The poem makes use of a number of similes, and these similes are generally used as a means of comparing the speaker to something that implies strength, confidence, and wealth. These similes are often used within questions.

With that, we have finished with our Still I Rise summary. These bullet points may be useful to those who need to remember the main points that can be explored and discussed when looking at the Still I Rise meanings that can be explored within this text.

Now that everything is said and done, we have reached the end of our Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis. Over the course of this article, we have provided an in-depth analysis of the poem alongside more general discussions of the author behind it all, the theme of Still I Rise, and a few Still I Rise summary points to end off. This should provide you with a good overview of Still I Rise, and the various techniques that are used throughout, and it should all ultimately aid in answering the question: “What is Still I Rise about?”. There are many other Maya Angelou poems out there that are also fantastic examples of her work, but this should be a good one to start with on that journey of discovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is still i rise by maya angelou.

Still I Rise is a poem by the acclaimed American poet, Maya Angelou. The poem is considered to be one of the most famous of her career and an important text in 20th-century American poetry. It is a lyric poem written in a variable trochaic tetrameter structure with a standard rhyme scheme of ABCB that alters later in the poem. The poem has also become a notable instance of spoken word poetry.

What Is Still I Rise About?

When examining this poem, a Still I Rise by Maya Angelou analysis will reveal that this poem is, at its core, about concepts such as self-respect and confidence. It is written in response to the kind of hostility that she experienced in her life, and like many of her works, it does have certain autobiographical notes to it. The poem has become a powerful example of more confrontational poetry.

Who Was Maya Angelou?

Maya Angelou was one of the most famous poets of the 20th century. However, she is known for far more than only her poetry. Her memoirs have become some of the most important of her works, and she was also a notable and important figure in civil rights in the United States. Her works have become immensely influential, and many of them are taught in schools and universities around the world to this day.

What Else Did Maya Angelou Write?

Maya Angelou wrote many different texts over the course of her life. However, some of the most famous things she wrote included memoirs like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) and poetry collections like And Still I Rise (1978). She was also known for writing a great many other works over her life, including plays and children’s books. Her impressive output has led to her becoming one of the most acclaimed American writers of the 20th century.

What Is the Difference Between And Still I Rise and Still I Rise ?

The difference between these two texts is quite a major one. However, their similarity in name can make it difficult to tell which is which. Still I Rise is a poem by Maya Angelou, whereas the poetry collection is known as And Still I Rise , meaning that the first is a poem and the second is a collection. To make it a little more complicated, the poem is found within that collection. The addition of the conjunction and signifies the collection over the poem. However, the theme of Still I Rise and the collection is similar to one another.

Justin van Huyssteen is a freelance writer, novelist, and academic originally from Cape Town, South Africa. At present, he has a bachelor’s degree in English and literary theory and an honor’s degree in literary theory. He is currently working towards his master’s degree in literary theory with a focus on animal studies, critical theory, and semiotics within literature. As a novelist and freelancer, he often writes under the pen name L.C. Lupus.

Justin’s preferred literary movements include modern and postmodern literature with literary fiction and genre fiction like sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and horror being of particular interest. His academia extends to his interest in prose and narratology. He enjoys analyzing a variety of mediums through a literary lens, such as graphic novels, film, and video games.

Justin is working for artincontext.org as an author and content writer since 2022. He is responsible for all blog posts about architecture, literature and poetry.

Learn more about Justin van Huyssteen and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Justin, van Huyssteen, ““Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou Analysis – Understanding the Poem.” Art in Context. October 4, 2023. URL: https://artincontext.org/still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou-analysis/

van Huyssteen, J. (2023, 4 October). “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou Analysis – Understanding the Poem. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou-analysis/

van Huyssteen, Justin. ““Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou Analysis – Understanding the Poem.” Art in Context , October 4, 2023. https://artincontext.org/still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou-analysis/ .

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Still I Rise — The Analysis of the Poem ’Still I Rise’ By Maya Angelou

The Analysis of The Poem ’still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou

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Still I Rise

By maya angelou, still i rise summary and analysis of "still i rise".

Stanza One: The speaker is angry. She feels that her ancestors are being antagonized in the history books and that her generation is being tied to this history and hampered in their efforts to unshackle themselves from the slavery of the past. She is challenging her oppressors and telling them boldly that they will not oppress her the way they did her ancestors. No matter what they try to do, she will resist.

