Preview

Figurative Language In Maya Angelou's Still I Rise

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
470 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Figurative Language In Maya Angelou's Still I Rise
Intro:”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” (Angelou 1-4) this is a quote from “Still I Rise” that expresses Maya Angelou’s true feelings, that you may hurt her and give Maya Angelou dirty looks, yet she will be the bigger person.
Maya Angelou uses figurative language to hook her readers with the points she tries to express. Maya Angelou grew up in the 1930’s,living in a country plagued with bigotry, particularly towards women and people of color.
Thesis: In “Still I Rise”, Maya Angelou uses strong figurative language such as personification, metaphors, and similes to convey her ideas. BP1: In “Still I Rise” Maya Angelou’s …show more content…
“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, l’ll rise” (Angelou 1-4) though you cause pain through these mistakes, Angelou will never give up though she has been hurt; she's stronger then the pain caused by others and would never sink so low to something so childish.”Cause I laugh like I got gold mines / diggin’ in my own backyard” (Angelou 3-4) Though Maya Angelou may not be as rich as some, she's happier than the rest that focus on how unsatisfactory life is . BP3: Maya Angelou uses similes in “Still I Rise” to create atmosphere for the reader by giving inquisitive wording to express her ideas.“You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou 3-4) Maya expressing that , though she has been hurt ; treated like dirt, she is above that and will be forgiving of those past mistakes. Maya goes on to others sentences with “I’ll rise” an example of this is “Like air, I’ll rise”(Angelou 4) again saying despite life's hardships she will pick herself up and carry on
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise Analysis
    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise Analysis

    Maya Angelou has become widely known for her poetry and literary works. She has written several autobiographies and numerous volumes of poetry. One volume of poetry was And Still I Rise, in this collection of poems the poem “Still I Rise” is a famously known one.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Of You By Maya Angelou
    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page

    Rhetorical Analysis Of You By Maya Angelou

    Next, Angelou uses different types of sentences to highlight how she fights oppression with confidence. For example, Angelou asks, “Does my sassiness upset you?” (5) and “Does my haughtiness offend you?” (17). These rhetorical questions bring a level of sass and confidence to her argument. Angelou illustrates that one can exude confidence and love themselves, and if that bugs someone, that is their problem. This makes the hate from oppressors virtually irrelevant. Additionally, Angelou declares, “But still, like dust, I’ll rise”(4) and “I rise” (43). These declarative sentences show Angelou’s strength and boldness. The period at the end of these sentences makes the reader feel as though Angelou’s statements are facts, and that she will indeed…

    • 131 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Phenomenal Woman Analysis
    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou Phenomenal Woman Analysis

    Maya Angelou books and poems relate to real world situations. In her poem phenomenal women it talks about how you should not live in a stereotypical way of life and have confidence in yourself. You should celebrate how remarkable you are and it makes you a champion. Being a woman makes you supreme, because women are a mystery and hard to figure out. She expresses you don’t need to be loud to get attention just being yourself shows who you are. Maya Angelo works states you should embrace your purpose, practice a self-confidence ritual, and enjoy spending time alone, refuse to buy into the media’s image of a perfect woman, refuse to take anything too personally, ask empowering questions, and ask what they can do to improve the world. Her story…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Vivian Baxter Quotes
    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Vivian Baxter Quotes

    In “I know Why the Caged Bird Sings” Maya Angelou writes about her life from the ages 3 to 16 years old. Angelou writes about her experiences with her mom in part of her autobiography. Vivian Baxter, Angelou’s mother, despite not being there for most of her childhood, she is a major influence to Angelou. Vivian is a young woman who works hard and learns from her life experiences. Vivian Baxter is a strong resilient individual because she has insight, that prevents her from making brash decisions, independence, which allows her to do what is best for her, initiative, that makes her strong and confident, and morality, that lets her know right from wrong.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou's Still I Rise
    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou's Still I Rise

    “Still I Rise” by the African-American poet Maya Angelou, written almost 40 years after the Harlem renaissance ceased, displays a variety of emotions and poetic devices. Maya Angelou incorporates her personal struggles gives the audience a sense of the determination she felt to reach equality. The reader can see her anger towards the discrimination she faced at the time.…

    • 284 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Literacy Benchmark Assessment: Mini-Lesson On Still I Rise
    • 4731 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Literacy Benchmark Assessment: Mini-Lesson On Still I Rise

