Majority of African American women get judged on the day to day basis. When scrolling through social media there will be large amounts of individuals who will bully or even belittle a colored female because of the natural kinks of her hair, her sense of fashion, the full shaped curves of her body, and the color of her skin . The poem “Still I Rise” by the well-known poet, Maya Angelou, specifically describes the reasons why she had so much confidence; even if she were to be judged by her appearances and mindset. This poem is about embracing females, but it mainly introduces similar life situations that many African American women have experienced. The symbols and point of view that Angelou specifically added in her poem made her readers realize that there are many meanings to this poem. “Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave [Angelou 39].” The meaning of this quote could symbolize how Angelou, an African American female whom …show more content…
This is why today there are boycotts and articles of the popular phrase “Black Lives Matter”. There has been tragedies around the globe due to the meaning of why that phrase “Black Lives Matter” has been created. The article “The Truth of Black Lives Matter” published by The Editorial Board in The New York Times, brings an awareness to readers on how “Black Lives Matter” had come to recognition due to the racism, civil rights movement, the cold murders of African Americans, etc. Many people know African Americans have fought to be equal towards other races for centuries because of pure ignorance. Even though African Americans have gone through numerous of incidents and had to live with tough lifestyles. Every race matters because every different race is put on this earth for a reason; not to just segregate or discriminate. No matter the nationality of an individual we all make mistakes and we can sometimes learn from
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
In a world of hate, corruption, and angst, hope for achievement seems improbable. Literary works depict incredulities like slavery and discrimination from the birth of our nation, but, silver linings exist in forms of inspiring activists and confident presidents. Barack Obama addresses not only our nation, but the entire world in his famous speech ¨A More Perfect Union¨. He highlights the promise of modern democracy, while identifying underlying issues that affected his own life. Similarly, Maya Angelou reminisces about her childhood to reveal the horror of discrimination, while discerning the significance of the American Dream. Despite the contrasts in their childhoods and family settings, Obama and Angelou share similar feelings that society
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.
So goes the quote by William Shakespeare, and many people believe this is true. However, to many of African-American descent, both past and present, to be “called out of your name”, is one of the greatest insults imaginable. “Mary,” a chapter from volume one, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” of Dr. Maya Angelou’s five-volume autobiography, details the horror and rage she felt, and the retribution she administered, at such an act.The year was 1938, and Dr. Angelou, then going by her birth name, Marguerite Johnson, was 10 years old and working as a maid & cook’s helper for a white woman named Mrs. Viola Cullinan, the daughter of wealthy Virginian parents. According to Miss Glory, the cook whose family had been slaves for the Cullinan’s, she had married beneath her to a man whose money “didn’t ‘mount to much”. Marguerite pitied Mrs. Cullinan because she was old, fat, and ugly and couldn’t have children, though it was well known that her husband had two beautiful daughters by a colored lady. She tried to feel Mrs. Cullinan’s loneliness and pain, and tried very hard to make up for her barrenness by coming to work early and staying late.
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
Throughout life graduation, or the advancement to the next distinct level of growth, is sometimes acknowledged with the pomp and circumstance of the grand commencement ceremony, but many times the graduation is as whisper soft and natural as taking a breath. In the moving autobiographical essay, "The Graduation," Maya Angelou effectively applies three rhetorical strategies - an expressive voice, illustrative comparison and contrast, and flowing sentences bursting with vivid simile and delightful imagery - to examine the personal growth of humans caught in the adversity of racial discrimination.
Rising Up in Still I Rise by Maya Angelou ? Still I Rise? by Maya Angelou is directed towards blacks on how to be proud of their ancestry, themselves, and their overall appearance. The poem is a special and motivating poem that African-Americans (and other races for that matter) should read and take to heart. According to African-Americans, Maya Angelou states that no matter what white Americans (slave owners) say or do to African-Americans (slaves) they can still rise up to make a better life for themselves and their race as a whole.