Stanza Two: The narrator is asking questions and is bewildered by the oppressor’s mood. However, her tone is provocative and sarcastic rather than naive. She knows exactly why her oppressor is gloomy, even if she is inquiring about it. She is mocking the object of the poem by highlighting how her empowered walk must be depressing for him. She is not weighed down by his oppression at all. She is elated to be the “sassy” woman she is and will strut before him with pride.

Stanza Three: The speaker compares herself to timeless natural elements, suggesting that her strength is as predictable and eternal as the “moons,” “suns,” and “tides.” No one should question whether she can conquer obstacles—she always will, just as the sun and the moon rise and the tides of the ocean ebb and flow. In the same way that people raise their hopes for good things in life, she will also rise. The speaker is unstoppable, and her courage and determination are as inevitable as the passage of time marked by the motions of natural elements.

Stanza Four: In this stanza, the poet asks what her oppressors wish to happen. The tone is somber. She asks if they would enjoy seeing her as a broken spirit, her head weighed down by sadness and pain and her eyes lowered as if she must not look at her oppressor directly. The stanza paints a devastating image of a desperate person, with shoulders hunched and a body weakened from cries that come from a tortured soul.

Stanza Five: The tone of the poem picks up again, as the speaker reverts to a confident and proud attitude. The speaker once again provokes the oppressor ("you") in a sarcastic tone, describing his discontent on seeing her—and fellow black people—defiant and proud of their identities. The speaker makes a reference to wealth yet again, this time referring to the way in which she laughs. She is full of joy, as if she had gold mines in her own backyard.

Stanza Six: In this stanza, the speaker outlines different actions that her oppressor might take. They are all metaphors for violent behavior, conveyed through the ways in which a person might look at or speak to another person. The tone is confrontational and direct, addressing the "you" repeatedly. Regardless of any actions the oppressor may take, the speaker still “rises” above it all at the end.

Stanza Seven: This stanza addresses the speaker’s gender, providing the strongest evidence that she is indeed female. The provocative tone illustrates the speaker as a sensual creature, offering a deeply sexual connotation for the first time in the poem. The image of wealth is portrayed again, depicting a free, powerful female who dances as if she had “diamonds” between her thighs.

Stanza Eight: The meter of the poem shifts in this stanza, as does the way in which it is written. This stanza does not interrogate the oppressor, instead taking a calmer tone that sounds like a prayer or a meditation. In the previous stanzas, the speaker has been firing questions at her oppressor and essentially putting his behavior on trial. In this stanza, the speaker appears to calm down and stir up the energy and faith needed to move forward in life, past the pain to which she has been referring throughout the poem. She is a “black ocean” of strength, withstanding the tides that would otherwise knock her down.

Stanza Nine: The speaker is taking a clear step forward, leaving behind the terrors of the past. The daybreak will bring sunshine and hope and clarity. The poet affirms her intention to rise above the past and fulfill the dreams and hopes of her slave ancestors. Their pain and suffering drives her to meet her full potential in life, which they were unable to do themselves. The speaker has every intention of writing each chapter of her life and not letting oppressors write that history for her. She will not be held back by what the oppressors have done to her ancestors.

The speaker’s angry tone is evidenced at the outset with the use of words such as “bitter” and “twisted.” While the speaker uses singular personal pronouns in the first person throughout the poem such as “me,” and “I,” her references to her ancestors imply that she is also speaking on behalf of other black people. She believes that her people have been depicted dishonestly and cruelly throughout history.

Immediately, the speaker addresses the object of the poem, an unspecified “you.” As the poem continues, the “you” comes into focus as an oppressor—a singular pronoun that stands in for the larger history of white oppression of black people. The speaker creates an indelible image of black people being “trod” in dirt—they are not merely stepped on, but trampled on. They have been repeatedly dehumanized by others. However, no matter how much the oppressors try to squash or bury the speaker (and other black people), she will “rise” like dust. She will essentially rise above oppression and defy her oppressors. The speaker is therefore not only angry, but confident. She is channeling her rage and finding an empowered way out of it.

In the second stanza, the speaker questions if her “sassiness”—depicting her bold attitude—upsets her oppressor. However, her tone suggests confidence. She does not seem to care whether this sassiness upsets him and seems even amused by it, as evidenced by the powerful last line of the stanza. Furthermore, the use of the word “sassiness” is the first time in the poem that a female speaker is insinuated, as this word is usually applied to women. The speaker is therefore fighting a battle against racism and sexism, as she wants to rise above the pain that black women in particular have experienced.

