Introduction
The Still I Rise, a poem by Maya Angelou, is included in the poetry collection And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems, published by Random House in New York in 1978.
The collection includes 32 short poems and is divided into three parts. In addition to the most popular poem Still I Rise, the collection also includes another equally popular poem by Angelou entitled Phenomenal Woman.
And if Phenomenal Woman praises female beauty, Still Rising validates the determination, stubbornness and pride of the man who did not bend and will not bend before the violence of words, existence and History.
Something Like Brief Biography Of Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) is the pen name of African-American Marguerite Annie Johnson, a university professor, poet, novelist, director, and activist for Afro-Americans political and social rights in U.S.A., cooperating for this purpose with Martin Luther King and her close friend Malcolm X.
Born in St. Louis, a city that belongs to Missouri and is bordered by the state of Illinois, she lived her long life on the line: sexually abused at the age of 8 by her stepfather, she spent the next 5 months in absolute voluntary silence, and then successively met almost all aspects of the “American Dream”, practicing various professions including cook, prostitute, nightclub dancer, singer and journalist.
All these experiences permeated in a fruitful and creative way her very important literary work. As for her artistic nickname, she owes it to her first husband, the Greek electrician, former sailor and musician Tosh Angelos, with whom she elevated their marriage to a self-evident political and social event of major importance, at a time when interracial relations were almost interracial disapproved.
Something Like Brief Bibliography
Maya Angelou tackled almost every form of Literature and more. She wrote poetry, plays, children’s literature, screenplays, however, her 7 autobiographical books hold a special place in her total work.
Of her poetic work, along with the collection And Still I Rise, the one entitled Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie, from 1971, for which she was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize – if that means anything – is also marked as important.
And yet, if that means anything, the majority of her poetry collections are listed immediately below, having as follows:
- Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (1971)
- Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975)
- And Still I Rise (1978)
- Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? (1983)
- Poems (1986)
- Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987)
- I Shall Not Be Moved (1990)
- On the Pulse of Morning (1993)
- The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1994)
- Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women (1995)
- A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)
- From a Black Woman to a Black Man (1995)
- Amazing Peace (2005)
- Mother: A Cradle to Hold Me (2006)
- Poetry for Young People (2007)
Maya Angelou - Still I Rise
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 hope and the dream of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou, 1978
Poem by Maya Angelou from the Collection And Still I Rise: A Book of Poems
Audiovisual Document
The poet Maya Angelou reads the poem Still I Rise.
- Angelou, M. (1978). And Still I Rise. New York City, USA: Random House.
- Angelou, M. (2015). Maya Angelou: The Complete Poetry. Hachette UK.
- Iqbal, Z., & Parveen, S. (2018). The Poetics of Black Feminist Narrative. A Literary Analysis of Maya Angelou’s Poetry. GRIN Verlag.
- Lupton, M. J. (1998). Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. Greenwood Publishing Group.
- Wagner-Martin, L. (2020). Maya Angelou: Adventurous Spirit. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
- Maya Angelou (1928-2014): Dr. Kelly A. Spring, National Women’s History Museum
Clarification
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