Rhetorical Devices In Still I Rise By Maya Angelou

The author of “Still I Rise” is Maya Angelou, a well-known poet, author, and civil rights activist. This poem is about a poet who struggles to meet the social pressure and injustices of her time. Her poetry thus concentrates on two kinds of oppression – both racial oppression, and sexism. Amidst the challenges and adversities, she managed to survive and successfully claims that she will not be broken nor will she be defeated no matter how many times she is brought down by society. In this poem “Still I Rise”, I will be looking at critical works by Sandra Cookson, R. B. Stepto, and Lyman B. Hagen and stating why I agree with them.

Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise” was published in 1978 at one of the most productive and successful periods of Angelou’s career. “Still I Rise” tells about bouncing back and rising up past oppression and hate. The speaker in Angelou’s poem talks to a direct audience, asking them questions, announcing to them that no matter what they do, she will always rise back up. The poem is broken up into quatrains, although the last two stanzas use the repetition of the phrase “I rise” between the complete lines. The author uses figurative language in every stanza of her poem and uses similes and metaphors to create imagery and to get the tone and the theme of the poem across to the reader. Angelou uses figurative language to convey the message of resilience and succeeding even through hatred.

‘Still I Rise’ was written by an Afro-American poet Maya Angelou and consists of a mixture of tones, such as: playful, angry, comical and bitter. Slavery was long abolished but Angelou saw its effects on society and black people. In this poem she declares that no hatefulness of society will determine her success. In the poem ‘Still I Rise’ she is not only proclaiming her triumph but also calls others to stand up for themselves and live against society’s expectations.

“Still I Rise” was written by Maya Angelou, who is an African-American poet. A majority of her poems are written on slavery and life as a African- American woman. “Still I Rise” is one of the many well known. She discusses how she is treated differently and refers to her ancestry and relates to events they went through during the time of slavery and the events she continues to go through during her time period of life.

During the time of the civil rights movement, in Angelou’s poem, Still I Rise, her use of figurative language appeals to the reader's emotion to understand the shrewdness of the treatment towards women. In her poem she writes, “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness.” These lines from her poem illustrate the painful affect that ill mannered behavior has on not just women, but all people. Angelou presents her message of cruelty to women through judgement and rudity by using figurative language, and this helps to give her purpose a weightier impact on the

Perhaps the reason that Maya’s poetry has had such a lasting impact on Americans is because of her poems such as ‘Caged Birds’ and ‘Still I Rise’ that demonstrate the issues that African – Americans faced, which she has done through the power of her words. She also challenges the readers with the theme of oppression that is carried out through her pomes as she felt very strongly about it by being surrounded by it her entire life. Maya Angelou has left an everlasting mark by influencing the society through her poems by inspiring others to persist towards their goals and dreams with strength and pride. Overall, Maya Angelou’s work can be attributed to the fact that her personal and cultural experiences of power have not been forgotten by overcoming adversity and oppression, which is clearly reflected in her inspiration body of work seen

The ballad still I rise is composed by Maya Angelou; an African American writer, instructor and social liberties extremist. The ballad's strict importance is a snide reaction towards the general population who look down on the speaker. To the storyteller, the sonnet figuratively depicts her quality to dependably survive the fight against individuals' feedback of her and her predecessors. All around, this ballad conveys the message of the human's fantastic quality and capacity to defeat hurt. In any case, the fundamental and most essential message this ballad gives is the storyteller's quality to counter against separation of races and sexual orientation; which offers seek after other people who experience the ill effects of a similar difficulty.

She compares herself to a "black ocean, leaping and wide," an indication of the infinite power of her resilience. She closes the poem claiming that she is the "dream and the hope of the slave" followed by the thrice repeated phrase, "I rise." “Angelou captures the both the repression and the progress of the African American people over the course of history.” (Bouchard 1) I will use this essay in my final paper to analyze and determine the importance of simile in this poem and how it deeply affects the way in which the poem is meant to be