The speaker continues by acknowledging and questioning the “gloom” of her oppressor. It may seem at first that she cannot understand why her oppressor feels this way. However, by immediately following this question with a statement, she appears to answer her own inquiry. In fact, she is not at all wondering if this gloom is a result of her walking as if she has “oil wells pumping” in her living room. She is proclaiming with pride that this walk is indeed the reason for the gloom. Her oppressor is miserable to see her walking around with the confidence of a wealthy person. Her wealth lies in her confidence and strength, and these qualities are pouring out of her like oil out of a well.

The celestial references in the third stanza give a timelessness to the meaning of the poem. The speaker suggests that her hope is as eternal as the moon and the sun. Just as the sun and the moon rise and set according to the tides, the speaker’s hopes rise like a tidal wave.

By extension, one can say that black people’s hopes and determination are likewise eternal—her people will fight for their rights until the end of time. The word “certainty” used to describe the tides drives home the point that their rising above oppression will continue in a repeated cycle. The speaker may also represent the hopes of all oppressed peoples, conveying a universal message of hope and resilience.

The fourth stanza elaborates on the characteristics of oppressed people, regardless of the reason for their oppression. Universally, oppressed people may be described as “broken,” as their patience and resilience are often tested. They are often left emotionally and physically shattered, if not dead. The “bowed head” and “lowered eyes” imply sadness and even shame. One might suggest that being beaten down so much even causes self-loathing, as if the oppressed person comes to believe that he or she deserves such treatment.

The image of shoulders “falling down like teardrops” due to weakness suggest the collapse of the body and the human spirit. The oppressed person has become so miserable that her cries come from deep within the soul, fatiguing her body and spirit weakening her emotionally, mentally, and physically all at once. The speaker is describing the way in which misogynists and racists would like to see her.

The fifth stanza once again shows the speaker taunting the oppressor, in a way that parallels the second stanza. The use of the word “haughtiness” pairs well with the “sassiness” of stanza 2, as the term implies a proud attitude and an air of invincibility. One might even say that the speaker is proud to the point of arrogance, as she wonders if she is offending the oppressor. The word “offend” is an ironic choice, since the speaker—as an oppressed person—is the offended party. In this stanza, she turns the tables on the oppressor and does the offending herself. The second line rubs in the fact that the oppressor “takes it awful hard” when she is haughty, which is exactly how she must feel when she is herself oppressed.

The last two lines of the fifth stanza, just as in the second stanza, once again portray the speaker as carefree and jubilant, as if she were wealthy. This time, she is laughing heartily as if she had gold mines in her backyard. The speaker may be oppressed, but her confidence is like gold. It gives her a wealth that no one can take away.

The metaphors in the sixth stanza are very vivid and suggest violence without any mention of it actually happening. The speaker suggests a series of actions—hypothetical or real—that the oppressor might take, and then she proceeds to resist it all by standing her ground. If the oppressor “shoots” her with harsh words—rather than a gun—she will still overcome. If the oppressor “cuts” her with his eyes—rather than a knife—she will still overcome. Even if the oppressor succeeds at “killing” her with his hatefulness, she will still win in the end. Her determination is so powerful that even feeling dead inside from all the hate cannot stop her from rising above the racism and prejudice in her life. They may harm her emotionally or even physically, but they cannot kill her spirit.

The seventh stanza does not appear to address race at all. Rather, it focuses on the speaker as a liberated, sensual woman. The first line asks the oppressor if her “sexiness” upsets him. The use of this word implies that the speaker is a woman, and she is once again taunting the oppressor. This time, she taunts him with a dance. The image of dancing suggests freedom and a carefree spirit, as well as beauty and sexuality. The speaker is self-aware and knows that she embodies these qualities. She is also aware of the oppressor’s shock and discomfort at this revelation—as the oppressor is likely “surprised” to see the speaker in this way.

She wonders if the fact she is sexy as well as accomplished is more offensive to her detractors than it would be if she was either sexy or accomplished. There is also an inherent unspoken question that wonders whether oppressors are angry with her because they find her sexy and attractive and do not desire those feelings. There is a sexual connotation to the simile she uses in this stanza as she mentions the "diamonds at the meeting of her thighs.” The diamonds—like oil and gold—represent the wealth of her spirit.

The eighth stanza is rich with imagery. The speaker rises “out of the huts of history’s shame,” making a possible reference to huts in which slaves were once housed. She is emerging from that sad place. Alternatively, the huts may symbolize the idea of hiding one’s shame away in an enclosed space. The huts, figuratively speaking, house the shame of history—white oppression of black people. The image evokes slavery.

