"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. |
Literary Analysis
“I rise. I rise. I rise.” The closing words of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” resonate deeply after the poignant content of the poem has had time to sink in. From start to finish, “Still I Rise” gives a message of enduring legacy beginning when the African American race was enslaved to their generation. Throughout the work, Angelou asks rhetorical questions to those who view her as overly provocative and downright offensive. She states quite clearly that she is the way she is because she has pride. There is no one and nothing that is going to get her to relinquish those traits that she sees as invaluable to her personality. She and others like are the legacy of African Americans everywhere.
The start of the poem states that history may not remember her for what she stood for. She was very controversial at the time that “Still I Rise” was published. 1978 held innumerable challenges for anyone who spoke out against the mistreatment of Blacks nationwide. The Civil Rights movement had been over for years but equality was still a dream. People like Maya Angelou were treated terribly, as outlined in her poem. She states that she and her race were treated in such a way because there was a social norm that said that all Blacks were second class to Whites. They were to speak with humility and so for someone to act in such a way as Maya did it was seen as taboo and offensive. “Do you want to see me broken? / Bowed head and lowered eyes?” This acknowledges that the culture that surrounded her wanted her to know that she was not as “good” as everyone else. The purpose of this poem is to make a stand against that view and to display her pride in the fact that she is who she is. “I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.” It’s plain to see that her attitude is one of resistance. The old way of thinking is gone and there is a new social norm that her opponents have no choice but to accept. There is a movement and it is moving ever forward and always upward. It will not stop until every person is “judged not by the color of his/her skin but by the content of their character.” Maya speaks volumes to her generation about how all African Americans are on the track to rise above the mistreatment and become just as respected as anyone else. In the last verse of this poem the phrase “I Rise” is repeated seven times. This shows the forward thinking and forward motion of the equal rights movement. By the end of the poem, it is evident it is only a matter of time until Maya and her counter parts get the respect they deserve. Equal rights for everyone is what people like Maya Angelou fought for. They create their art to outlast all generations so ensure that African Americans will always be treated just as fairly as everyone else. “Still I Rise” outlines the struggle of the Black people in a time when everyone else looked down upon them. It does this in a way that evokes anger and sympathy for her and her cause. Maya will never be held back by racism and a culture that treats her like an animal. “I rise. I rise. I rise.” |
Literary Analysis
Published in 1978, Still I Rise was a piece composed my Maya Angelou promoting the equal treatment of African Americans nationwide.