In the poem ‘Bright Lights of Sarajevo’, Harrison explores a secret romance full of doubt, whereas, the poem ‘Still I Rise’, Angelou’s persona has connotations of a powerful, authoritative and influential personality.
Throughout ‘Still I RIse’, Angelou repeatedly reiterates ‘I’ll Rise’ to show her profound personality, whilst Harrison’s lexical field of anguish conveys a lack of identity; Angelou’s use of ‘I’ll Rise’ delineates persistence and perseverance. The speaker uses this effective phrase on numerous occasions to emphasize how she will resist the oppression and stand proud. Moreover, Angelou’s speaker uses repeated rhetorical questions and an antithesis to again bring this perception of dedication and stamina. This is evident when
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Bowed head and lowered eyes?” The consecutive rhetorical questions used here show determination and strength. Angelou’s use of “Bowed head and lowered eyes?” suggests submissiveness to challenge tyranny. This recapitulates perseverance and persistence. An antithesis is used to show how she falls, yet, she is still rising: “Shoulders falling down like teardrops.” The contrast of ‘shoulders falling’ and ‘teardrops’ shows the belligerence and controversy but, still gracefully and with refinement. On the contrary, in ‘The Bright Light of Sarajevo’ there is a dark and secretive atmosphere. This is evident when said, “Dark boy-shape leads dark girl-shape away to share one coffee”. Harrison exploits ‘dark’ to create this lexical field of despair and concealment. This concealment shows the lack of identity and insignificance. Furthermore, Harrison uses ‘candlelit cafe’ to devise a hidden and clandestine ambience. The use of ‘leads’ suggests mystery and the boy having an authoritative character . …show more content…
This is portrayed when “I’ve got oil wells/Pumping in my living room.” This is metaphorically rising in discipline and power. The ‘oil’ has links to race and suffering she has surpassed in order for her to gain more capability and domination. Enjambment is used here to put emphasis on ‘Pumping’ which conveys wealth and strength. Pumping has connotations of confidence and pride and enjambment is what highlights this. Additionally, she states she walks “like I’ve got oil wells/Pumping in my living room.” This simile demonstrates she has self-confidence and dignity and as though she were rich enough to own oil wells at home. “Gold mines” illustrates her image at home which was traditionally a woman’s workplace into a place of productivity and justice. Notwithstanding, Harrison uses enjambment to display romance; this is shown when “one of the flirtatious ploys/when a girl’s dark shape is fancied by a boy’s.” This indicates romance with the use of ‘flirtatious ploys’ and ‘fancied’. The consistent use of ‘dark shape’ portrays the characters lost in the world and unsure of their personalities and influence. Harrison’s purpose here is to hesitate and resist from reality by portraying this forbidden and mysterious love. On the whole, enjambment can be compared from one poem to the other: in Still I Rise it is used for prestige and command,
Maya Angelou’s “Equality” depicts a more patient yet tenacious rebel than described in Dunbar’s poem. “You declare you see me dimly”, she begins, “through a glass that will not shine.” Maya describes the denial of her boldness, of her rebellion; but, she continues to march, chanting “Equality and I will be free. Equality and I will be free.” She identifies herself as a shadow, unimportant to those she opposes— but she intends to repeat the mantra “Equality and I will be free” until she is heard. The sixth stanza left me in literal tears (and I am not an emotional person, thank you very
...fe she really knew and felt deep down to the core of her being what the words truly meant. The words had brought back her hope and pride in herself and in her community. What Leavy had said was a fallacy and they could as they have in the past rise above the world's bigotry. Righteousness returned to Angelou and the entire community; "we were on top again."(841).
Very few literary reviews seem to consider that Angelou's intertwining use of the objective and subjective narrative is an elegant self-analysis of her rank and importance within Stamps. It is important to understanding oneself to be able to understand the culture of the local community--the community's aspirations, history, beliefs, habits, values, etc.
Another apparent theme in Still I Rise is persistence. For example in lines three and four it says, “You may trod me in the very dirt/ But still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou, 3-4) Angelou like all of us has dealt with her fair share of struggles in life but what makes her so influential and inspiring to so many is her persistence. No matter what obstacles she had to overcome in her life, she sends a message to us all to never give up, and to always keep rising.
Angelou uses repetition of words and phrases to emphasize King’s gentle strength and encourage the world to take up her lifelong fight. A sense of importance is imposed when she repeats the stem of her sentences, creating a rhythm compelling to her audience. For instance, the utilisation of “she believed,” said over and over again introduces an idea, while the repeated phrase “I stand here,” puts it into motion. She wraps up her use of anaphoras with the powerful call for action: “I mean to say I want to see…” Repetition is used to stimulate emotion and solidarity in the audience. The word “family” is constantly used, reminding listeners that although they not
In Maya Angelou’s third book of poetry And Still I Rise, the personal struggles of the African American Woman are brought to life through poetic works. With inspirations drawn from personal journeys of Maya Angelou herself, powerful poems praise, celebrate, and empathize with the feminine colored experience. Angelou’s writing sheds glaring light on themes of feminine power, beauty, and perseverance, raising the African American Woman to a pedestal that demands respect and adoration. For Angelou’s audience, the everyday woman is presented equipped with all the necessities to thrive and shine in the face of adversity. In Maya Angelou’s works “Phenomenal Woman”, “Woman Work”, and “Still I Rise”, audiences are able to connect to the strength and virtue of the woman that is brought to life through the praising of femininity, and through its power to make an impact on society.