The speaker then lifts herself up from her ancestors’ past that is “rooted in pain.” This may be a reference to all the oppression that black people have experienced, from slavery to segregation. She will sprout new leaves, so to speak, and blossom into a stronger person. Lastly, she declares herself a “black ocean,” referencing her race and describing herself as a powerful force of nature. “Leaping and wide” parallels with the dancing image from the previous stanza, as she is again a powerful and free spirit. Just as an ocean wells and swells, so does the speaker—rising above the pain and “bearing”—or holding up—in the tide. She refuses to be knocked down by a tidal wave of her oppressors.

This stanza becomes a declaration of a move towards the future and is also the most direct reference to the slavery of the past that has been intimated earlier but never clearly stated. "History's shame" references slavery and the way in which history casts shame on those who participated in it. The term also explains why her contemporaries are trying to rewrite history in order to hide some of the events. The past "rooted in pain" references the abuses carried out and the pain caused by segregation. The poet compares herself to the ocean with its power that is not easily overcome, and refers to the entire African American community as the "black ocean" that is filled with power and might.

In the final stanza, the speaker is shedding the past by leaving behind the “nights of terror and fear.” This image may refer to many things, from slaves sleeping in fear of being tortured to slaves who tried to make their escape at night. When “daybreak” arrives, the speaker will find it “wondrously clear,” suggesting an image of peace and clarity in her life. There is hope for a new day of beauty, unmarred by fear and pain.

The speaker will bring with her the “gifts that her ancestors gave”—her strength, hope, and determination. She will not inherit their pain. She has inherited instead their powerful attributes that will carry her forward in life. By calling herself the “dream and the hope of the slave,” the speaker mentions slavery explicitly for the first time. Her ancestors had hoped for and dreamed of freedom, and she has every intention of fulfilling these ambitions. Through the repetition of “I rise” in the last three lines, the stanza takes on a powerful meditative quality that even resembles a prayer. The repetition is fitting at this point in the poem, as the previous mention of slavery conjures up an image of slaves praying and singing songs. These repeated words are an affirmation of the speaker’s intentions—a song, a meditation, a prayer, a bold declaration of hope.

Still I Rise Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Still I Rise is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Which statement expresses a theme of the poem?

Overcoming oppression:

Just like moons and like suns

With the certainty of tides

Just like hopes springing high

Still I'll rise.

Explain the meaning of

The line "cause I laugh like I've got gold mines digging in my backyard" from the poem Still I Rise is comparing the speaker's laughter to the abundance and wealth that comes from a gold mine. This simile conveys a sense of confidence, resilience,...

'I cause laugh I've got gold mines in the poem

Study Guide for Still I Rise

Still I Rise study guide contains a biography of Maya Angelou, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Still I Rise
• Still I Rise Summary
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• Character List

Essays for Still I Rise

Still I Rise essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou.

• A comparative analysis of black poetry In America: Maya Angelou and Solange
• Maya Angelou & Protest Poetry: An Essay

Lesson Plan for Still I Rise

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Still I Rise
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Still I Rise Bibliography

Still I Rise

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Analysis: "Still I Rise"

Angelou’s speaker is likely a version of the poet herself as the speaker’s tone and content reflect ideas and emotions that have proven important to Angelou over her life and career. The speaker begins the poem by addressing an unspecified “you” (Line 1), and many readers assume this “you” to be a white person. By opening the poem with a reference to “history” (Line 1), the speaker both acknowledges historical oppression and personal trauma while dismissing the possibility that this history will forever be a limitation. By addressing the irony of their oppressor’s actions, the speaker claims to be more than the product of this history. Attempts to keep the speaker down in “the very dirt” (Line 3) actually give the speaker the ability to survive and overcome.

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Phenomenal Woman

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Critical Analysis of the Poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

This paper analyzes the poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou.

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saima Perveen

In this research paper, the researcher has tried to find out the image of black female depicted in Maya Angelou's poems. This research has been conducted by qualitative and analytical method because this research has not numerical data. After collecting data, the researcher has analyzed poems and supported by particular idea of feminist Sara Mills. The researcher has chosen only three poems of ‘Still I Rise’, ‘Phenomenal Woman’ and ‘Caged Bird’. This study has been conducted by the use of black feminism. This research gives rise to enhance the argument in literature studies particularly Black Feminism self-esteem. The analysis has explained that black woman’s different images are depicted in Maya Angelou's poems. In the first poem ‘Still I Rise’, Maya Angelou presents black female as a leader of the movement and challenges the society arrangement about black people. In the second poem, ‘Phenomenal Woman’, Maya Angelou describes a standard of beauty that beauty is not having beautiful face and slim smart body and thin lip. She says that a black woman can be phenomenal woman through her confidence and good personality and proud herself being black woman. In last poem ‘Caged Bird’, Maya Angelou shows underdevelopment of black woman due to tradition. As a coloured woman Maya Angelou raises her voice and says that soon, black people will be free. The present research concludes that author is presenting theme of hope in all above poems and she is a courageous black woman. Keywords: black feminism, Maya Angelou, identity and coloured women

