Still I Rise-Poem Review

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Poem: Still I Rise

Book: And Still I Rise

Year: 1978

Poet: Maya Angelou

"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 backyard.

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.

WeReflect: Reading poetry was never my thing in the past. I needed a tune to like anything poetic or lyrical. The poem that made me to sit up and take notice was "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. Her powerful quotes have never failed to motivate. It always helped me to think independently.

Being a civil rights activist poet narrates she doesn't care what twisted lies society tells about her. Even when an oppressor walks all over her she has the spunk to get back on her feet. She questions whether her success, sex appeal, arrogance and happiness troubles the oppressor.  She lets her tormentor know that she cannot be bogged down with verbal abuse or offensive looks. Even the hatefulness can't defeat her.

It's in her bone to stand up against the oppressor just like how tides respond to moon and sun. She is certain yet questions the society if they would be happy to see a black woman broken, defeated, bitter and sad. She has a painful past. She calls slavery as history's shame. And she intends to leave behind all of it, the terror and fear. She would not let any of it to stop her from doing what she wants to achieve. In Still I Rise she makes a bold statement of not allowing the vile society to dictate her life, independence, or success. And encouraging others to do the same.

Being an advocate of equal rights and feminist this poem struck a chord right from the word go. Despite enduring worst of life a person can rise above everything with the right spirit and the poem inspires to do so. No wonder this poem was recited by Nelson Mandela at his inauguration as first post- apartheid president of South Africa after being imprisoned for 24 years.