Summary || Still I Rise || Maya Angelou

The poem 'Still I Rise' conveys to the readers the need for standing tall against all odds and fighting till the very end. It is an emotional poem addressed to the white oppressors of black people. The poet wants the white people to realize that the black will no longer bend down to the atrocities of the whites. Without reacting to the harshness, she requests the blacks to stand up and walk with their head held high. It invokes a feeling of confidence in the blacks to not surrender to the oppression of the blacks. The poem is both political and highly personal. The poet is responding to decades and even centuries of oppression and mistreatment. The readers can feel the sympathy with her spirited rejection of further oppression. The poet considers herself as the dream and hope of the slaves who will be freed from the bondage of the whites.

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The first two lines are about writing. She uses it as an instrument of liberation. Here she refers to how writing can poison the minds of oppressioners. She then refers to physical condemnation. But all this does not stop her from standing up for her dignity. Like moonss and suns and tides, she keeps rising up again and again. She uses rhetorical questions to express her strength and courage and fortitude over all the adversting faced by her and she will stand up tall again with a smiling and cheerful face.

What is the theme of the poem? is it universal?

Maya Angelou, the poet of 'Still I Rise' was an Afro-American poet. For centuries, her people had been subjected to slavery. The poem 'Still I Rise' is both political and personal. The poet is responding to centuries, her people had been subjected to slavery. The poem 'Still I Rise' is both political and personal. The poet is responding to centuries of oppression and mistreatment of the Africans by the Americans. It reveals the strong determination, strength, courage and fortitude of the poet to fight for a cause and to keep fighting till the goal is reached. It is about triumph over adversity. Above all, it is joining together with one voice and saying we will overcome. Yes it is a universal theme. Women and people around the globe are often subjected to oppression for some reason or the other. It requires a lot of courage to stand up and fight for one's rights.

What does the title 'Still I Rise' mean?

Maya Angelou, an Afro-American poet, was a versatile writer and poet. The title of the poem is 'Still I Rise'. The word 'still' means continue. Having been suppressed all through her life, she wishes to convey the message to the white oppressors that nothing can defer her from standing up again and again to fight for her cause. It brings out her strong determination to put an end to slavery and get freedom for her people. The poem is a direct address to the white that the blacks had enough of oppression and mistreatment, but not any more. They would not tolerate any kind of atrocities any more. The blacks have risen and would not tolerate any more.