essay questions on still i rise

Still I Rise- Summary, Analysis and Question Answers

Table of Contents

Still I Rise: Short Summary

Still I Rise is an empowering poem written by African – American poet Maya Angelou. The speaker of the poem is a black woman who addresses the white oppressor as ‘You’.

The tone of the poem is defiant, angry, sarcastic, self-assured. The voice is of oppressed who is talking about the oppression held for centuries. The poem is about the struggle to overcome prejudice and injustice. The speaker is courageous, rebellious and confident in attitude with self-respect.

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The poem is a symbol of hope for the victimised. It is the fight by oppressed to the power misused by the oppressor. The poem is universal in appeal though it is written against the backdrop of black slavery.

Stanza wise summary

Stanza 1 . The poem is clearly addressed to the White oppressor by a black woman. The stanza describes the false historical lies written by the oppressor in the historical writings. The repeated use of the phrase ‘Still I Rise’ shows the firm self-belief of the speaker that nothing can hold her back. Speaker compares herself with dust and says like dust she will rise.

Stanza 2 . Speaker is asking questions about the sadness of the oppressor. She has the attitude as if she has got the oil wells that means she is happy and confident and her attitude now has become her powerful weapon.

Stanza 3 . The speaker compares herself with the certainty of suns and moons, simply with the certainty of nature and with the hope that she will spring high.

Stanza 4. Speaker is asking questions about the unfulfilled expectations of the white oppressor who did want to see the speaker as weak, broken and crying with bowed head and lowered eyes.

Stanza 5. The speaker is saying that now her attitude is confident as though she has got gold mines digging in her own backyard.

In stanza 8 she talks about the past which was rooted in pain, and out of the huts of history’s shame, she will rise.

Here, the poet uses a metaphor that she is a black ocean very wide welling and swelling.

Now she has left behind the nights of terror and fear and the bright future is on the way. The poet uses the bright image of a clear day. The speaker says she will rise to bring the ancestors gifts. She is the dream and hope of the slave.

The poem ends with the repetition of phrase ‘I rise’ which encapsulates the idea that now she has the firm belief over herself.

Analysis of Still I Rise

To begin with, what intrigued me extensively whilst I first embarked upon my analysis of the poem was the three-word title of the poem itself: ‘Still I rise’. The title – if pondered upon correctly – conceives the summary and the initial message running throughout the poem.

Therefore, for the purpose of my analysis, I have decided to analyse the entire poem while fixating upon the title itself and discerning how the very title of the poem resonates with the message and allusions trying to be portrayed throughout the poem by the poet.

This section will be divided into three parts as per the three words forming the title of the poem: ‘Still I Rise’.

Section 1-‘Still’:

The word ‘still’ refers to ‘something happening for longer than expected’ or a situation or action that continues to the present because it has not finished’.

The poet uses the word ‘still’ to connotate the perpetuity of the tyrannical oppression of the society. By stating “bitter” and “twisted lies” she mocks and taunts the society for making racial as well as sexist and discriminating comments and judgments. The poet also states: “write me down in history” referring towards the notion that history is written as per the society and its curriculum, and that those opposing it are always portrayed as the antagonist and wrongdoers. Also, beautifully, referring towards the superiority of the superior class and the inferiority of the inferior class, and how in the eyes of the people the former are always correct and how the latter are always wrong no matter what the situation.

Furthermore, the poet uses rhetorical questions such as “does my sassiness upset you?” to taunt the racial society more. The entire fourth stanza can be taken into account at that matter. The poet delineates for the readers the expectations of the society after analyzing it herself. She states: “want to see me broken…lowered my eyes…shoulders falling down…” This surmises for the readers the abusive society of that time and their harassment.

In the sixth stanza when the poet states: “shoot…words”, “cut…eyes”, “kill…hatefulness”, the readers are fully capable of comprehending the fact that the persecutions still haven’t ended. They are ongoing, in fact, they have inflicted upon the victims in every manner: “words, cuts, and hatefulness”. This choice of words and use of tone intensifies the effect of the poem and adds a different layer to it; giving it more emotion and integrity.

