Still I Rise By Maya Angelou Essay

Maya Angelou was a woman with a heart for helping. She became a teacher, a civil rights activist, and a poet which in turn helped mold her into the historian she is known for still today. Maya Angelo wrote a poem called “Still I Rise,” to express the obstacles she faced never stopped her. She always overcame whatever hardship was thrown at her. Judging by the negativity against her in the poem, which shows Dr. Angelou’s strength, willingness, and confidence. It is because of this that I believe her to be a "good human." In the poem, it says she is a good person “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” (Angelou 25-30). Stating “I Rise” twice shows her
“Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, weakened by my soulful cries? (Angelou Lines 13-16). Her sassiness in those lines of the poem states them as if they were a question which shows her independency. She has a confidant amount of self-respect. Even though she has pain in her history she honors that she can overcome it. “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” (Angelou 25-30). She is ashamed of her ancestors past but doesn't fear it and respects that she didn’t create it. Dr. Angelou’s hope defeats her obstacles by stating in a metaphor comparing her hope to dust, air, and the ocean, anything that moves around, through or over an obstacle and it’s still essentially itself. “But still, like dust, I’ll rise” (Angelou Line 4). “But still, like air, I’ll rise” (Angelou Line 24). “I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide” (Angelou Line 29). She is hopeful for her ancestor’s pride and for her