Intuitive response is an antagonistic phenomenon in the stylistic analysis of a literary work. This is given the fact that stylistics relies on tangible linguistic evidence to unfold the writer's meaning or the communicative purposes of an author – this is the concept of objectivity. This paper however, examines objectivity in Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise'. The study intends to employ the different linguistic levels of stylistic analysis as a framework. They are: Syntax, Semantics, Lexis, Graphology and phonology levels of analysis. It is believed, this work will serve as a division of labour between a stylistic analyst and a literary critic.

Sonia Bhattacharya

In this paper, I wish to offer a feminist reading of two poems namely, ‘I’m Not that Woman’ by Kishwar Naheed and ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou in order to represent their poetic verses as spaces of resistance. These poems serve as powerful narratives of the everyday life experiences of women as gendered subjects. However, an agency discourse can also be simultaneously gauged in these works of literature recuperating the socio-cultural life-context of the two authors selected to avoid invisibility of sexual, racist and ethnic implications of gendered subjectivity. The two female poets of different nationalities across the globe are selectively chosen in order to feed into an argument, echoed by Chandra Talpade Mohanty in her essay, ‘Under Western Eyes :Revisited(2003)’- whereby it has been stated that there should be a call for transnational feminist practice and cross national feminist solidarity. This paper has attempted to establish a feminist solidarity in resistance against women’s oppression using discourse analysis. Thus, dialectic between oppression and activism is located in the space of poetic verses and the similarities in the thematic content of the two selected poems articulate historiographies that circumscribe to the feminist solidarity; consequently, a vocabulary of agency. Key words: subjectivity, discourse, dialectic, historiography, agency.

adebola afeez

SAIKAT GUHA

Farah Nisar

African Americans also known as Black Americans or Afro-Americans, are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa. African Americans constitute the second largest racial and ethnic minority in the United States. They are descendants of enslaved blacks of the United States.

Script Journal

This study aimed to find out the kinds of figurative language in the five selected poetries of Maya Angelou, the titles are: Alone, Caged Bird, Old Folks Laugh, Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise. The focus of this study is figurative language which involves

bakhtiar hama

This paper is an attempt in the field of feminist stylistics approach to explore the stylistic devices employed by Maya Angelou in (And Still I Rise, Phenomenal Woman and Woman Work). The purpose is to uncover how she used language to defy the problems that women face and how she presented her own identity. Angelou expressed herself in her poetry and the medium to convey that self-image is language. Thus, the analyses of the poems were conducted depending on the feminist stylistics approach proposed by Sara Mills (1995) and an eclectic approach which draws upon the previous works on stylistics and pragmatics. According to Mills (1995), the purpose of the feminist stylistic study is to display how gender is represented in a literary text, and to detect the reasons which push the author to express herself in a particular way. Scrutinizing the poems at the levels of words, sentences and discourse showed that Angelou employed linguistics devices to defend herself, to create her identity and to display who she is.

Martina Pfeiler

""" Slam poetry, which first came into being in Chicago in 1986 as a competitive form of performance poetry, is only the latest development in a series of poetry movements in the United States that radically turned away from the written-to-be-silently-read to a written-to-be-performed poem. The book investigates contemporary American performance poetry as a continuation of poetry as an oral and social medium that finds its cultural realization in an interaction between the poet, the poem and the audience. After a survey of the historical development as well as different performance movements in the United States, the author provides an analysis of representative audio and visual poems of these movements by Jerome Rothenberg, Allen Ginsberg, Gil Scott-Heron, Ntozake Shange, Laurie Anderson, and Patricia Smith. The book is highly recommended to teachers who want to take poetry ,,off the written page in their classroom and engage their students in a multimedia experience with poetry, but will be of interest to anyone who wants to know more about this particular performance genre. """

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Analysis of the Poem “Still, i Rise” by Maya Angelou

This essay will analyze Maya Angelou’s poem “Still, I Rise.” It will explore the themes of resilience, empowerment, and overcoming oppression that Angelou addresses in her poem. The piece will discuss the poetic devices she uses, such as repetition, metaphor, and imagery, and how these contribute to the poem’s powerful message. It will also consider the poem’s historical and cultural context and its relevance in contemporary discussions on race and gender. On PapersOwl, there’s also a selection of free essay templates associated with Analysis.