Section 2-‘I’:

The entire poem is composed in the first-person narrative. The letter ‘I’ in the title informs the readers about the ensuing format of the poem.

Maya Angelou uses the first person narrative to her advantage in a very skilful manner in order to boast about her success “oil wells…”, to rebuke the society and their unjust customs “want to see me broken” and finally informing the world that no matter the persecutions and sexist discrimination “still I’ll rise”.

Moreover, through this format, the readers are able to notice the poet’s tone of sarcasm – “don’t you take it awful hard” – In a much better way while also noticing the poet’s strong and tedious tone in the fourth, fifth and the sixth stanza. This helps the readers to deduce that maybe Maya Angelou’s problems with the society and its people ran deeper than it appeared on the outside.

Furthermore, the poet’s consummate use of the first-person narrative is most effective towards the end of the poem when she compares herself to a “black ocean” stating that she “bear’s” the “tides”. In the previous stanza, the poet similarly compares herself to the “moons” and “the suns” and mentions the “certainty” of their “tide”. These two stanzas and comparison’s, when juxtaposed together, could possibly allude towards the same meaning: “the tides” referring to the disputes, obstacles and tyrannical oppression of the society. The “black ocean” and the “moons” and “the suns” referring towards the poet’s constant adherence and resilience; as the cycle of the sun and the moon rotates in an on-going perpetuity; similarly, the “ocean”, no matter the raging tides, still flows whilst adhering to the magnitude of the tides formulating within it.

Through this, the readers are able to comprehend and perceive the layers of symbolism and allegories endowed within the poem by the poet for the readers and the world to discern.

Section 3-‘Rise’:

The third word in the title of the poem is perhaps the most influential and critical in accordance with the poem and the message which it is striving to convey.

The definition of ‘rise’ in the English Language is: “An upward movement; an instance of rising”. Throughout the poem, the readers witness the various patterns in which the poet urges those who are stifled within the shackles of oppression to ‘rise’ and take action. As an example, the poet ridicules the society and their customs – as discussed above – and rubs her success into their faces. Hence, she rises from within the persecution and the harassment and urges others to do so too.

Towards the beginning, the poet enumerates the society’s oppression and then, in the likes of a fatal incursion, she defiantly states that: “like dust, I’ll rise”, “like air, I’ll rise”. Amongst those various reasons of comparing herself to “dust”, one could be the fact that dust consists of small particles, yet it is fully capable of causing harm, for example, blinding someone’s vision. Likewise, by comparing herself to “dust”, one could suggest and allude that she was in fact warning the members of the society; warning them not to think of her as a child; warning them not to think of her as dirt because “like dust” she may be small but she is fully capable of causing them – and anyone else with such intentions – harm; something which is clearly evident and portrayed in the fifth and the sixth stanza of the poem, while also relevant throughout.

Moreover, ‘rise’ generally refers to an action. For example, a man was sitting down and then he ‘rose’ up. Which forces the readers to ponder, from where or what does the poet talk about rising from? The answer to this particular question can be obtained from the last few stanzas of the poem: “History’s shame…”, “Past that’s rooted in pain…”, “Nights of fear…” and “daybreak…wondrously clear”.

The poet talks about rising from within these oppressive and smothering situations towards a better and brighter future that is “wondrously clear”. Her final repetition of the sentence “I rise” three times explains the whirlwind of emotions blowing inside of her and her dream of being treated as equal and with just.

Hence, in these ways, the very title of the poem surmises the message and allegories running throughout the poem for the readers to contemplate. I would also like to mention that these analyses are based upon my own perspectives and opinions. They may be wrong but according to my understanding, they are corrected and accounted for.

Questions and Answers

Q. What is the subject of the poem? Ans. The writer’s angry protest against racial discrimination. The speaker speaks out against the racial prejudice and intolerance that she sees around her before making an appeal for black pride and dignity.

Q. Who is speaking? Ans. 1st person narrative: “I”. A black woman.

Q. What is the location/setting of the poem? Ans. This poem is written against the backdrop of invasive racism, racial separation/isolation and prejudice in America during the 1950s and 1960s.

