Still I Rise

Still I rise
-- Maya Angelou


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

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


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

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

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

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise

Voice Recording: http://candyrainbow.podbean.com/mf/web/3xbw8y/StillIRiseChiqui.mp3

Analysis


The Poem Still I rise is a very extraordinary poem. An African American woman named Maya Angelou, born in Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4th of the year 1928, wrote it.
By reading this unique poem I saw repetition, Still I Rise. When she says “Just like moons and like suns” she shows that she’s a woman and it’s like a cycle. By the way she talks about herself, she shows that she is in fact very confident of her looks and what she can do. She is very tough, she knows that all people want from her is to put her down and break her soul, but nothing puts her down. She points out that no matter what happens no matter what people do to put her down, she will rise. The more you show you are completely confident to your enemy the angrier he will get. She also points out that she is just as valuable as a white people. She is for sure very mature and she is not at all shameful of her skin color. In the way she writes I can also see that she is a feminist. Her being attractive, is an obstacle to white women, jealousy may create a conflict between them and her, white men in general were attracted to her. She represents herself as a black woman quite a few times. She also rhymes in this poem and uses words such as sassiness, haughtiness and sexiness. When she used the term “sexiness” she shows that men do appreciate her being sexy, and her ability to reproduce.