Still I Rise

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 loom? '!ause I walk like I've ot oil wells "umpin in my livin room. #ust like moons and like suns, With the $ertainty o% tides, #ust like hopes sprin in hi h, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders %allin down like teardrops. Weakened by my soul%ul $ries. Does my hau htiness o%%end you? Don't you take it aw%ul hard '!ause I lau h like I've ot old mines Di in' in my own ba$k yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may $ut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hate%ulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my se&iness upset you? Does it $ome as a surprise 'hat I dan$e like I've ot diamonds (t the meetin o% my thi hs? )ut o% the huts o% history's shame I rise *p %rom a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a bla$k o$ean, leapin and wide, Wellin and swellin I bear in the tide. +eavin behind ni hts o% terror and %ear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously $lear I rise Brin in the i%ts that my an$estors ave, I am the dream and the hope o% the slave. I rise I rise I rise.

Maya Angelou

,o$abulary Stan-a ./ 'wisted 0 'rod 00 Stan-a 1/ Sassiness 000 Beset 0 Stan-a 2/ 3au htiness 0 Main Idea Mine - It4s basi$ally talk about the perseveran$e that the poet have in her li%e. 5o matter how bad the situation is, she $ould still able to e&$el and a$hieve well in her li%e 6she $ould still raise7. I %elt very sad that the poet seemed to have a lot o% $hallen es in her li%e. 8or e&amples, 9With your bitter, twisted lies, you may trod me in the very dirt: in stan-a one shows that other people treated her badly in the way o% their $onversation. 'hey were able to twist lies and tread the poet badly. 3owever, I %elt ;uite lad be$ause the poet did not ive up easily. )n the other hand, she even tried to look hersel% in the mirror and see whether she did anythin wron . She kept her mind %irm and she persisted to rise in any manner even i% she was dust or air. 'his $ould be shown espe$ially when the poet used the phrase 9Still I4ll Rise: in the entire poem espe$ially in the stan-a ., < and =. >oreover, the repetition o% the words 9I Rise: in the last stan-a also stren thened her position to rise. 'he poet was also very $on%ident in hersel% that she $ould rise over it no matter what people do to hurt her. Others ( Stanza by Stanza )
I. In stan-a one, >aya (n elou hints at her relationship with history and the body's relationship with the earth. With an (%ri$an (meri$an ba$k round, she knows the importan$e and $ruel irony o% history. ?3is Story? is usually told %rom an @uropean an le. She also $orrelates how the body $an be put and driven into the round, but eventually it de$omposes and humans turn into earth, like soil and dust. >aya (n elou tells how she is above lies and oppression, and 'like dust, I'll rise.' II. >aya (n elou oes on to ask a rhetori$al ;uestion to the reader. 3er attitude as a $on%ident, sassy, (%ri$an (meri$an woman is out o% the norm %or so$iety. ( woman, let alone an (%ri$an woman who has $on%iden$e in hersel% was a taboo idea. She asks the reader i% that upsets them, whi$h at the time, probably did. She also mentions how she $arries hersel%, portrayin it to the world as thou h she is ri$h, whi$h %or >aya (n elou she wasn't ri$h rowin up. 'his Aust e&plains how one $an a$t $on%ident and be proud o% themselves even thou h they are not ri$h or per%e$t. III. In the third stan-a >aya $orrelates her attitude with the $ertainty o% nature. She e&plains how nature and people's hopes are $ertain %a$ts that will never end. 'he sun

will always rise Aust like the moons. 'he tides and people's hopes will always rise that all have a natural order in li%e. Yet, >aya (n elou knows, 'Still I'll rise.'

>aya (n elou des$ribes her ability to rise above anythin that happens to her in this poem. She also uses apostrophe to address her dis$ourse, as well as ive others the ability to share her voi$e. I believe this poem $ould be seen as >aya addressin someone, or as a sort o% sel%Bhelp0sel% $on%iden$e booster %or others to re$ite. >aya also asks ;uestions throu hout the poem, whi$h ive the readers the opportunity to review their lives, $ontemplate their belie%s, and review the ;uestions bein asked o% them. 'he rhyme s$heme remains the same as the be innin throu h the middle three stan-as. It seems like an (B!B pattern that is repeated until the very end. 'he overall line by line analysis is %airly similar %or the three middle stan-as and it's basi$ meanin is that is no matter what other do to hurt her, in the past or %uture, she $an rise above it. She be ins with a sort o% tauntin to the reader. She makes it %eel as thou h she's sayin you thou ht I $ouldn't do it, but look at me nowC She then asks i% her pride%ul ness is o%%ensive, and then pro$eeds to say she doesn't $are i% it is or not. 8inally, she says that you $an try and hurt her any way that you want, but she's still oin to rise above it. 'here is a re%eren$e to roots and the slavery era, and she uses her an$estors e&perien$e as a resour$e %or her own stren th. She also says that she must preserve her an$estor's dreams 6who were slaves7 %or su$$ess in a %ree world. In these last three stan-as she also uses ;uestions to draw the reader in and re;uire them to e&amine their own lives. She says that she will rise above the pain and su%%erin that her an$estors have e&perien$ed in order to %ul%ill their dreams o% bein ranted the opportunity %or su$$ess in a world where she is %ree. She also wants to emphasi-e the %a$t that she is not %alterin %rom the pain and su%%ra e she and her an$estors have e&perien$ed, but she will $ontinue to rise.