Q. What is the theme and message of the poem: Ans. The message of the poem is that Black people should rise and defeat all forms of discrimination based on race.

Q. What are the attitudes and feelings in the poem?

Ans. Emotions and feelings of the speaker : The speaker is angry and bold, courageous, daring and determined.

Q. What is the tone of the poem? Ans. 1. Anger and open defiance. 2. Speaker’s tone of boldness, courage & daring is evident in lines 5, 17, 25. 3. Speaker expresses her determination in lines 13-14.

Q. Why has been the title “Still I Rise” has been repeated many times in the poem Ans. The title is repeated 10 times throughout the poem. This creates an atmosphere, enables the harmony of the rhyme scheme & states & makes clear the theme of the poem.

Q. Comment on how ‘Still I Rise’ celebrates the spirit of blacks. Ans. Angelou’s most popular poem refers to the indomitable spirit of black people. Despite adversity and racism, Angelou expresses her faith that she, the speaker, and the whole of the black people will overcome their hardships and triumph.

Q. Explain the central idea or theme of the poem ‘Still I Rise’. Ans. “Still I Rise” is primarily about self-respect and confidence. In the poem, Angelou reveals how she will overcome anything through her self-esteem. She shows how nothing can get her down. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin colour, will hold her back.

Q. Explain the hopeful end of the poem ‘Still I Rise’. Ans. The poem ends with the repetition of phrase ‘I rise’ which encapsulates the idea that now she has the firm belief over herself. She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin colour, will hold her back.

Q. What is the structure of Still I Rise? Ans. ‘Still I Rise’ is a nine stanza poem that’s separated into uneven sets of lines. The first seven stanzas contain four lines, known as quatrains, stanzas eight has six lines and the ninth has nine. The first seven stanzas follow a rhyme scheme of ABCB, the eighth: ABABCC and the ninth: ABABCCBBB.

Q. What is the symbolism in Still I Rise? Ans. In “Still I Rise,” Maya Angelou uses gold mines and oil wells as symbols of wealth and confidence. She also uses natural imagery, including the sun, the moon, the tides, and the air, to symbolize the inevitability of her continued rise beyond the reach of oppression.

Q. What does the poem’s speaker mean by the phrase”I’ll rise”? Ans. The speaker means that she as a female and women all around will rise up to the occasion and defeat anything that is in their way. No one can stop them.

Q. Who is the audience of Still I Rise? Ans. The audience of the poem is the people who have been oppressing the speaker for most of her life. These people are the whites who believe they are superior to African Americans and should possess more rights than they can.

Q. How does the repetition of the phrase, “I rise, “affect the tone and overall impact of the poem? Ans. The various forms of this refrain (“I’ll rise,” “I rise”) give the poem a determined and triumphant tone. The Repetition of a phrase gives it emphasis, and that is exactly what the poet/speaker is doing here

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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

Angelou is discussing discrimination and the idea of being suppressed. She is declaring her determination to succeed in a world that puts her down. She is expressing her strength as a woman and her desires to succeed. She believes that the world is against her.

Growing up in 1930s America, Angelou experienced the segregation that occurred between the white and black population. Laws and rules aimed to limit the movement of the black community. The black community were controlled by the white laws: separate schools; separate buses and even separate restaurants. Black people also had no vote in America, despite their contribution to World War 2. The Civil Rights Movement aimed to gain equality. One of their most famous leaders was Martin Luther King, whose speech ‘I have a Dream’ is still one of the most well known speeches known today.

Even today, America continues to experience racism, despite the equality that is presented in the law.

author’spurpose

Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was an American poet. She was also a civil rights activist. She published many poems, autobiographies and essays.

At 8 years old, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and he was jailed for only one day. At this point, she felt responsible and she became mute for some time.

At 17, she had her first child. She had only recently graduated from high school.

Angelou did not have an easy life and ‘Still I Rise’ represents her determination to succeed and her hopeful spirit. She aims to present the feelings instilled by segregation in the poem and her determination to fight the injustice in the world. The poem resonates with all communities and people who are desiring to overcome an issue.