During times when racial tensions were high, many African American authors and poets began to rise and give consciousness to racial inequality and injustice. Famous poets like Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes began to give a voice to African Americans. For example, in Maya Angelou’s, “Still, I Rise,” she speaks of overcoming her oppressors as a woman and expresses a great amount of self-love and self-worth. In Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” he states that he is an equal and emphasizes that being black does not degrade your beauty which allows the readers to feel empowered. Angelou and Hughes used similar means to raise awareness and fight for their rights through literature, even though, Maya Angelou’s poem, “Still I Rise,” also states the issue of sexism and Hughes’s poem, “I, Too,” just focuses more on equality.
Maya Angelou lived through a time where she was discriminated against for not only her race but also her gender. In her poem “Still I Rise” Angelou sarcastically talks about how no matter what is thrown at her she will rise above it and she will do it with resilience and confidence. Her poem discusses racism and sexism and gives minorities and women a sense of hope to overcome and endure both of those things. Angelou’s self-assurance in the poem makes you believe that you too can overcome whatever obstacle. Although this poem was intended for blacks, and women, and specifically black women, the poem helps build up strong and courageous people no matter what race or gender you are. Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” uses both pathos and ethos to
The two poems best illustrate, through a reading put in a wider context of black suffering, Finney’s success in making the beautifully said thing intersect with the difficult-to-say-thing through her sharpened pencil (“Nikky Finney”), thus reshaping the present. The historical approach is necessary in order for given allusions to be situated in their social, political and cultural background. In order to escape intentional fallacy, a poet should relate his work to universal concerns. The application of the (auto)biographical-historical approach necessitates the investigation of some points: the relevance of the poet’s personal life and his/her poems; the expression of certain beliefs of the poet and his personal experience in relation to public concerns and beliefs of the time; the representation of historical figures in the poems; adequate depiction of the time/context of the poems (“Literary Criticism”); the poems as a reflection, a product of the time; the reformulation of actual events for special purposes; the difference between fictional representation and reality; the difference the time; understanding past events mirrored in the poems; and the impact of historical events/movements and literary works in formulating the poems.
Ms. Angelou's rhetorical strategy of comparison and contrast serves as effectively as her brilliant, flowing sentences sprinkled with colorful simile and imagery. Poetic phrases describing a voice "like a river diminishing to a stream, and then a trickle" or the audience's conditioned responses as "Amen's and Yes, sir's began to fall around the room like rain through a ragged umbrella" paint vivid images.
...d erupts into celebratory cheers. “Joe Louis had proved that we were the strongest people in the world” (132). Angelou’s final statement in the chapter appears to refer to physical strength, when in actuality, pertains to their inner courage. Overcoming the suffering of racial and masculine prejudice is a quotidian practice. The resilience of Blacks continues and proves their strength as an equal race.
Maya Angelou’s poem is structured in a quatrain format. The first few paragraphs are set out in such a way that it explains to us why she is rising; the poem compromises of a stanza of four lines, each of the same length.
In her autobiographical novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou relates her story as a poor black girl living in racially segregated Stamps, Arkansas. As the story unfolds, she describes relationships with her family and members of the community, her love of reading, her feeling of inequality, the racial prejudice she suffers, and her experiences as a single mother. What makes Angelou heroic is her perseverance over a multitude of odds. In the beginning of the novel, the reader learns that Angelou is living with her grandmother because her birth mother abandoned her. With no direction or positive influence in her life, a white woman introduced her to “her first white love” – William Shakespeare –who befriended Angelou. Reading
In her first autobiography, Maya Angelou tells about her childhood through her graduation through, “Graduation”, from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” when she is about to graduate. She starts as an excited graduate because she was finally going to receive her diploma, a reward for all her academic accomplishments. On the day of her graduation finally comes, that happiness turns into doubt about her future as she believes that black people will be nothing more than potential athletes or servants to white people. It wasn’t until Henry Reed started to sing the Negro National Anthem that she felt on top of the world again. Throughout her graduation she felt excited to disappointed, until Henry Reed sang and made her feel better.
Given these points, Angelou’s widely use of devices, sentence length, and tenses allows the reader to capture the theme of her poem Men. Angelou shows how women are somewhat treated then and now. She lets the reader know that even after a man may have hurt a woman, a woman still would have a desire to go back to them because we are curious to know of them. She presents the idea that women are oppressed to men – women like Angelou who have had bad experiences with them. Overall, Angelou’s poem is like a story that presents men as head honcho over women and the affect that they bring upon