Theme Of Still I Rise

In the late 20th century, black feminism as a political and social movement grew out of black women's feelings of discontent with both the civil rights movement and the feminist movement. In the 1970's, women started developing a theory which helped to explain their oppression pockets of resistance began to organize and challenge patriarchy.

Maya Angelou, an American poet, at first grew up with the name Marguerite Annie Johnson. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. Her deep suffeing as being one of Black women is the reason of her success as she said ''When we talk about racism, we have to see that we are not...show more content...

By doing so, Angleou makes a contrast between the difficult past with its hardships and disappointments to the bright promise of the future. Angleou also uses alliteration in "past rooted in pain" and in "huts of history" which affect the rhythm of the poem. All of these literary devices demonstrates the extent of the speaker's power to overcome obstacles and still she rise.

Angleou uses strong words like lies, broken, pain, terror and fear to describe how she feels as there is nothing can bring her down. she symbolizes herself and all the black african american women in te world by using t "Black ocean". As this image is full of fear to show the audiences that she has spent all her life facing the terrors and fear Moreover, Angleou's motif comes to overcome all these obstacles and oppression.

In conclusion, I believe the central theme of the poem is about an African American woman's struggle against racism and hatred from society. Maya's main purpose is to encourge and inspire the oppressed people to rise to fight against the injustices and to continue to live despite of all difficulties.The Repetition of Still I rise shows that Angleou's intention to encourge the African AMerican to rise up and stay strong. The repetition affects the whole poem as it increases the emotions gradually and poems ends with I

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The battle of self–love vs. finding one's true purpose in life

A Study of Maya Angelou's "Still I rise" and "I know why the caged bird sings"

The purpose of this essay is to examine the theme of immense self–love versus finding one's true purpose in life and accepting who one was meant to be despite all obstacles. In Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" and "I know why the caged bird sings" the reader can debate the two through the use of emotion and metaphor choice. In "Still I rise" the reader can observe similarities in Angelou's words to describe self–acceptance and self–satisfaction. In "I know why the caged bird sings" readers can relate to the struggle of finding one's true purpose and battling how others see them aside from who they...show more content...

As stated in stanza 4 "Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries?" Angelou is relating with readers by letting them know that it is not always easy to be strong. Angelou explains how those who were against her were expecting to see her low and doing poorly as the bird in "I know why the caged bird sings" was. Instead of giving them the power over her she rose stronger than she was when she was initially knocked down. What Angelou wants the reader to take from this stanza is that although you may not spring back automatically from a let down; do not allow the negative person or situation to see you failing or see that the negative situation is affecting you. By showing them that weakness you have handed that person or situation the winning strength that lies within

This seminar paper will look at a poem written by Maya Angelou, Still I rise, 1978. An analysis of this poem will be provided, exploring the meaning of the poem and the language used to present a certain image to the audience.

"Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African–American family, community, and culture"(www.mayaangelou.com, 2014).

This poem is Maya Angelouspeaking to the audience as she explains the problems she has overcome such as; racism, sexism, bullying and other problems in her life that she has managed to move on from.This poem is set in a first person narrative, Angelou explains to the audience about the good and bad times...show more content...

Whereas, "you," is related to the white population, this shows the division of both races. This is a setting of one of Angelou's problems, overcoming racism, and still rising. "Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave," (stanza 8) this line relates to slavery, the pain she and her family went through during these times of cruelty. This also allows us to picture the author, Angelou, as a strong African woman, who has overcome many obstacles in her life. "Still I rise," the name of the poem is repeated throughout the poem to intensify her strength and pride of overcoming her past experiences, and also that she continues to overcome other situations. This allows the poem to be viewed in a positive way by the audience as Angelou overcomes these situations and being able to connect with the reader as she portrays that to them.

In this poem, every other line rhymes, "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,"(stanza 8) this allows the poet to guide the reader throughout the poem and keep them involved. "Black ocean," this phrase gives a sense of fear because of the colour black, telling the reader that the ocean is cruel and full of evil. This may be related to the fact that Angelou is a black woman, who has gone through some unexpected horrible events. Angelou has used imagery Get

Analyse how language features were used to reveal the attitudes of one or more characters or individuals in the written text. Often in written texts, a characters attitude can be identified in the use of language features applied by the author. The poem 'Still I rise' written by Maya Angelou, is one such text. The text explores the persona's opinion towards discrimination and her attitudes that enable her to overcome challenges. The positive attitudes of the character (persona) are determination, confidence and powerful which are revealed through the use of simile, repetition, rhetorical questions and personification. In 'Still I Rise', Maya Angelouuses the language feature of simile and repetition to reveal the determined attitude of the persona. The simile and repetition of the key phrase is used to...show more content...

The main symbol in this example is dust. In order for dust to rise, it must be unsettled from the ground so it can leave and rise. Through this, Maya Angelou is able to express that she is determined to overcome racism as she is willing to rise above any prejudice she faces. Her oppressors are on the ground and because they have unsettled her by treating her wrong, she is now stronger than ever and her attitude of determination comes through this example. Dirt is seen as a dirty object, but no matter how much you step on it or brush it away, it stands tall and finds a way to escape to keep on going. Maya Angelou uses this feature to represent her determination to keep moving above the racism she is faced with. This particular simile also creates imagery as this helps the reader picture the rising cloud of dust and her determination that enables her to do this. The language feature of repetition is also used to reveal the attitude of determination of the persona. The phrase, "I'll rise" is repeated three times at the end of the poem. It is a very simple yet powerful phrase as it emphasises the persona's ability to overcome and rise above any

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The Subject of the Poem " Still I rise " Is very contrast, and it revolves around the subject of being treated very poorly of their enemies, but this poem suggest that the poet is speaking to a community of people, especially the whites / Caucasians. This is because there are context clues given to suggest and highlight this, such as the last stanza, because each line suggested dominance of a culture, or the ancestral culture, such as that the first line of the last stanza implies that there may be nights where the people leave terror and fear, and it implies slavery, but the poet wanted to leave it behind and start a new life. the second line of the last stanza implies that the poet does not intend to allow the hatefulness of the society and looking...show more content...

The rhyme scheme of the poem on almost all stanzas were abcb, and there were allusions that were used such as oil well pumping in my living room, gold mine digging in my backyard, and diamonds at the meeting of my thighs, which expresses the poets confidence and hope. There were also rhetorical questions that were given such as "Why are you beset with gloom?" "Did you want to see me broken?" "Does my haughtiness offend you?", that expressed that her enemy's attemps to pull her down are futile and that she will continue on. The poet also used hyperboles which were seen as in one stanza, "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.", which over exaggerates on hoe the enemy pulls her down, and the poem also uses a first person point of view by using the pronouns I and

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