‘Still I rise’ is a poem written by Maya Angelou, it’s about her journey through the struggles she faced as a black woman and her point of view about the whites in the mid 1900’s. In this poem Maya Angelou used a variety of different language techniques, like Metaphors, repetition and Rhetorical questions. These were used to emphasize her feelings and responses during the time were whites were considered superior.
A technique that helped me understand the important message of self-belief and how she positively dealt and overcame those obstacles is Simile. This technique helped me understand the struggles she went through as a Black American woman during the times of Racism and how she overcame the negativity that came with racial discrimination. One example of this is shown in the line “You may trod me in the dirt”, this shows that she was treated poorly during those times and how negative things like discrimination and Oppression made her feel as if she was considered dirt. But in the line that follows next, she states, “Still, like dust, I’ll rise”. This shows that through those obstacles she remained open minded and positive. The simile ‘Like dust, I’ll rise’ tells the reader that she is a brave and strong woman who made it through those tough times, rising like the dust that they thought she was. The use of simile helped me understand the strength she had to rise above all the negative things. It showed that no matter how low you feel or being treated, there will always be another way out of those challenges and that there is no point to feeling like that cause you would only lose your self and pride. This poem also shows that Maya made it through those tough obstacles and overcame them. This could link to us nowadays in the terms of bullying and how people tend to feel as if they were considered nothing but dirt but this poem elaborates more on ignoring those feelings of neglect and to rise and overcome the negativity. Overall it helps us