And Still I Rise By Maya Angelou Analysis

In Maya Angelou’s “And Still I Rise”, Maya Angelou presents herself as a soulful African-American woman that will not be dispirited. She writes herself as a person that is above all the racial oppression. Maya Angelou weaves a beautiful poem that embodies the resilience that is held by all the African-American people, and she even adds remarks about her sexuality. During this time period, African-American people were greatly oppressed, and they fought back for equal treatment. However, women were treated just as badly, and if someone happened to be African-American and a woman, they were viewed among the lowest rungs of the social status. Even though Maya Angelou was an African-American woman, she was proud of her race and her sexuality, and she made that abundantly clear when she talking about how she will not fall down to any person, in which she

According mizukisudo analysis, “By questioning the readers (“you”), it catches the reader’s attention and is affective because it makes readers realize how many people have made the person (“I”) feel and how many people may be feeling, it makes readers read the poem and take it to a more personal level.” (https://mizukisudo.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou-poem-analysis/). Through using this tactic, Maya Angelou represents a whole culture of African American women giving blame to oppressive white men. The effectiveness of the questions are heightened through the use of descriptive attributes and repeating style, and each question is asked in a fiery tone which bombards the reader with blame. Some examples of the questions are “Does my sassiness upset you?” (Line 5), “Does my haughtiness offend you?” (Line 17), and “Does my sexiness upset you?” (Line 25). Following each question, Ms. Angelou using a simile to paint her point in a more vivid picture. For example, after line five, she