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 back yard.
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
http://lcdd.podbean.com/mf/web/368sgy/StillIrise-MayaAngelou.mp3
Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou, is about rising above inhumanity.
The poem begins with 'you'. Anglou's finger is immediately pointing at the reader and the tone is an accusing one. It makes the assumption that history is a matter of angle and perspective and that there are two sides to the same coin. The line "with your bitter, twisted lies," implies that historical facts were changed to benefit one side.
It is quickly evident that this poem is about racism, and the freedom of the African American from slavery, prejudice, and oppression.
The 'you' in the poem is directed not only to the oppressors, the white race, but it also represents those on the opposite side of 'me'. This poem asks the personal 'you' to evaluate your position or form and opinon.
The 'Me' in this poem is both collective and personal. The collective 'me' is the collective hurt, historical injustice of a peoples, and represents an ancestral pain and anger. The personal 'me' is the narrative as manifested through the body, the physicality of pain and triumph understood through images, metaphors and similes. In the poem there is rich imagery of nature and natural cycles- dust, air, moon, oceans, sun. There is profound opposition, as things wax and wane and rise and fall. She is relating herself to Mother Earth as she speaks of oil wells in her living room, gold mines in her back yard, and diamonds at the meeting of her thighs, and being a black ocean. The first three act as a double metaphor. They are found under the surface of the earth, so perhaps Maya Angelou is stating that if one looked beneath her surface, they would find an abundance of spirit, which equates to a spiritual wealth. She is mirroring internal wealth through the external form of wealth.
The human body embraces and manifests this unbreakable spirit through her laugh, her walk, her dance, her thighs. This spirit, this body, is always part of a bigger picture, a history, a present, and a future. Angleou gives the African American woman a voice, and by doing this, the poem becomes social commentary whose premise is abuse, and mans inhumanity to man.
"Out of the huts of history's shame"- Here Maya Angelou is referring to America's shame. The African American is supposed to feel shame, and should be condemned merely for being black, which immediately places the shame upon the oppressors. The implication is that her success, power, and sexuality makes 'you' disconcerted and therefore need to destroy it, whilst 'your' triumph lies in 'my' downfall. This oppression becomes white Americas weakness and consequently the African American strength.
Ultimately, this poem is about finding strength from obstacles and being able to overcome adversity. It is about spirit over matter, and rising into growth and freedom. It is about identity, self respect, power, motivation, inspiration, and resilience.
