Still I Rise by Maya Angelou Poetry Paper
Introduction
It is clear that Maya Angelou, the author of Still I Rise wrote the poem in an effort to communicate her thoughts to oppressors and perpetrators of racism, sexism, and destructive criticism. It would really be a good idea to know who Maya Angelou is as an author and as a person to understand what some words and passages in her poem Still I Rise are for. Maya Angelou is a Black American poet, dancer, film and television producer, playwright, director, author, professor, actress, and civil rights activist. Her real name is Marguerite Ann Johnson. Most of her works revolve around the civil rights discipline which leads to the conclusion that Still I Rise is not the first poem that she wrote about civil rights issues. The poem is more like an oppressed but successful person’s response to those who oppressed and are still trying to oppress her despite being able to prove something. There are some sharp and blunt words used in the poem but it does not appear to be too blunt or too sharp to be censored or offensive. There are a total of three major themes identified in the poem. They are oppression, racism, and destructive criticism or what is also known in some culture as crab mentality.
The voice that Angelou used in writing the poem is a very active one. A reader can readily assume that the writer of the poem is sitting right next to him while reading. It is also very personal. Knowing Angelou’s personal, particularly her cultural background, it would be quite easy to decipher that there must be something in Angelou’s past experiences or memories that made her write Still I Rise that way. With regards to the tone, it can be assumed by a lot of readers that the most appropriate tone for the poem, considering the choice of words and the figures of speech used would be a pestering one. She basically tries to brag about something with an intention to annoy rather than offend. In some parts of the poem, particularly in the first two paragraphs, the voice and tone seem to be down. It is like the persona was oppressed but was able to rise and defend herself. That kind of presents a balanced scenario between the oppressors—the audience, and the person who was oppressed—the persona. The author also seems to be telling a sorrowful story of how she got oppressed and had no choice but to turn the tides over and rise from the mussy situation society has placed her in. At some point, it also seems like the author is talking to someone aside from the reader, perhaps a third person. More importantly, the author’s way of communication was outright and direct, and sharp and blunt.
Word Choice and Word Order
The most attractive aspect of this poem, as most readers would usually find, is the choice and order of words. The author’s smooth and nice choice of words made the job of relaying the main idea of every paragraph, and the entire poem as a whole, much easier. But still, the fact that every reader may interpret Still I Rise in a slightly or totally different way should not be neglected. The reason why readers can get varying interpretations of this poem is the choice and order of words. There are some points in the poem where bullying-related oppression, depression or self-esteem-related oppression, and race-related oppression can be found. There are a lot of meanings that can be obtained from this poem. Even though the specific type and source of oppression may seem hard to identify because of the versatility of the author’s choice of words, the poem is still able to clearly tell to the readers that the article is about oppression, whatever type of oppression that may be. The words in the poem do not really rhyme that well. Perhaps that is because the author preferred to focus more on the meaning of the poem rather than on the rhyming of the mix of words. At some point, the choice of words seems playful, mixing figures of speech such as metaphor, irony and euphemism. This can be evidenced by paragraph number 1 wherein the author compared the way how she would rise to the way how dusts would. No matter how playful the choice of words and expressions may be, most readers would find the order of the words very neat and structured. The author’s varying thoughts can actually be grouped by paragraphs because of how organized the word order turned out to be.
Figures of Speech
The poem itself is a figure of speech. Whenever the author says I, she is actually not pertaining to herself but to all Black American people who suffered from unnecessary oppression and discrimination for so many years—a personification in essence. Metaphor is by far the most commonly used figure of speech in the poem. There are many instances wherein Angelou compared her actions, usually her rising up to the way how inanimate objects such as dust and dirt rise. In the first paragraph for example, the author described how despite the bitterness and being trampled on the dirt, she will sill rise like the dust. Another example would be when she said in the sixth paragraph that despite all the shots, the cuts, and even death, she would still rise like air. This actually somewhat resembles a personification in her statements in the sixth paragraph. The statement “you may cut me with your eyes” for example; eyes cannot create a cut on the skin and yet she makes it seem like a sharp eye look could actually cut. The way how Angelou used his words to manipulate the readers’ thoughts through figures of speech can actually be considered the highlight of this poem. Imagine if every passage would be so literal. There is a good chance that that strategy would not be able to catch most readers’ attention for long, considering the fact that the poem tackles a typically neglected and ignored civil rights issue.
Imagery
The author’s perfect choice of words and use of different kinds of figures of speech all contributed to the poem’s ability to easily stimulate the readers’ imagination and creativity and at the same time make them get the main thought of the poem. A reader can for example, realistically imagine how rising up in the air would be like after being bombarded with a lot of negative things. Of course, the rising up part is a metaphor which means being able to succeed despite all the challenges and hardships. From a micro-societal point of view, readers may interpret that the Angelou is only talking about his perseverance but change that to a macro-societal point of view, readers will notice that she was actually pertaining to the perseverance of their Black American ancestors whose history has been clouded and skewed by countless conspiracies and politics, discrimination, and oppression. It is like there is an ongoing fight in the poem. The poem’s imagery somewhat project an image of the author continuously fighting against something, something that is very persistent and destructive but she continues to show how persistent she is as well.
Conclusion
Angelou presents to her readers a complete package of excellent choice and order of words, sharp and blunt use of words, creative use of a mixture of figures of speech, and a stimulating imagery that kind of tells a story of a person who despite all the oppressions and handicapping, was able to rise and then prove something to the oppressors. The main idea of the poem suggest that everyone with a persistent heart and who is willing to fight can overcome whatever it is to overcome. Oppression and racism stirs the controversy which in turn ignites the readers’ interest. Readers will most likely find that there is like an ongoing battle between good and bad out there while reading the poem. But who is the author really pertaining to whenever she says the word “I”? Is she simply pertaining to herself, her own sufferings, glory, and achievements? Or is she pertaining to the entire Black American race whose history has been clouded and darkened by the longstanding presence of corruption, oppression, discrimination and even violence?
Works Cited
Angelou, M. "The Poetry of Angelou." Masterplots II: African American Literature (2008).
McMurry, M. "Role-Playing as Art in Maya Angelou's Caged Bird." Literary Reference Center (2010).
Seyidova, A. "Figures of Though in the English Literary Discourse." International Journal of English Linguistics (2012).
Stolz, Amber. "Analyzing Maya Angelou's Poems as a Window into Her Character." Yale New Haven Teachers Institute (n.d.).
Williamson, J. "THE BOOK AND AUTHOR: Biography of Maya Angelou." Salem Press (2010).
