Still I Rise

Maya Angelou, 1928 - 2014

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.

Directions

1. Annotate the poem. Look for rhyme, meter, organization, form, and poetic devices.

2. Identify the poem’s meaning and purpose. Consider how form and organization help to feed that purpose.

3. Construct an argument about the poem’s poetic devices as they apply to poem’s primary purpose.

4. Identify one piece of evidence and appropriately incorporate it into a sentence. Construct two-three sentences of meaningful analysis that explains how the evidence proves the poem’s primary purpose.

TP-CASTT Poetry Analysis

TITLE: Consider the title and make a prediction about what the poem is about.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ PARAPHRASE: Translate the poem line by line into your own words on a literal level. Look for complete thoughts (sentences may be inverted) and look up unfamiliar words.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ CONNOTATION: Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal. Look for figurative language, imagery, and sound elements.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ ATTITUDE/TONE: Notice the speaker’s tone and attitude. Humor? Sarcasm? Awe?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ SHIFTS: Note any shifts or changes in speaker or attitude. Look for key words, time change, punctuation.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ TITLE: Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ THEME: Briefly state in your own words what the poem is about (subject), then what the poet is saying about the subject (theme).