Maya Angelou is an internationally respected, brilliant poet, and author. Maya Angelou says "In all my work I try to tell the human truth, what it is like to be human, what makes us stumble and somehow miraculously rise and go on from the darkness and into the light”. This theme is consistently exemplified throughout Angelou's greatly acclaimed poem ‘Still I Rise’. The poem tells the true life story of Maya Angelou's tragedies, and the dreadful conditions she encountered in her youth. But in Angelou's poem, she escapes the night to go into the light, leaving all the hurt and shame to prosper in a new life she has created.
She says “Champion of the world. A black boy… He was the strongest man in the world”. At the end of her story, she adds “It would not do for a black man and his family to be caught on a lonely country road on a night when Joe Louis had proud that we were the strongest people in the world”. It means that by employing the irony device Angelou wants to tangibly convey her readers the fact that how African Americans are vulnerable: able to become world champions but not able to walk a country road at night, which can be considered as sarcasm. In addition, Angelou attempts to illustrate how the outcome of the fight influences the pride of her race. In order to bring this meaning to life, she tries to show that the assumption of African Americans in the store is “If Joe lost we were back in slavery…” and there was an ideological belief about the fight outcome among those people, “God Himself hated us”. Every sentence written in the opening paragraphs create a clear picture of an event of crucial importance for the people of Stamps, Arkansas who come across as an extended family sticking together to listen to the only radio for miles . With the help of these sentences, she clearly contributes to her readers to see how poor and deprived these people are. She uses the strategy of building up suspense in her account
I had always lived it. There was an army of adults, whose motives and movements I just couldn’t understand and who made no effort to understand mine,” (74). After Mr. Freeman assaults her the first time, he tells her he would kill Bailey if she ever told anyone about what he did. At this time, she wasn’t able to comprehend what had happened and why the consequences of informing someone about it were so harsh. Earlier she states, “He held me so softly that I wished he wouldn’t ever let me go.
Maya Angelou is one of the most influential and talented African American writers of our modern day. Those who read Angelou‘s works should not pass the thought of where her influence came from. Maya Angelou’s work has been heavily affected by the era in which she began writing. The fifties and sixties were a tumultuous time for most African-Americans in the US. The civil-rights movement, led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Urban League, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, was instrumental in securing legislation, notably the Civil-Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A poem can capture the mind, soul, and the bare heart, but, how can one’s interpretation of a poem alter the true value of the poem itself? The answer to this question may vary, depending on one’s interpretation. Then again, that response can be used to answer every question this world holds. Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. As a strong African-American woman, she has experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, yet also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture. Dr. Maya Angelou’s notorious aspects in her personality have formally made recognizable and has affected her true style of poetry in a positive manner, along with the literary era her poetry is from and her past life experiences and influences.
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
This poem, like “Caged Bird” is also unstructured verse, and sporadic rhyme; this is very common of Maya Angelou 's work. This poem is extremely blunt in it 's working making it very easy to understand. “Phenomenal Woman” is all about being proud of who you are. What makes you special and noticeable is not the world 's standards of what you should look like but the confidence that you live by. The poem is almost like a list of characteristics that make the speaker a real woman. Some of the things that make her a real woman is “the reach of my arms” “The stride of my step” “ The sun of my smile” just to name a few. The speaker is obviously extremely confident in herself. I believe that Angelou is trying to express that she is so phenomenally woman because of how she expresses and views herself and does not let other people define her. The poem expresses that you are beautiful based on how you see yourself, not how the world sees you, and that your success is all in your confidence. This is expressed in some of the language she uses. “Now you understand-Just why my head’s not bowed.” “When you see me passing-It ought to make you proud.” She is just being wholly herself and that greatly contributes to her amazing success. She says how the pretty people ask her why guys always fall over her and she even states that the guys themselves do not understand why they are so drawn to her. “Men themselves have wondered-What they see in me.” “When I try to
Several people regard women as inferior figures in this global world. Women have challenged the traditional female roles and have gradually climbed up the ladder of equality. They portray a distinct perspective that proves that womanhood can accomplish anything they set their mind to and search for equal gender status. The poems celebrate femininity and highlights the traits necessary for a women to be successful. The ladies in the poems are female-figures that carry themselves with high self-esteem and fearlessness. This essay identifies various literary techniques that describe feminine strength in Angelou and Clifton.