You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
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.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
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.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise
-Mary Angelou
Mary Angelou, being a feminist and civil-right poet, ofcourse makes that obvious in her powerful writings, specifically in "Still I Rise". I believe that she has given her poem this title to imply that nothing will stop her, nothing will bring her down; she is a strong woman, who will 'rise' to the occasion and therefore the phrase "I rise" and I'll rise" are repeated in almost every stanza. As a strong feminist, Angelou diguises woman and fertility with nature and jewels, as she does in the third stanza where she uses the words "moons" and "suns", this stanza describes a fertilation cycle because it discusses the day. When she uses adjectives such as "haughtiness", "sassiness" and "sexyness" I believe that she is generalizing all women, or atleast all feminists, which imply that they are strong ,attractive and confident but still should not be intimidating. When she uses these 'characterizing' adjectives, it ends in a question: "Does my haughtiness offend you?" which leads us to think that Angelou is saying that even people who have been hurt or mistreated can still look/feel good. The next line says "Don't you take it awful hard" which as mentioned before is for others not to be intimidated, or suprised at someone doing well.
Angelou also fits in African-American history into the last two stanzas of her poem, which in my opinion are the most effective. The first lines reads "Out of the huts of history's shame" meaning trying to improve African-American rights after slavery and captivity, and she used the words 'huts' symbolising the condition (of living), such as housing and lack of money. In her last stanza Angelou writes "Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave." I have high lighted the word 'gifts' which represents the newer generation(s) of years to come, and 'the hope of the slave' because whatever occured in the past, she's not ashamed, she is a proud and equal woman. She ends the poem with "I rise, I rise, I rise".
Mary Angelou is related to "To Kill A Mockingbird" because in many ways we have already seen (and know) how different and racial things were in the year the novel is set, and especially in the South of the United States. As we read more into the book we will realize more reference to this poem.
In addition, I chose to use a phoenix for an image to represent Angelou's poem because a phoenix is a mythical bird that when it dies, it burns, and then rises from it's own ashes and I think it comes into context with her poem and her repetitive use of the word rise.
