She is not talking about physical hurt but more of a deeper, emotional hurt. You may kill me with your hatefulness” In the above-mentioned lines, Maya Angelou is saying that not only guns or knives can destroy a person. In another stanza, she writes: “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, ” In another two lines she writes: “Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? ” In the lines mentioned above, Maya Angelou is expressing her toughness of character, that despite the goings-on in her life, she still laugh likes the rich man does and she still dances like the rich man dances, that is, without carrying the shame of the deprived and abused person. For example, just like when she compared her “head held high” attitude to having an oil well in her living room, she compared her joy to a gold mine: “Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold minesĭiggin’ in my own back yard. In the lines that follow, it can be noticed that Maya Angelou loved to compare her feelings with material things. When we further analyze these lines, this brokenness and defeat is also an image that applies to every person who undergoes troubles in life and therefore, this poem is also applicable to everyone who is going through something. That only shows how broken her spirit was through that experience.Īnd this she effectively described in her poem. According to her biography, she became mute for five years. This picture may have also reflected her experience when she was abused as a child. By broken, she was not referring to broken limbs she was referring more to a broken spirit, a broken heart. This may literally be the picture of the slave who was abused or tortured, a picture of a broken person. Maya Angelou’s description in this stanza is the picture of defeat. In the third stanza, the author asks: “Did you want to see me broken?īowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Using this word, she is expressing that no matter how hard the situation she faces, she will rise above it with certainty. ” The word “certainty” is very important in this stanza. In the next stanza, she says: “Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. Thus, when Maya Angelou said that she walks like she has oil wells inside her living room, the reader will picture her walking like a rich girl, with her head held high. The richest countries in the world are oil selling countries. ” In this certain line, Maya Angelou uses symbolism to express the way she rises above the situation. “’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. In the next stanza of her poem, Maya Angelou uses comparisons to depict a certain situation that she wants to show. On a larger sense, she may also be talking about the way her race was treated during the time of slavery. Thus, the line, “You may trod me in the very dirt” may be connected with the way she was treated when she was a child.
Hence, the first lines of her poem: “You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirtīut still, like dust, I rise. During that time, the “truth” is usually kept hidden favoring the more superior groups of people. Maya Angelou was part of a generation wherein the black race was still seen as “inferior”. It is a poem that talks about keeping one’s head up no matter how hard the situation they come from and not being affected by the problems on the side. The poem resonates with how we see Maya Angelou as we learn about her from her writings.Analysis of the poem, “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise” may contain different meanings depending on the reader who interprets it.
#Maya angelou still i rise meaning skin#
She will rise to any occasion and nothing, not even her skin color, will hold her back. Angelou reveals how she will overcome anything through her self-esteem. Analysis & Meaning of the Poem Still I Rise” is about self-respect and confidence. I am the dream and the hope of the slave. Weakened by my soulful cries? Does my haughtiness offend you?īringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
0 kommentar(er)
