Still I Rise is a poem written by an African-American woman Maya Angelou in 1978. Angelou talks about self respect and self acceptance with confidence throughout the whole poem. She speaks about the eternal fight of slavery and woman’s hardships with a strong and powerful use of words. Her use of techniques such as metaphors, similes, historical or personal references and the language or tone of text has been used to give a particular effect on the reader to put them in the position as if it is them that is the one that is in the wrong.
One of the techniques that have been used in this poem is metaphors and similes to give a certain effect that makes the sentences strong and powerful. Every stanza has at least one simile and one metaphor. Similes have been used to compare a person or object with another but still making the meaning clear to the reader or oppressor without explaining the background behind it. Angelou compares herself to objects throughout the poem but the metaphors have then been used mostly to explain what other people would like to view Angelou as. For example when she says ‘You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness’ is an incredible use of violent, weighty and aggressive words. She does this again when she says ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wild’ which gives her the power and depth of meaning just like an ocean with her words. Her metaphors are very strong and vivid in the sixth stanza showing the oppressor what she can overcome. When she uses similes in stanza three; she suggests that she is strong and predictable but powerful by comparing herself to the world’s natural elements ‘moons,’ ‘suns,’ and ‘tides.’ Just as these natural elements continue to thrive and stay strong through anything thrown against them and carry on so does she.
Angelou links words in the poem to historical and personal references of society and her own personal background. She does this so that we can make our own connections to what she is saying throughout the poem. ‘Out of the huts of history’s shame’ is a reference to slaves throughout history where innocent black people were treated with hate and resentment. Whereas ‘Leaving behind nights of terror and fear’ refers to her own personal history and background but still has a connection to history’s slaves. ‘Bringing home gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave’ is a successive pair of lines of verse known as a couplet where she is successful with all her strings of achievement she has made even after all of history and societies disruptions to her and everyone going through hard times. But she will not inherit her ancestors’ pain but their power to overcome and hope for a new, bright and peaceful future that she intends on fulfilling when she says she is ‘The dream and the hope of the slave.’ She also refers to herself as a ‘black ocean,’ that is a connection and indication to the entire African-American community that has the power, strength and depth of an ocean. Black Lives Matter is a movement today that strives to create equality between the black community and society. People with a different coloured skin tone have been treated very differently from others throughout history and this is what Angelou refers to a lot in all her poems. Angelou strives for equal rights for the black community and that is why we have the Black Lives Matter Movement as others believe this too.
Language and tone of text to directly address the reader is another technique that has been used. She directly addresses the person reading the text by repeating ‘You’ again and again suggesting that ‘You’ has been used to address our society and the oppressor. The idea that these words like ‘Still I Rise’ shows that defeat is not an option for Angelou as she talks directly to her oppressors sayings that she will overcome anything that is thrown her way. She uses multiple different tones in her words like angry but comical, self confident and arrogant but sometimes even playful phrases directed at her oppressor well known as society. In stanza two she is sarcastic and sassy rather than naive and will not let the oppressor weigh her down with their words. Where in the fifth stanza the text’s tone brings back her proud and confident attitude after her melancholy, dull tone in the fourth stanza.
To conclude, although Still I Rise is written about our society’s civil right issues and on black slavery this poem is also written for any individual that is experiencing or has gone through tough times. This poem is a declaration of hope for everyone in the world no matter how big or small their problems are we will rise over them.