Throughout the poem, there is a continual use of similes. This compares one item with another by using words such as ‘as’ or ‘like’. One of the most prominent is: ‘like moons and like suns’. Angelou discusses the natural order of the world. It seems as though she is suggesting that is is instinct and human nature to recover from feeling low and suppressed.

Whilst most of the imagery throughout the poem is simile based, there is one clear metaphor:

‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide.’

She is suggesting that she is full of life and her positive spirit is never-ending; she cannot be contained.

• General imagery

‘Leaving behind nights of terror and fear.’

Angelou is clear about her emotions within this line. She is aiming to escape the unhappiness that has been evident. The ‘nights’ are reflective of the darker times and the ‘daybreak’ represents the hope.

Rhetorical Questions

Rhetorical questions are questions that remain unanswered. Usually, they have an obvious answer. Throughout the poem, Angelou uses multiple rhetorical questions:

‘Did you want to see me broken?’

Within this particular rhetorical question, she is addressing her suppressors directly. For those who want to contain her, this is a powerful message: she is not scared to speak her mind to those considered ‘superior’.

The most obvious phrase repeated in the poem is ‘I’ll rise’; however, by the end, it becomes ‘I rise’. It is almost as though she is transitioning from considering changing and fighting for her cause to actually completing it.

Throughout the poem, there is regular rhyme. It almost sounds as though the poem is a song. Her aim is to inspire others to ‘sing her song with her’ and to inspire other people to stand up for themselves.

In the final lines, Angelou considers her heritage:

‘Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.’

She is suggesting that she has the freedom that her past were unable to achieve and she follows this with repetition of ‘I rise’. The present tense of ‘rise’ suggests that she is now overcoming any issues and she has the determination to ensure that she succeeds.

exampractice

Within the exam, you will be asked to compare one text to another of your choice. Here are 3 example essays that you could practice. You must consider the use of language and structure in your answer:

Compare the sense of determination in ‘Still I Rise’ to another text of your choice.

Compare the sense of hope in ‘Still I Rise’ to another text of your choice.

How is inequality presented in ‘Still I Rise’? Compare it to a text of your choice.

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, maya angelou's still i rise: poem analysis.

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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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.

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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

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Still I Rise Maya Angelou Analysis

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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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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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‘Still I rise’ Q&A

In response to Year 10 who are studying this for EDEXCEL IGCSE. It was intended to be a short question and response activity – not a long essay…

Still I rise: Maya Angelou.

Q1: Describe the speaker in lines 1-4 of the poem? What specific language supports your description? In the opening stanza the poet is clearly angry and defiant. Her language is strengthened by the use of alliteration of B and T sounds in ‘bitter, twisted lies’. Not only does this seem to spit defiance at the speakers of the lies, but shows a clear understanding of the liars themselves: bitter because, presumably, they resent the idea of a black female becoming so successful.

Q2: Why does the poet use the image of dust in line 4? How does this image contribute to the tone of lines 1-4 ?  The stanza concludes with the first statement of fact – she will ‘rise’ like the dust. The simile suggests not just the current position of blacks at the bottom of society but also links to the Biblical image of Adam and Eve being created from the very dust of the Earth. The language is calm – the rise is inevitable and she knows it.

Q3: What 3 other images in the poem contribute to the poem’s tone? Explain the effect of each image.

• Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?
• This simile manages to link the physical appearance of the downtrodden slave, wearing a metaphorical yoke to weight down the shoulders with the physical distress caused by slavery, likening the slope of the shoulders to the constant dropping of tears.
• 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?
• A knowing simile – the speaker is well aware that her confident sexuality is highly attractive and that men cannot resist watching her. More than this, the use of ‘diamonds’ both shows the degree to which she values her sexuality and also the extreme attractiveness of her as a potential sexual partner.
• Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.
• The moons and suns in this simile are not just visual representations of wonder – both life giving in that the moon is an ancient fertility symbol in many cultures, but also suggests a never ending cyclical process – as she rises, a blazing sun, the moon – a cold and white symbol- must inevitably sink.