    The seventh grade students at Tapestry Charter School will begin their poetry unit with “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. This lyric poem, while optimistic, deals with important themes such as slavery, racism, and overcoming trauma. The students will dissect the poem, first looking at vocabulary and figurative language, later analyzing structure and narrative, in order to practice fluency, and move on to full comprehension of the symbolic text, line by line. Finally, after gaining meaning, the students will reflect on how the themes of the poem resonate in…

    • 4731 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou's Accomplishments
    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Maya Angelou's Accomplishments

    Maya Angelou’s life was a roller coaster. Through her upside down loops and her cork screws, she made a high living for herself. She achieved awarding accomplishments. Maya is not only one of the most famous poets in the world but, she was also a literature writer, a dancer, actress and a singer. She wrote children books and she was also one of the first African American women to have an original screenplay produced called Georgia. She won the National Book Award, A Pulitzer Prize and is listed as one of the one hundred most influential women in the world. She was also the first African American to have a nonfiction book on the best sellers list Maya was big into the civil rights movement. Maya got involved with helping Malcom X with his…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou
    • 3060 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Maya Angelou

    Leadership is essential for the success of a given group, society, or organization. Through leadership, a particular group of people is directed, mobilized, motivated, and encouraged to perform a given task. Leadership is among the roles of a manager. The manager in this case is a person charged with given responsibilities for the success of a given venture. At an individual level, one is supposed to manage his or her own life in an effective way to achieve a lifetime objective. Given that leadership is among the roles of a manager, it means that everyone should cultivate leadership qualities in all aspects of life. This can be done through several ways. One of them is by learning from reputable leaders of both the past and the present generation. The world has witnessed myriads of reputable leaders with profound influence on the community. Their utterances, Way of life, and formulas of handling situations is worthy emulating. As a result, one ought to assess the same and emulate their style of leadership. One area where leadership is essential is in the hospitality industry. Hospitality generally involves accommodating people at a given place. Accommodation in this case involves providing, comforting, guiding, and instructing people on the type of food, entertainment, and recreation facilities available for…

    • 3060 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise
    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Maya Angelou Still I Rise

    Maya Angelou’s style is very intriguing and captivating due to her usage of tone. Maya Angelou was an American Civil Rights Activist, born in St Louis, Missouri, who lived through the Jim Crow Era - which, as mentioned before, was a critical period in terms of the rise of racial segregation in the United States. Unlike the majority of her kind, Angelou was extremely privileged - becoming a successful actress, author and poet. Although she is privileged and considerably well-off in her own personal endeavors, she is fully aware of the atrocity and inhumanity with which her fellow folk are being treated with on a daily basis. In the poem, she decants and expresses her frustration, but she does so with great subtlety and restraint. Although she uses a confrontational tone (by using the pronoun ‘you’) towards white people (which is the intended audience of the poem), she does not personally attack them in any way. She simply poses rhetorical questions which make the audience re-evaluate their way of thinking and cause them to truly see that their beliefs are founded upon hatred and false accusations. Aside from using a confrontational tone, Angelou also makes use of a perseverant tone which, through close analysis, entails a valuable message for people from all walks of life and, more importantly, the black folk who suffer from racial discrimination. “...I rise..”…

    • 1397 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Maya Angelou Research Papers
    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Maya Angelou Research Papers

    Maya Angelou's turbulent experiences through late childhood and adolescence transformed into an almost positive force in her adult life as they helped enlighten, inspire, motivate and shape her very being. They provided her with the vehement fuel that drives her achingly powerful words and allowed her the knowledge and wisdom that led to self-discovery (finding one's inner self) and eventually knowledge of self (understanding one's inner self), two endeavors that most of humanity is never able or perhaps willing to acquire. In Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Marguerite Johnson experiences a particularly difficult childhood where she is often displaced geographically, socially and racially, and is even raped at a young age,…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Analysis
    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Maya Angelou Analysis

    Growing one’s body into what one considers an adult is amongst the simplest things a human can do -- however maturing mentally and emotionally into an individualistic being would arguably be one of the most difficult. Even more difficult would be trying to become an individual while in a constant state of oppression. Through her numerous essays, poems and novels, Maya Angelou does an exceptional job of recounting the hardships of adolescence, and lets her audiences and readers find out, first hand, the way she suffered growing up . In her works, Angelou uses her experiences with her family, the places she’s been, and the changing ideas of her own self to explore her mind as a growing child. Even with everything in her life fighting against…

