The poem ‘Still I Rise’ is about Maya Angelou’s self-belief. It shows the strength and hope that she has in herself and in the human race. This poem talks about the oppression of her past and how it is rooted within her. Maya Angelou is showing how there is hope for everyone no matter what has happened in their past. I think Maya Angelou wrote this poem to show how she has risen above the obstacles and hardships in her life. She is expressing how proud she is of how far she has come and telling us how she is not afraid to express her wealth and confidence. This poem gives people hope that no matter where you are in life you can rise above it and be proud of who you are. The effect of Maya Angelou repeating ‘I rise’ five times is very encouraging. It’s saying that you will have problems in life but you can always rise above them. It is a very hopeful word that shows strength and power over herself and anyone that has tried to push her down.
The metaphor ‘you may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness’ is extremely powerful. This is because it is saying you can cut her down and even kill her but she can fight and rise above it. This is showing the strength and power that she has over herself and her life. She is acknowledging that there will be pain and knock backs in life and you can either choose to let them tear you down or you can fight back and become even stronger. Within this quote there are three violent verbs: shoot, cut and kill. These sound like bullets and are very harsh words to show the pain that is in this world. ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’. This metaphor is very inspiring. It’s saying that you are free and no one can control you, just like the ocean. The ocean is a very large area and as much as people like to claim the ocean and take the life and resources out of it they will never be able to control or kill it. This means that nothing will ever be too big or destructive to kill her and nothing can change the person she is. When she says ‘black ocean’ it means that there are parts of her that nobody knows about and she has mysteries beneath her that no one can see with the ordinary eye. When Maya Angelou says ‘like air, I’ll rise’ she means that there is nothing that can hold her down or affect what she will do. This is because air can not be confined or held down it will always rise up and be free. This is a simile because she is referring to herself as air. Air is also something that people can’t live without no matter how much they may want to live without it they can’t. This is like people may not want to need Maya Angelou yet they can’t actually live without her. She also can’t be owned by anyone, she is used like air yet they will never be able to own her.
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