Q4: The speaker poses 7 questions in the poem. What is the purpose/effect of these questions?

To force the reader to re-evaluate their pre-conceived perceptions of her as a black woman. Angelou challenges her readers in highly sensitive societal areas – wealth and sexuality. It is worth remembering that miscegeny (mixed-race sexual relations) was a deep-seated fear of many of the Southern States of the USA.

Q5: What is the effect of the repetition in the poem?

The poem relies on the creation of a sense of inevitability. As the repetition becomes more intense, almost as though there is a congregational joining of the affirmation of the message, the inevitability becomes unstoppable. The tone becomes that of a rally or a church service.

Q6: Who is the audience (the reader) for this poem? How does the speaker portray this audience?  

Both an audience of similar women to herself – her repetition of the ‘still I rise’ message linked to the figurative images of wealth and sexuality are designed to give others the confidence to express their feelings in this way – and a potentially hostile (white) readership who rest their short-sighted attitudes on the single story of the black woman of loose morals who is a threat to their well ordered society.

Q7: Briefly explain the connection between the language and syntax of the title and the theme and style of the poem “Still I Rise.”

‘Still’ carries two layers of meaning – one level is the basic sense of an event which continues through time, another is the sense of an event happening despite all attempts to prevent it. Put together, there is a sense of growing inevitability to the ‘rise’ of the speaker.  This idea combines both the social norm of rising in society and also contains ideas relating to more religious imagery – a form of resurrection perhaps. This idea is reinforced in the structure of the poem in the second section:

Here the repetition becomes swifter and more ecstatic. The cries of ‘I rise’ suggest that the event is actually taking place until the final 3 lines present an unstoppable momentum to the poem.  Combined with the positive imagery of a new dawn and the ‘dream and hope of the slave’, the message is clear. This is happening and nights of fear (lynch mobs and other threats being real fears) are being consigned to the past.

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Still I Rise Essay Examples

Maya angelou’s use of poetic techniques in still i rise.

The poem “Still I Rise”, was written by an African American poet Maya Angelou. She wrote this poem to show that not only the struggle that she went through but the positive attitude that the author gained, against racial and gender discrimination. This poem reflects...

Attitude Towards Oppression and Sassiness in Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise

Literature – this plays the superior role in world’s history of human life. This consist the past, present, and future contributions in itself. Through literature we can able to know the life style and sufferings of our ancestors according their cultural manner. Subaltern is a...

A Theme of Discrimination in Maya Angelou's Still, I Rise

Through Maya Angelou's poetry ‘‘Still, I Rise’’, the poet uses repetition, metaphors, rhyme and anaphora to convey to the audience how she conquered discrimination through her life by displaying a powerful, confident, mentality to encourage others. Angelou’s message throughout the poem is based on her...

Still I Rise: Analysis of the Meaning, Setting and Literary Devices

Wanting to rise above the agony; Still I Rise is Maya Angelou’s experience with rising above society’s torment. Words like “Shoot me with your words”, “Cut me with your eyes” and “Kill me with your hatefulness” all describe the pain society tried to put on...

Literary Analysis of Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

“Survival is the celebration of choosing life over death. We know we're going to die. We all die. But survival is saying: perhaps not today. In that sense, survivors don't defeat death, they come to terms with it.”This quote by Laurence Gonzales, a scholar at...

Still I Rise – an Immortal Song for All Indomitable Souls

Maya Angelou is an admirable activist that is best known for her contributions to the African American Civil Rights Movement and for her masterly poetic works. “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism”. With the same attitude as her good friend, Winfrey, Angelou...

A Theme of Women Empowerment in Maya Angelou’s Poetry

Maya Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up during the horrible time of segregation. Growing up female and black during that time led to a lot of discrimination. When Angelou was seventeen she started writing poems. She took her rough...

The Crucial Message in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Still I Rise

'What are you looking at me for? I didn't come to stay...' These lines correspond to two main issues she struggles with throughout her childhood are unhappiness with her appearance and a perpetual feeling of displacement. With this opening scene Maya encapsulates the struggles that...

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