Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

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.

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.
2.
And Still I Rise is author Maya Angelou's third volume of poetry,
published by Random House in 1978. It was published during one
of the most productive periods in Angelou's career; she had
written three autobiographies and published two other volumes of
poetry up to that point
3.
She spoke six languages.
She did not speak for five years in her youth.
Martin Luther King, JR. was assassinated on her birthday.
She was only the second poet in history to recite work at a
presidential inauguration.
She was the first black woman to conduct a cable car in San
Francisco.
4.
What made her so strong and fearless?
Which event motivated the author to write this poem?

5.
 This stirring poem is packed full of figurative language. The
message is loud and clear—no matter the cruelty, regardless of
method and circumstance, the victim will rise up, the slave will
overcome adversity. (It's little wonder that Nelson Mandela read
this poem at his inauguration in 1994 after spending 27 years in
prison.)
Although written with black slavery and civil rights issues in
mind, "Still I Rise" is universal in its appeal. Any innocent
individual, any minority, or any nation subject to oppression or
abuse can understand its underlying theme—don't give in to
torture, bullying, humiliation, and injustice.
This poem includes 43 lines in total, made up of seven quatrains
and two end stanzas which help reinforce the theme of individual
hope, with the phrase "I rise" being repeated like a mantra.
This is a poem aimed at the oppressor. Note the first "you" in the
first line and the rhyme scheme abcb, which tightly knits the
stanza together. Rhymes such as eyes/cries, hard/backyard,
surprise/thighs repeat until the last two stanzas.
6.
Politics, history, trade, oppression, societal issues, individual
rights, slavery, peaceful protest.

7 & 8.

"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 color, will hold
her back. Although slavery had been long abolished, Angelou saw
its effects on society and the African American people. This poem
is not only a proclamation of her own determination to rise above
society, but was also a call to others to live above the society in
which they were brought up. It is still one of the most widely read
poems in America.

9.

The mood of Maya Angelou's poem, 'Still I Rise', is inspirational.

This is because the poem uses the theme of strength and resilience.

10.

Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise" is a type of lyric poetry. The

lyric poem expresses the speaker's feelings about a situation or
subject and may or may not rhyme. In "Still I Rise," Angelou
writes about themes of blackness, femininity, and resilience.

11.

"Still I Rise" is a very powerful poem. The author, Maya, displays

how she has overcome the challenges faced due to her race. The
poem is very inspiring and has opened my eyes to the difficulties
African Americans must face. In the poem, Maya explains how the
mean looks, glares, and words will not break her or define her as
a person. I like this poem because it shows how you can overcome
others and stay confident in yourself.

12.

He places Angelou's work in the tradition of other Black poets and

compares the poems in And Still I Rise to the works of Langston
Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Sterling Brown. For example,
many of Angelou's poems remind Stepto of Brown's poems. "Still I
Rise" reminds Stepto of Brown's most famous poem, "Strong Men".

13.

Everything was clear.

14.

twisted lies, sassiness, beset, teardrops.

15.

A. 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.

B. The so-called "falling rhythm" of the trochees reflects the

negativity of the first three lines, namely the speaker's
acknowledgment of her oppressor's ability to humiliate her.
However, the meter changes to iambic (unstressed-stressed) in the
last line of the stanza: But still, like dust, I'll rise.

C. The d sound is alliterative in "I dance like I've got diamonds"

and the h sound in "the huts of history's shame."

D. If you count the poem's title, the words "I rise" or "I'll rise" are
repeated eleven times in this poem.

E. “You may write me down in history”; “You may shoot me with

your words” and “I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide.”
F. "History's shame" personifies history and gives it the attribute
of feeling an emotion like shame.

G. None

H. I think that that the poet is using hyperbole by calling herself

the culmination of all of the hopes and dreams of her slave
ancestors.

I. The poet alludes to slavery and the slave trade at the end
of the poem. The "huts of history's shame" likely refer to where
slaves were housed, and the poet mentions slavery explicitly just
once near the poem's conclusion.

J. “You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”

K. None

L. 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”.

M. "You may trod me in the very dirt"

"You may shoot me with your words"

"You may cut me with your eyes"

"I'm a black ocean"

"Did you want to see me broken"

 N. The poet's challenges to those she addresses are often ironic.
One of these ironies is the fact that in trying to oppress her, the
oppressors are actually giving her the strength and will to survive.
For example, she tells them, "You may trod me in the very dirt, but
still, like dust, I'll rise." Treading her into the dirt is intended to
stop her from moving forward. But it has the opposite effect,
merely strengthening her resolve and making her rise higher than
ever. The repetition of the phrase "still I rise" throughout the poem
shows that the speaker's perseverance allows her to overcome
even the most insurmountable of obstacles. This is situational
irony in a way because society expects the speaker to be destroyed
mentally, emotionally, and physically.

O. None

P. None

Q. The poet refers to slavery as "history's shame" which may be

considered an understatement. Slavery caused widespread
suffering by tearing families apart and breaking the spirits of
African people. Many people died as a result, and the Civil War
resulted in even more casualties for both white and black people.
Slavery changed the course of American—and even world-—
history, and its effects can still be felt today with the prevalent
racist attitudes that are found around the world.

R. The phrase, “Still I'll rise” is repeated in first, third and fifth
stanzas with the same words. Hence it has become a refrain.

S. 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.
 16.

Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" uses several literary devices to build

an assertive, defiant, and triumphant tone in her poem. The author
uses apostrophe, which is a direct address to an absent person,
object, or concept.

17.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou