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| Summary of The Poem Still I Rise By Maya Angelou |
About Still I Rise
Still I Rise is a poem by the American civil rights activist and writer Maya Angelou. One of Angelou's most acclaimed works, the poem was published in Angelou’s third poetry collection And Still I Rise in 1978. Broadly speaking, the poem is an assertion of the dignity and resilience of marginalized people in the face of oppression. Because Angelou often wrote about blackness and black womanhood, "Still I Rise" can also be read more specifically as a critique of anti-black racism.
Still, I Rise, by Maya Angelou, offers an intriguing mixture of tones: playful and defiant, comical and angry, self-assured and bitter. The poem is addressed to an abstract, unspecified figure who represents the forces of oppression the speaker experiences in her life. The poem consists of a series of questions and expressions of defiance, with the speaker returning again and again to the refrains of “I’ll rise” and “I rise.”
The context of Angelou’s life sheds light on the themes of the poem. Maya Angelou was involved in the civil rights movement and wrote often about the experience of being a Black American woman during a time of significant discrimination and prejudice in American society. Against this social and historical backdrop, the poem’s defiance reads clearly. The “you”—who stands in for an oppressive majority—will not succeed in diminishing or belittling the speaker, despite all efforts. Indeed, she promises to rise again each time.
Who is the writer of Still I Rise?
Maya Angelou (1928–2014) the writer of Still I Rise was an American writer born in St. Louis, Missouri. True to the title of one of her own poems, she was indeed a “Phenomenal Woman.” Few people can say they have been a novelist, activist, professor, actor, singer, director, scholar, researcher, and poet, yet Angelou filled all of these roles and many more. She was an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement, working closely with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. As a survivor of poverty, familial discord, and a harrowing childhood, Angelou was able to turn her remarkable, tumultuous life into creative inspiration, particularly in the autobiographical work I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which launched her career. Today, she is celebrated as one of the most notable Black American women of the twentieth century, yet her accomplishments across lines of race, gender, sexuality, and culture.
Summary
In short summary, the poem is developed with several questions. Though It begins with some positive notions. You have the ability to shape how history remembers me with your hurtful, warped lies. You have the power to walk all over me, crushing me into the dirt itself. But even so, I will rise up from the ground just as dust rises from the earth.
Does my bold and cheeky attitude offend you? Why are you so miserable? Maybe it's because of the confident way I walk as if I had oil wells right in my living room. I am like the moon and the sun, the rises of which are as inevitable as the rise of ocean tides. Just like high hopes, I will keep rising. Were you hoping to see me looking sad and defeated? Did you want to see me in a submissive posture, with my head bent and eyes looking down rather than up at you? Did you want to see my shoulders slouching down in the same way that tears fall down, my body having been weakened by all my intense sobbing?
Is my pride making you mad? Are you so upset because I am so happy and joyful that it seems as though I must have gold mines in my own backyard? You have the ability to shoot at me with your words, which are like bullets. You have the ability to cut me with your sharp glare. You may even kill me with your hatred. Nevertheless, just as the air keeps rising, I will keep rising. Does my sex appeal make you upset? Are you taken aback by the fact that I dance as though I have precious gems between my legs? I rise up out of history's shameful act of slavery. I rise up from this deeply painful past. I am as vast and full of power as a dark ocean that rises and swells and carries in the tide. I rise up, and in doing so leave behind all the darkness of terror and fear. I rise the theme and in doing so enter a bright morning that is full of joyful wonder. With the personal qualities and grace I inherited from my ancestors, I embody the dreams and hopes of past enslaved peoples. I will rise, and rise, and rise.
The Theme of Still I Rise
“Still I Rise” presents the bold defiance of the speaker, implied to be a black woman, in the face of oppression. This oppressor, addressed throughout as “you,” is full of “bitter, twisted lies” and “hatefulness” toward the speaker, and hopes to see the speaker “broken” in both body and spirit. However, despite all the methods of the oppressor to “shoot,” “cut,” or “kill” her, the speaker remains defiant by continuing to “rise” in triumph.
Angelou was a staunch civil rights activist, and “Still I Rise” can be taken as a powerful statement specifically against anti-black racism in America. At the same time, its celebration of dignity in the face of oppression feels universal and can be applied to any circumstance in which a marginalized person refuses to be broken by—and, indeed, repeatedly rises above—prejudice and hatred.
Society relentlessly tries to humiliate and demean the speaker, who has little power to fight back. The speaker acknowledges that society “may” enact violence upon her. It also has the ability to write “lies” about the speaker and present them as facts. The speaker does not have the ability to prevent any of this, and, in fact, the attempts to harm the speaker only escalate as the poem continues. This “you” may crush the speaker into the dirt; it may “shoot,” “cut,” and eventually even “kill” the speaker with “hatefulness.” An oppressive society, the poem is saying, presents a clear and pressing danger to the speaker’s body and mind.
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Yet the speaker responds to this treatment not only by surviving but by thriving—something that provokes anger from her oppressor. The speaker wonders—her tone tongue-in-cheek—why the oppressor is so “upset,” “offend[ed],” and “gloom[y].” Perhaps, she proposes, it is because of her confident “walk,” generous “laugh[ter],” or dazzling “dance.” In other words, the speaker presents her joy—her refusal to bend to the speaker’s will—as its own act of defiance. Moreover, all of her acts are associated with traditional signs of wealth in the form of “oil,” “gold,” and “diamonds.” Regardless of the oppressor’s negative and hateful responses, the speaker continues to prosper. The speaker even explicitly rejects the oppressor’s desire to “see [her] broken.” The oppressor wants to elicit “lowered eyes,” “teardrops,” and “soulful cries” from the speaker, to see her downtrodden. Thus simply living with joy, pride, and dignity is an act of resistance against and triumphs over oppression.
Indeed, the speaker “rise[s]” repeatedly over the oppressor’s violent hatred and prejudice. The speaker’s rise is first compared to the rise of “dust,” a reference to the earth. Later, her rise transforms from the rise of “dust” to “air,” which is located physically above the earth. The progression of these comparisons over the course of the poem reinforces the speaker’s rise over oppression. And just like the rise of “moons and … suns,” the speaker’s rise is inevitable and unstoppable. Her dignity and strength are qualities that society can’t touch, no matter how hard it tries. The speaker is thus able to ascend out of “history’s shame” and “a past that’s rooted in pain,” both of which are particular references to slavery, by living with pride and joy. Indeed, her rise—a powerful form of resistance against oppression—is the ultimate “dream” and “hope” of oppressed peoples.
Given this context, the poem has clear and particular resonance for black Americans. More broadly, the poem is a ringing assertion of the dignity of marginalized people and an insistence on their ultimate, inevitable triumph over violence and hate.
Final Summary of Still I Rise
The poem still I rise is directed towards those oppressors in society who would tie the speaker to her past and to a history that has been misrepresented and cannot be relied upon. Her ancestors were depicted unfairly and dishonestly in history, and she will rise above the cruelty and suffering they experienced. The speaker is both angry and confident throughout the poem. Initially, she is baffled by the way in which her oppressors—ostensibly, white people and specifically, white males—do not want her to succeed or become more than the sum of her history.
The speaker in the poem notes that her joy seems to make them miserable, and she questions why that is. At the same time, she taunts these oppressors, acknowledging the impact of her behaviours and personality and delighting in the fact that she bewilders them with her power and confidence. The poem as a whole is a declaration of strength and of determination.
The speaker proclaims boldly that whatever her oppressors do to try to hamper her progress or take away her rights, it will not matter. Nobody will ever take her power away, and she will always rise above the racism, pain, and sexism to be the powerful woman she knows she is. She will break the negative cycle of the past.
She also speaks on behalf of other black people without actually stating that this is what she is doing. By making references to her ancestors and naming slavery explicitly near the poem's conclusion, she is addressing the collective experiences of her people and stating that they as a race are more powerful than their oppressors. Whatever the oppressors do, they cannot stop their people from moving forward in their lives.
The poet ends her declaration by affirming that no matter what happens, she will continue to rise above history, hate, and bigotry just like her ancestors dreamed would be possible. She will fulfil their dreams and hopes for freedom and happiness.
Analysis of the Poem Still I Rise
'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou is an inspiring and moving poem that celebrates self-love and self-acceptance. The poem takes the reader through a series of statements the speaker makes about herself. She praises her strength, her body, and her ability to rise up and away from her personal and historical past. There is nothing, the speaker declares, that can hold her back. She is going to “rise” above and beyond anything that seeks to control her.