    • 2435 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Maya Angelou Embodiment of
    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Maya Angelou Embodiment of

    Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.”(www.brainyquote.com) Throughout many centuries in American history, at some point or another there has been a great struggle for African- American people. A struggle filled with many disappointments embodied by raw emotion that has built strength and courage in a people where hope seemed unreachable. Some argue the strength and courage attributed to the work and tireless efforts came from many within the race and those who saw a greater vision for them. One noted and extraordinary person responsible for this is Dr. Maya Angelou. This expository essay will focus on Maya Angelou and the Embodiment of Courage, which has a powerful place in the vision of change and progress sought by a nation of people, will illustrate to illustrate how she embodies the concept of courage though her early life experiences, poetry, and speeches. In selecting this topic, I wanted to capture the essence of the Embodiment of Courage behind Dr. Angelou’s speeches. Her speeches make use of words, which appeal to my raw human emotions, while illustrating the progress oppressed people in America have made. The importance of this topic to the audience is due to people having come to fear what they do not understand and she is effective at providing an alternative perspective than those of ignorance and hate.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Legendary Author Maya Angelou
    • 706 Words
    • 21 Pages

    The Legendary Author Maya Angelou

    “Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.” – Dr. Maya Angelou. This inspiring poet, novelist, historian, educator, actress, filmmaker, producer, memoirist, dramatist, and civil rights activist has had a superior impact on today’s American society. (A&M TV) Maya Angelou is an African American woman who went from poverty to international success. Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in Saint Louis, Arkansas to Vivian and Bailey Johnson. Her parents divorced when she was three years of age. Her and her brother, Bailey Jr., were sent to live with their grandmother in a small town called Stamps, Arkansas. Like many of the African American children that grew up in Maya’s time, she faced racial discrimination. She was always positive about it, because of the tradition old-fashion African American household she was raised in. She gives her grandmother and extended family in Stamps credit for all of the lessons and values she was taught that helped her significantly later in her adult life and while pursuing her career. Bailey and Maya were extremely close. He suffered from a bad stutter, so he could never correctly pronounce her name. He decided to call her “My” for my sister. After watching a video on the Mayan Indians, he then began to call her Maya. The name stuck. When Maya was seven years old, her and Bailey were sent to visit their mother in Chicago. Her mother’s boyfriend sexually molested her. She was too ashamed and embarrassed to inform any adults on what had happened to her, so she confided in her brother. (America Academy of Achievement) Maya’s uncle found out about what his sister’s boyfriend had done to his niece and killed her attacker. She felt that her words had killed the man, so she fell into a long phase of silence that lasted for five years. She often expressed her feelings through poetry,…

    • 706 Words
    • 21 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Literary Analysis of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Literary Analysis of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    Angelou opens her biography with the dreams of a child, whishing she could be white in a white world. She writes, "Because I was really white and because a cruel fairy godmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, whit nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number two pencil" (Angelou 4-5). Throughout her youth, she faces a world of prejudice and racism. Instead of embracing her heritage, she wants to be white, because the whites are the people with power and money. The whites were also the people that controlled the blacks and Angelou finds out, often the hard way, as her life continues. One literary critic notes, "Angelou's account of her childhood and adolescence chronicles her frequent encounters with racism, sexism, and classism at the same time that she describes the people, events, and personal qualities that helped her to survive the devastating effects of her environment" (Megna-Wallace 2). While this book chronicles a lifetime of racism and prejudice, Angelou's eloquent use of the language almost softens the blow by making it lyrical and beautiful to read, but the underlying rage and distress at the differences between blacks and…

    • 2750 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Telephone Conversationation By Wole Soyinka 'And' Telephone Conversation?
    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Telephone Conversationation By Wole Soyinka 'And' Telephone Conversation?

    'Telephone Conversation' by Wole Soyinka and 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou tackle the social injustice of discrimination. Both poems lack in similarities, the only one being theme, yet possess an abundance of differences. Although both poems convey the same theme, they differ in their means of conveyance. For instance they both explore prejudice and discrimination but through different types of language, imagery and structure. Both writer's use their creativity and personal experiences to display two different perspectives on prejudice. Similarities and differences between each poems and explorative strategies will be further explored in this essay.…

    • 1106 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More

Related Topics