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?
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 certainty of tides,
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.
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.
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.
Does my sexiness upset you?
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
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
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.
I rise
I rise
I rise
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Analysis
The main theme of the poem ''Still I Rise'' by Maya Angelou is that besides all the problems and difficulties you face in life, you must never give up fighting, hoping that at the end you will fulfil your aim, you will rise. It's a poem emphasizing that everybody must take a second chance in life, not quitting but always hoping for the better days to come.
The writer starts the poem with the bitterness that she could be accused by many people and led in the dirt-as a person who is good for nothing, underestimated-, but she will still walk with her head up, knowing that all the accusations are not true. People will still get upset with her, because she will stand up again like the moon and the sun. She feels as if everybody wants her to feel down and weak, and her courage of ignoring them, makes people even more upset and they keep on accusing her with words, but still she rises.
Maya Angelou refers again with pain to the past, and when she talks about the ''Black Ocean'', she means the slaves and all their fights to end slavery. All the terror and fear they faced is set aside hoping for a wonderful, clear day, when all the hopes and dreams of her ancestors will come true, and that they will rise again.
The motif of the poem is the inspiration of enthusiasm for everybody to have the power to fight and stand up to whatever difficulties they have faced in the past. The poet uses figurative language to send us the meaning of his poem:
Metaphors are used in the sixth stanza: ''You may shoot me with your words'' meaning that they say very bad things about her, accusing her.
-''You may cut me with your eyes'' meaning that the way somebody looks at slaves underestimates them.
-''You may kill me with your hatefulness'' meaning that they don't like slaves at all.
Symbolism
The term ''black ocean'' has a symbolic meaning that slaves, black people, are so many and in so many places that even though they suffer so much like a tide, they always hope for the better.
Repetition
The phrase ''Still . . . I'll rise'' is found in almost every stanza, while the expression ''I rise'' is in almost every verse of the last stanza, emphasizing the enthusiasm and the inner strength of the writer. As she believes in herself, she repeats that ''she will rise'' in order to show how determined she is to fight for slavery, and also to inspire other people not to give up struggling for obtaining their rights.
The poem ''Still I rise'' is a meaningful one, for encouraging people to always hope for the best and fight for it, in order to walk with their head high and ignore all of those who underestimated them in the past.
