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Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (pg 27)

Still I Riseby Maya Angelou (pg 27)

Getting to know the Poet

➢ Maya Angelou is an African-American woman who was born in 1928 in a poor neighbourhood in St. Louis.

➢ Her childhood was extremely tough and in her first book I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings she describes her rape, aged 8, by her stepfather.

➢ When she told her brother about the attack, her stepfather was arrested but released just four days later.

➢ In turn, fearing her speaking out caused the death, Maya became mute and did not speak for nearly five years.

➢ Angelou has campaigned for equal rights for blacks in America for many years.

The right for all women to

vote in the USA was 1920.

NZ – 1893, EGYPT 1956,

SAUDI ARABIA 2011.

White women in SA – 1930

Black women across the

World – after 1965.

Still I Rise - Title

❑Literally, the words mean picking oneself up from the ground or to move from a lower position to a higher one.

❑Figuratively, the words could mean lifting your spirits, aspirations, goals or dreams.

❑The expression ‘rise to the occasion’ may also come to mind i.e. behaving in an exceptional way under certain circumstances.

You may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may tread me in the very dirtBut still, like dust, I'll rise. SIMILE

By addressing the reader directly from the start, Angelou forces us to consider ourselves as racist or oppressive. APOSTROPHE

harsh, aggressive adjectives representing the ruling white classes who misrepresented the blacks – plays on the idea that history is not necessarily factual – someone had to write it in the first place and they could be biased or racist.

drive-word – change in tone: she is powerful and resilient; christ-like imagery in this simile rhyme scheme: abcb

Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?'Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room.

‘sassiness’ – confidence, charisma

rhetorical questions directed at the reader

simile - powerful, confidentimagery

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS: Are

you blinded by black success?

Simile and metaphor Oil wells pumping in her living

Room. HUMOROUS – it symbolizes

her success.

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

triumphant tone

similes – inevitability that she will survive prejudice

continued repetition of title –reads like a song’s chorus.

It is in her nature to rise up andstand against oppression just asit is the nature of tides to respondto the moon.

Emotionally strong like

the moon & sun will rise-

no matter what.

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

Images of pain and suffering. The opposite of the forceful similes earlier in the poem –important to note this contrast: Where she was strong and powerful before, she is now weak and submissive thanks to the prejudice she had faced. Cutting questions.

Society expects her to bow her head down

and lower her eyes, with shoulders drooping

in despair. They expect her to speak in a

weakened voice.

Does my haughtiness offend you?Don't you take it awful hard'Cause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin' in my own back yard.

‘haughtiness’ – pride and confidence- she continuous in asarcastic tone as she pretends to comfort the listener.

this stanza returns us to the confident narrator of the earlier stanzas

‘gold mines’ – just like ‘oil wells’ in stanza two are symbols of wealth –something black Americans were not able to have for themselves. They would be employed to work in such places as oil fields and gold mines but not share in any of the wealth. She flaunts her success before the society that has always oppressed her.

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.(Hyperbole)

(Simile)

list of three –uses repetition on ‘you’

‘shoot’, ‘cut’, ‘kill’ – violent verbs reveal extent of hatred

Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I've got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?

Celebrates her sexuality –designed to make the white reader feel uncomfortable.

‘diamonds’ – again another symbol of wealth that needs mining. She is taking back what she feels should rightfully be hers.

Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise.

Change of rhythm, tone, rhyme, length of lines and length of stanza. Reflects the triumphant ending.

Repetition at end is victorious and triumphant

The metaphors and references in the final stanza are much clearer pieces of evidence that this poem is about racial discrimination

Angelou says she is a black ocean, holding in all

the shame and pain of her race and gender within

her tide. However, all is not black in her world.

She is able to emerge out of the dark nights into

the brightness of day, carrying within her the

legacy of her ancestors, and their hope of finding

a new life in America and not as the slaves they

arrived in the country.

Themes and Subject

• Survival

Themes and Subject

• Prejudice

Themes and Subject

• Confidence

Themes and Subject

• Racism

What message is the poem

trying to bring across?

THEME ➢ The poem’s literal meaning is a sarcastic

response towards the people who look down on

the speaker.

➢ This poem delivers the message of the human’s

incredible strength and ability to overcome hurt.

TONE:❖ ‘YOU’ – is an accusatory tone- causing the

reader to acknowledge that they may play a part

in oppressing others/ women in their own lives.

❖ Humorous and playful and then strong and

powerful.

❖ Sometimes serious and full of pride.

Complete the below questions in your Interactive English Textbook

on page 99-100

- Scratching the surface (questions 2-5)

- Understanding the language (questions 1-11)

- Understanding the tone

- Understanding the message (questions 1-2)

- One Step Further