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In this poem “Still, I Rise” by Maya Angelou an African American female poet that provides an interesting blend of tones: humorous and defiant, comical and furious, self-assured and bitterness. In the poem, the use of different literary devices was used such as repetition, rhyme, symbolism, imagery, hyperbole, metaphor, rhetorical question. Angelou shows signs of repetition throughout the poem, for example, she repeats the phrase ‘still I rise’. Using the expression ‘still I rise’ she is declaring that whatever challenge comes her way she will face it and she will continue to rise from it.

‘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’. To me, this stanza shows how much respect and confidence she has despite the difficulties.

In fact, by using apostrophes to identify the oppressor character as ‘you,’ Angelou implies the reader may also be participating in oppressive social structures and attitudes. The first word “You” from the poem is significant. This is a poem that is aimed at others. The poem describes how a black woman is willing to speak up for herself and the fellow African American people especially black women. When Angelou wrote this poem, it was on a personal level. This was not just any poem, it was also a promise she made to herself that her success would not be determined by hatred and negativity that goes through society. Throughout this poem, Angelou is showing both anger and confidence. She is initially puzzled by how the oppressors did not want African Americans to succeed or become more than the image society holds towards African Americans.

Angelou states that her happiness makes the oppressors miserable, and she would like to know why that is? She taunts her oppressors, Realizing the effect of her behaviors and personality on the fact that she confuses them with her power and confidence. She then goes on to insist that the color of her skin inherent humanity, importance, strength, and elegance. Angelou then expresses that ‘like dust,’ a subtle literal depiction: God created all humans the same from ‘dust’ in the Bible, and once they die, humans return to ‘dust.’ Angelou acknowledges the full humanity of herself by asserting that she is ‘like dust;’ she is just about as much a creation of God as anybody else. To me, this poem fundamentally is about dignity and trust. Angelou describes in the poem how her self-esteem conquers all. She reveals how nothing will come down on her. She will rise to any occasion and nothing will hold her back, not even the color of her skin.

Maya Angelou compares herself specifically to what a slave dreams of, that is, equality and freedom. She calls herself the “ ambassador” of equal rights, and hence she identifies herself as a high figure who will take the first step to fight racism and equal rights. Maya wrote this poem in a very unique way, for most of the poem that instantly guides the reader through the poem, there is a rhyme every other line. In this poem, creativity is dominant, particularly after Maya asks her oppressors. Most of the images are conveyed by similes and metaphors, which give readers a clear view of what Maya is trying to convey. In the line “You may shoot me with your words,” Angelou compares every hurtful word that people say to the fact that those words feel like a bullet being fired at her. Maya uses such powerful vivid imagery that allowed readers to develop a better understanding of how being discriminated against feels. This shows that words can have a very powerful effect on someone, especially when using words in a hateful way Because words can mark someone like a gunshot wound they mark forever.

The that states “The sun will always rise tomorrow” explicitly relates to this simile, as Angelou connotes to the reader by contrasting herself to the sun that she is certain tomorrow she will always ‘ rise ‘ again just like the sun, no regardless of what happens to her. It tells us that she was proud of herself and that she is a strong and independent woman. In her poem, Maya Angelou uses literary methods to express effectively what she was trying to convey to the listener. She conveys to the public her strong, focused and positive approach to racism, Angelou’s poem encourages the readers to be confident and optimistic at all times, and never let anything get in the way you want to do in your life.

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Analysis of the Poem “Still, I Rise” by Maya Angelou. (2021, Mar 23). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/analysis-of-the-poem-still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou/

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PapersOwl.com. (2021). Analysis of the Poem “Still, I Rise” by Maya Angelou . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/analysis-of-the-poem-still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou/ [Accessed: 24 May. 2024]

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PapersOwl.com. (2021). Analysis of the Poem “Still, I Rise” by Maya Angelou . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/analysis-of-the-poem-still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou/ [Accessed: 24-May-2024]

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Home / Essay Samples / Literature / Still I Rise / Literary Analysis Of Still I Rise By Maya Angelou

Literary Analysis Of Still I Rise By Maya Angelou

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• Topic: Maya Angelou , Poetry , Still I Rise

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