This is Maya Angelou’s talking about how “love liberates”. She has the most incredible voice and presence.Īnd here is another video I found on Youtube that I just had to share. Here is a video of Maya Angelou reading Still I Rise. The images of the oil wells “pumping” and the gold mines “Diggin'” are so strongly evocative I just love it. It’s as though she knows her oppressors are so materialistic and mercenary, that the only way they can describe her joy and sexiness is to say she looks like she has a lot of money. Though her oppressors might think they have ended her by subjecting her to poverty, still, she walks like she has all the wealth in the world. The poet writes that she walks “like I’ve got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room” and that she laughs “like I’ve got gold mines/ Diggin’ in my own back yard”. By specifically talking about the “meeting of thighs” Angelou gives the ultimate defiance of a woman she owns and loves every part of herself, and rises up, dazzling and sexy.Īnother couple of images I love, and that I want to talk about, are the “oil wells” and the “gold mines” mentioned in the second and fifth stanzas. Another phrase that gives a great symbol bash to all of that is “Does it come as a surprise/ That I dance/ Like I’ve got diamonds/ At the meeting of my thighs?” This gives me goosebumps every time I read it. This is something that Maya Angelou overcame in her own life, and she speaks with such inspiring strength here. It seems to overcome sexism and the oppression of women in particular. The recurring questions in the piece are brilliantly provocative: “Does my sassiness upset you?” “Does my haughtiness offend you?” and “Does my sexiness offend you?” she asks. The dust rising, for me, delivers the image of a ghost - perhaps even the ghosts of slaves - that no oppressor or murderer can escape. This idea, coupled with the soulful rhythm, creates a palpable atmosphere of unstoppable defiance. In the first stanza, Angelou writes that although she may be trod into the very dirt, she will still rise like dust (“like dust, I’ll rise”). Still I rise contains so many images that I love. Angelou’s voice is resounding and sensually rhythmic, and carries so beautifully her message of strength and positivity. The poem roots itself in the history of the African-American people, with it’s talk of slavery, and that gorgeous image of the “black ocean, leaping and wide” - such a powerful metaphor for overcoming oppression. But the poem’s scope is not limited to one people it speaks of the universal notion of the defiance of the downtrodden. It is a wonderfully defiant, human, uplifting cry from the deep heart of America, which tells a story that I’m sure speaks to us all. This is probably Maya Angelou’s best-known poem, and for good reason. It is on this stroke that this present study seeks to dig deep into the most confrontational work of Maya Angelou, her assertive but reliant poem Still I Rise so as to come by other extra-linguistic significations therein. I am the dream and the hope of the slave. Hence they are glaringly a projection of self-awareness even in the face of oppression. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” Here are some of Maya Angelou’s best quotes on the power of connection, understanding yourself and motivation. Who hasn’t read the quote, “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time,” to themselves over and over when gearing up to put themselves out there after being hurt?Īnother one of Angelou’s most famous lines comes from “ Still I Rise,” her 1978 poem: “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.” It is nearly impossible to read that without feeling a rush of empowerment from deep inside your soul.Īngelou was brilliant at many things, but her ability to harness the power of words to inspire people was a truly remarkable feat. The popularity of Maya Angelou’s quotes is one of the many ways she lives on in the hearts of people. (She died in 2014, at 86.) Through her poetry (“Phenomenal Woman,” “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”), essays (“Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now,” “Even the Stars Look Lonesome”), plays (“The Best of These, “Moon on a Rainbow Shawl”), films (“Sister, Sister” “Down in the Delta”), and civil rights activis m, Angelou’s tremendous impact is still felt widely today. Maya Angelou inspired countless people during her lifetime.
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