Maya Angelou

## Bibliography

2. With your bitter, twisted lies,

3. You may trod me in the very dirt

4. But still, like dust, I'll rise.

5. Does my sassiness upset you?

6. Why are you beset with gloom?

7. ’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

8. Pumping in my living room.

9. Just like moons and like suns,

10. With the certainty of tides,

11. Just like hopes springing high,

12. Still I'll rise.

13. Did you want to see me broken?

14. Bowed head and lowered eyes?

15. Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

16. Weakened by my soulful cries?

17. Does my haughtiness offend you?

18. Don't you take it awful hard

19. ’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

20. Diggin’ in my own backyard.

21. You may shoot me with your words,

22. You may cut me with your eyes,

23. You may kill me with your hatefulness,

24. But still, like air, I’ll rise.

25. Does my sexiness upset you?

26. Does it come as a surprise

27. That I dance like I've got diamonds

28. At the meeting of my thighs?

29. Out of the huts of history’s shame

30. I rise

31. Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

32. I rise

33. I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

34. Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

35. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

36. I rise

37. Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

38. I rise

39. Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

40. I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

41. I rise

42. I rise

43. I rise.

2. I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

3. But when I start to tell them,

4. They think I’m telling lies.

5. I say,

6. It’s in the reach of my arms,

7. The span of my hips,

8. The stride of my step,

9. The curl of my lips.

10. I’m a woman

11. Phenomenally.

12. Phenomenal woman,

13. That’s me.

14. I walk into a room

15. Just as cool as you please,

16. And to a man,

17. The fellows stand or

18. Fall down on their knees.

19. Then they swarm around me,

20. A hive of honey bees.

21. I say,

22. It’s the fire in my eyes,

23. And the flash of my teeth,

24. The swing in my waist,

25. And the joy in my feet.

26. I’m a woman

27. Phenomenally.

28. Phenomenal woman,

29. That’s me.

30. Men themselves have wondered

31. What they see in me.

32. They try so much

33. But they can’t touch

34. My inner mystery.

35. When I try to show them,

36. They say they still can’t see.

37. I say,

38. It’s in the arch of my back,

39. The sun of my smile,

40. The ride of my breasts,

41. The grace of my style.

42. I’m a woman

43. Phenomenally.

44. Phenomenal woman,

45. That’s me.

46. Now you understand

47. Just why my head’s not bowed.

48. I don’t shout or jump about

49. Or have to talk real loud.

50. When you see me passing,

51. It ought to make you proud.

52. I say,

53. It’s in the click of my heels,

54. The bend of my hair,

55. the palm of my hand,

56. The need for my care.

57. ’Cause I’m a woman

58. Phenomenally.

59. Phenomenal woman,

60. That’s me.

## Intro Paragraph

African Americans have a long history of suffering and fighting in the United States. Since the Reconstruction period after the American Civil War (1861-1865), black people have been claiming their rights as legal citizens in the country. Even though some rights were granted legally, in practice they continued encountering limitations to live a free life in America. The Jim Crow era, which lasted until 1964, approximately, enforced racial segregation in some regions of the country, especially in the South. Years of injustice and the hostile atmosphere sparked the Civil Rights Movement, which aimed at ending discrimination and gaining racial equality. Activists from different fields such as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Rosa Parks raised their voices taking part in the movement which, in 1964, culminated with the passing of the Civil Right Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. In the field of literature, African American activist, actress, writer and poet Maya Angelou (1928-2014) advocated for the cause of black Americans in the country. “Still I Rise” is a nine-stanza poem published in 1978 in the collection of poems *And Still I Rise*, in which the speaker celebrates black pride. In a sarcastic tone, the poem reflects the disdain suffered by African Americans and highlights the strength and power of the black population.

Body 1: History of oppression

-Sarcasm/Irony

-Direct address and rhetorical questions

-White people's attitude towards African Americans

Body 2: Black pride, defiance, resilience

-Metaphorical language

-Similes

-Reinforcement of ideas by means of refrain and anaphora

-Black people's power and value

### MLA citation

Angelou, Maya. "Still I Rise." 1978. *The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou*. Random House, 1994. pp. 163-164.

Angelou, Maya. "Phenomenal Woman." 1978. *The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou*. Random House, 1994. pp. 130-131.