Still-I-rise-Analysis.pdf, Study Guides, Projects, Research of History

Download Still-I-rise-Analysis.pdf and more Study Guides, Projects, Research History in PDF only on Docsity! Still I rise Maya Angelou (1928-) 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? 5 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 certainly of tides, 10 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, 15 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 20 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. The wri ter ' s angry pro tes t agains t racial discr imination. The speaker speaks out agains t the racial prejudice and into lerance that she sees around her before making an appeal for black pr ide and digni ty. Simile Simile Simile Simile Simile Metaphor Simile Tone: anger & open defiance. Wri t ten in an informal , conversational s ty le. Throughout the poem, the speaker addresses people – whi te supremacis ts (people who bel ieve they are better than others because they are whi te). These people have caused suffer ing to the speaker – l ines 1-33, 21-23, etc. Speaker ' s boldness , courage & dar ing is evident in ques tions in l ines 5, 17, 25. Speaker expresses her determination in l ines 13- 14. Cheekiness Anaphora: Ti t le are repeated 10 t imes throughout the poem. This creates an atmosphere, enables the harmony of the rhyme scheme & s tates & makes clear the theme of the poem. Stanza 1 Stanza 2 Stanza 3 Stanza 4 Stanza 5 Stanza 6 Enjambment Enjambment Enjambment Does my sexiness upset you? 25 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 30 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 35 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. 40 I rise I rise I rise. *sassisness - cheekiness Anaphora: The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. Enjambment: The running on of the thought from one line, couplet, or stanza to the next without a syntactical break/punctuated pause. Simile Metaphor Metaphor As a “ black ocean” she wi l l emerge “Out o f his tory ' s shame” (meaning s lavery), & fight for her r ights . Once the fight i s won, she wi l l par t icipate in & enjoy a common humani ty, which has been denied to black people for centur ies o f oppress ion & racial inequal i ty. Stanza 7 Stanza 8 Enjambment