Meaning
The title of the poem, ‘Still I Rise’ is a proclamation against the society that tries to dominate the speaker’s voice. The speaker or the poetic persona represents the poet’s voice. She represents the black community as a whole. Through this poem, she tries to break through the shackles of domination and raises her voice to say that she and her people are no longer mute. They have got the voice to proclaim their rights. No matter how hard they try, she will prove to them the abilities of black people. The phrase, “I rise” is not about a singular uprising. It’s a collective revolutionary voice that consists of the raging uproar of a class, oppressed and betrayed for a long time.
Structure and Form
‘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.
Tone and Mood
Within ‘Still I Rise’ Angelou takes a strong and determined tone throughout her writing. By addressing her’s, and all marginalized communities’ strengths, pasts, and futures head-on, she’s able to create a very similar mood. A reader should walk away from ‘Still Rise’ feeling inspired, joyful, and reinvigorated with courage and strength.
Poetic Techniques and Figurative Language
Angelou makes use of several poetic techniques and different kinds of figurative language in ‘Still I Rise’. These include anaphora, alliteration, enjambment, and similes. The first, anaphora, is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of multiple lines, usually in succession. In this piece, a reader should look to stanza six for an example. Here, Angelou uses the phrase “You may” at the start of lines one through three.
Alliteration occurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. For example, ” huts of history” in line one of the eighth stanza and “gifts” and “gave” in stanza nine.
Another important technique commonly used in poetry is enjambment. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. Enjambment forces a reader down to the next line, and the next, quickly. One has to move forward to comfortably resolve a phrase or sentence. For example, the transition between lines two and three of the first stanza and two and three of the second stanza.
A simile is a comparison between two unlike things that uses the words “like” or “as”. A poet uses this kind of figurative language to say that one thing is similar to another, not like metaphor, that it “is” another. In the third stanza of ‘Still I Rise’ with the line “Just like hopes springing high” or in lines three and four of the fifth stanza: “’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines / Diggin’ in my own backyard”.
Themes
The major poetic themes of this work are self-empowerment, perseverance, and injustice. Throughout the text, the speaker, who is commonly considered to be Angelou herself, addresses her own oppressor. The “you” she refers to represents the varieties of injustices that people of colour, women and all marginalized communities have dealt with as long as history has been recorded.
She throws a prior self-derogatory way of thinking to the side and addresses herself lovingly and proudly. The poet seeks to empower herself, as well as all those who have doubted their abilities, strength, beauty, intelligence, or worth. This is seen through lines like “You may tread me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I’ll rise”.
Imagery
This poem is filled with vivid imagery. To begin with, there is visual imagery in the very beginning. Through this line, “But still, like dust, I’ll rise.” So, here the image of “dust” helps the speaker to make her point. According to her, none can control the dust when the revolutionary wind arrives. Likewise, she will rise like dust particles and blind those who trod her before.
The following stanzas contain some more images. For example, readers can find the image of oil wells pumping oil. The third stanza has images of the moon, sun, and tides. In this stanza, she depicts the tides that are springing high. It is compared to “hope”.
There is an image of a black individual who is in extreme distress. This image represents how they were tortured and made silent by the unlawful fist. Angelou uses the images of “gold mines” and “diamonds” to heighten the irony of this piece. Lastly, the “black ocean” unfolds how powerful the speaker and her people are. Their greatness is like that of the immensity of the ocean.
Symbolism
Angelou’s ‘Still I Rise’ is a symbolic poem. It contains several symbols that refer to different ideas. For example, in the first stanza, the poet uses the “dirt” as a symbol. It represents how the black community was treated in history.
In the following stanzas, there are several symbolic references. These are “oil wells”, “gold mines” and “diamonds”. They collectively refer to the resourcefulness of the speaker. Those symbols do not deal with anything materialistic, rather they hint at her intellectual wealth.
In the fourth stanza, the moon and sun represent the speaker herself. While the upward movement of tides symbolizes how hope springs in her heart concerning the future. Besides, some phrases deal with the concept of slavery in this line, “Bowed head and lowered eyes.”
There is an important symbol of the “black ocean” in the eighth stanza. This ocean represents black people. The speaker says, “I’m a black ocean”. Here, it acts as a symbol of energy and immensity. The last stanza contains another symbol in the usage of the word “night”. It is a symbol of fear, oppression, and pessimism.
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