When she mentions “I was headed for the freedom of open fields,” (102) she brings up a connection with slavery. Although this could be seen as her being free from school, but there is a history with the African Americans being enslaves for a long period here is a long period in many places. Say that when the word “freedom” (102) is used when referring to black people, many can connect it to slaver. This conjures pity from the audience, and adds knowledge on how she feels about graduating. The issues and inequality between black and white people is highlighted in this passage. When Maya Angelou is walking up a hill to her school, she she foreshadows the future by describing the “clouds that lazed across the sky… their shifter shape might have held a message that in my new happiness and with a little bit of time I’d decipher.”(102). When she’s inside the auditorium she mentions that something doesn’t feel right. Once the two white men walk on stage, the entire atmosphere turns into some form of negativity and hostility. The automatic use of the words “Amen and Yes, sir’s”(106) throughout the speech is a notion that the African Americans are inferior to the whites and also no one would argue his

The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou, addresses White people who discriminate African Americans. During this period of time, Black people were not being treated equally, with this poem Angelou wants to defend African Americans. As a civil rights activist it is her job to fight for people's rights. By employing simile, imagery, and repetition, Angelou defends African Americans against their oppressors and shows that people have to be confident and strong, and not feel put down but rise above their problems.

Throughout many of Maya Angelou’s poems, she conveys a message of the importance of confidence in oneself which helps an individual rise above their struggles. In Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” she introduces a strong speaker who is self-assured and refuses to apologize for her existence. Not only does she not apologize for her existence, but she refuses to allow others to bring her down. This message is strengthened by Angelou’s use of literary devices. “Still I Rise” contains similes, rhetorical question, personification, and repetition, which Angelou includes to prove that all obstacles can be overcome.

Throughout ‘Still I RIse’, Angelou repeatedly reiterates ‘I’ll Rise’ to show her profound personality, whilst, Harrison’s lexical field of anguish conveys a lack of identity; Angelou’s use of ‘I’ll Rise’ delineates persistence and perseverance. The speaker uses this effective phrase on numerous occasions to emphasize how she will resist the oppression and stand proud. Moreover, Angelou’s speaker uses repeated rhetorical questions and an antithesis to again bring this perception of dedication and stamina. This is evident when said, “...to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes?” The consecutive rhetorical questions used here show determination and strength. Angelou’s application of “Bowed head and lowered eyes?” suggests submissiveness to challenge tyranny. This recapitulates perseverance and persistence. An antithesis is used to show how she falls, yet, she is still rising: “Shoulders falling down like teardrops.” The contrast of ‘shoulders falling’ and ‘teardrops’ shows the belligerence and controversy but still gracefully and with refinement. On the contrary, in ‘The Bright Light of Sarajevo’ there is a dark and secretive atmosphere. This is evident when said, “Dark boy-shape leads dark girl-shape away to share one coffee”. Harrison exploits ‘dark’ to create this lexical field of despair and concealment. This concealment shows the lack of identity and insignificance. Furthermore, Harrison uses ‘candlelit cafe’ to devise a hidden and clandestine ambience. The application of ‘leads’ suggests mystery and the boy having an authoritative character . Throughout the poem, many themes are created, nonetheless, the most prominent is this matter of concealed emotions. Contrasting of confidence and uncertainty creates this conflict between one’s identity and the lack of identity.

Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” takes place in the mind of Maya Angelou. She is talking about someone who is saying bad things about her. Even though they are saying bad things about her she won’t let it bring her down she will rise. She shows her Confidence by saying that she will rise, another way she is showing her Confidence is by being confident in her heritage, and her Confidence is evident through her displays of literary devices.

This poem was written in 1978 during segregation. Being an African American during this time, Maya Angelou is doing her part in getting her voice out there to hopefully make a difference. "Still I Rise" is a poem that addresses the plight of American blacks, but has a message that can cross racial and cultural boundaries because it is about overcoming adversity” (Bouchard 9). The poem starts off by saying “You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies” (Angelou lines 1-2). These words send the message to the reader that they can say what they want about her race. Around 1978 her race was not talked about highly. Statements were being made that were far from the truth about the African American race. The way they were treated was harsh, “You may trod me in the very dirt / But Still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou lines 3-4). This is a visual on how they were treated, they were belittled yet fearless. Angelou lets the reader know that no matter how harsh she is treated,

Maya Angelou born Marguerite Anne Johnson was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was an African-American poet and civil right activist. (2014) Retrieved from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/maya-angelou Angelou was known for writing many poems and autobiographies but the one that stood out was “Still I Rise.” In the poem “Still I Rise,” by Maya Angelou, there were many poetic terms, but the most common terms that caught my attention was theme, simile, and repetition to demonstrate that despite whatever is thrown her way she still rises above it all.