As the poem progresses, the speaker asserts that . [17] Mary Silva Cosgrave, in her review in Horn Book Magazine, praises Angelou for finding rhythm in everyday life and is impressed with the poems in And Still I Rise, especially "Phenomenal Woman"; Cosgrave states, "To her third collection of poems the author has brought a life full of zest and style that is phenomenally her own". Still I Rise By Maya Angelou. Analyzing poetry can be tricky, so its helpful to read a few expert analyses. The poet describes the way people judge her, the obstacles she faces and the adversity in her life. For this reason, she, Maya Angelou is best known for her empowering poems, https://poemanalysis.com/maya-angelou/still-i-rise/, Poems covered in the Educational Syllabus. In this video Professor Angelou recites her poem, "An. Besides, she is an embodiment of the indomitable courage of black people. Lets look at the poems addressee. She speaks for her race and gender in many of the poems, and again emphasizes the strength and resiliency of her community. There are some millionairesWith money they cant useTheir wives run round like bansheesTheir children sing the bluesTheyve got expensive doctorsTo cure their hearts of stone.But nobodyNo, nobodyCan make it out here alone. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc. Click the icon above to listen to this audio poem. A kind of protest poem which is defiant as well as celebratory, 'Still I Rise' is about the power of the human spirit to overcome discrimination and hardship, with Angelou specifically reflecting her attitudes as a black American woman. [17][19] In "Ain't That Bad? Angelou wrote a play in 1976 by the same title and the work also touches on similar themes such as courage, injustice, and spirit of the Black people. Does my sassiness upset you? "Review of, The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie, "Hope, not despair, is the United Negro College Fund's new message.". [8] Bloom also believes that Angelou's poetry was more interesting when she recited it. Maya Angelou Nationality: America Maya Angelou was an iconic writer, known today for her empowering verse. You can read 'Still I Rise' here. Now I cannot guessWhat I can use an empty heart-cup for.He wont be coming back here any more.Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knewWhen he went walking grandly out that doorThat my sweet love would have to be untrue.Would have to be untrue. 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines. She uses a "call and response" technique, references her sexuality and perhaps because she appreciated African American oral traditions, the power of the poem becomes even more evident when recited. Ultimately, the poems speaker is recognizing that the poems you cant comprehend the value of the speakers resilience, nor can they diminish the driving force behind the speakers resilient spirit. Learn how the poem has remained relevant for contemporary political figures and celebrities. Learn how the poem has remained relevant for contemporary political figures and celebrities. [10], Two of the poems in And Still I Rise, "Phenomenal Woman" and "Just For a Time", appeared in Cosmopolitan in 1978. Bloom calls her performances "characteristically dynamic"[7] and says that Angelou "moves exuberantly, vigorously to reinforce the rhythms of the lines, the tone of the words. The 8 th stanza has 6 lines and the 9 th has 9 lines. She claims that she will still like air rise. It is through you visiting Poem Analysis that we are able to contribute to charity. The speakers reference of slavery and ancestors situates them in a very specific cultural and racial role as a Black person. She claims that she will leave behind the terror and fear and that she will rise above the pain and the oppression Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear., The speaker does not intend to allow the hatefulness of society or the pain of the past to stop her from becoming all that she ever dreamed of being. While Angelou wrote of her harrowing personal background and the African American experience in the US, her poem's message of liberation and survival has struck a chord with many tattoo collectors. For this reason, she repeats three times, I rise.. The poem sends a very clear and loud message that no one can really be oppressed. Repetition is often used in poetry to solidify a key idea or theme. When Maya Angelou wrote her famous poem, Still I Rise, in 1978, its unclear if she knew the impact it would have on the world as a whole. The poem reiterates that the lies that paint Black people as dangerous or less than others are baseless and untrue. The use of the rising sun image is a powerful and relevant one to the Still I Rise message. Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?They took my lovers tallness off to war,Left me lamenting. They have got the voice to proclaim their rights. . These experiences with racism and resistance influenced Angelous writing during the 1970s and shaped the themes in many of her poems, including Still I Rise.. And Still I Rise is author Maya Angelou 's third volume of poetry, published by Random House in 1978. Ultimately, Angelou uses rhetorical questions to ask the collective you addressed in the poem to reflect on their own hatefulness and intolerance. Watch a video that creatively integratesAngelou's recitation of the poem with relevant images. And more importantly, her individual actions will help future generations continue to rise up and above as well. For example, the transition between lines two and three of the first stanza and two and three of the second stanza. Decades after it was published, people continue to reference "Still I Rise." Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave. Shes showing that hatred and fear of Black people is irrational. And Still I Rise is Maya Angelou's third volume of poetry, published at the height of her popularity as a writer in 1978. Does my sassiness upset you?Why are you beset with gloom?Cause I walk like I've got oil wellsPumping in my living room. This poem communicates an important message to readers. Angelous professional writing career took off when she and her son moved abroad in 1962. Come to me, here beside the River. ()Diggin in my own back yard. Rhetorical questions are questions that a writer poses in order to make the reader come up with their own answer--and think more deeply about complicated issues in the processes. When the speaker refers to the gifts that my ancestors gave, theyre talking about how the strength of past Black people continues to undergird the Black community in the present. Ans: Still I Rise" is a poem by Maya Angelou in which the speaker addresses and dismisses the efforts of her oppressors to prevent her from achieving her full potential. It is compared to hope. I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. (FallWinter 1979). Angelou not only talks about the ways in which Black people collectively experience racism, she is asking readers to examine their role in perpetuating racism, too. After Freemans murder, Angelou returned to live with her grandmother in Arkansas and spent five years virtually mute. Angelou considered herself a poet and a playwright, but was best known for her seven autobiographies, especially her first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, although her poetry has also been successful. 'Still I Rise': summary Angelous poem presents a speaker who takes pride in her identity. In Maya Angelous poem, Still I Rise, Angelou uses repetition and rhetorical questions to reinforce her poems meaning. Just like moons and like suns, Angelou describes how the poems you attempts to keep the speaker down. [There I go! Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to themselves in the first person, often using I and my to refer to their experiences with racial discrimination. [18], Many of Angelou's poems focus on racial subjects and themes. Corfman, Allisa. Up until her death on May 28, 2014, Angelou continued to write, teach, give lectures and poetry readings, and participate in political campaigning. The poem shows a woman who gets dragged down by society because of her identity but rises above it and won't hide it. The oil wells pumping in [her] living room, She continues with the questions directed at a racist society when she asks whether her haughtiness is offensive. "Still I Rise" was written to address the discrimination that Black people face due to systemic racism in the United States. In that way, Angelou targets a collective experience of racism and racist behavior as the main topic of her poem. Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. Notice how the rhetorical power of the refrain, "I rise," threatens to eclipse the couplet rhymes, "fear"/"clear" and "gave"/"slave." She represents the black community as a whole. [22], Like many reviewers of Angelou's poetry, Ellen Lippmann of School Library Journal finds Angelou's prose stronger than her poetry, but found her strength more apparent in the poems in this volume than it was in her first autobiography. In this stanza, she depicts the tides that are springing high. While the upward movement of tides symbolizes how hope springs in her heart concerning the future. While living in Egypt in the early 1960s, she edited an English-language newspaper and also spent time as a singer, dancer and actress. Maya Angelou, born in 1928, lived through some of the worst oppression and inequality for African American people. Arguably, Angelous most famous work is her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969. Why? By revealing the truth of who she issassy, sexy, humanshe challenges the historical lies that support racist ideas. This means that, while Angelou witnessed injustice, she also got to see the resilient spirit of Black people united in action. One way Angelou coped following King's death was to write. Does my haughtiness offend you? "Maya Angelou: Self and a Song of Freedom in the Southern Tradition". Overview Characters Read an in-depth analysis of the speaker in "Still I Rise." Analysis of the Speaker Literary Devices Did you want to see me broken? In some cases, the resilience she evokes applies to Black Americans in general. These are oil wells, gold mines and diamonds. Cherokee Nation, who rested with me, then. Blundell finds the poems similar to speech patterns and songs the most effective, while she finds others "mired in hackneyed metaphor and forced rhyme". In 1960, she met civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. After hearing him speak, Angelou began volunteering to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and taking a stand as a political activist. Central Message: You should never give up no matter the challenges. In a 2009 interview, Angelou, whose great-grandmother was born into slavery, expressed her feeling that enslaved African Americans "couldn't have survived slavery without having hope that it would get better." Years passed before she commemorated her birthday again. And just like the moon, sun, and the tides of the oceanall of which fall and risethe speaker will continue to rise as well. Refine any search. Scholar Lyman B. Hagen calls it a "shouting poem" due to its short lines and repetition. [15] Neubauer and literary critic Harold Bloom both consider it one of the best poems in the volume. Lastly, the black ocean unfolds how powerful the speaker and her people are. I rise I rise I rise. Throughout the poem, the speaker portrays the nature of their resilience through comparisons to things that are known for their toughness or ability to endure. 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. Yet she didn't forget the wide breadth of literature she'd taken in, which included works by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Emily Dickinson and William Shakespeare. A desire to express her love for poetry by speaking it aloud helped draw Angelou out of her mutism. The Political Power of "Still I Rise" The 5 Strategies You Must Be Using to Improve 160+ SAT Points, How to Get a Perfect 1600, by a Perfect Scorer, Free Complete Official SAT Practice Tests. Besides, some phrases deal with the concept of slavery in this line, Bowed head and lowered eyes.. In the second stanza, she asks a question. Gain initial understanding of the work and ethos of Still I Rise; Support the Education Team to produce content for three teacher training courses of 20 hours duration each. After returning to St. Louis at age eight, Angelou was sexually assaulted by her mothers boyfriend, Freeman. Does my sassiness upset you? Still I Rise script tattoos are extensions of the powerful 1978 poem by late African American poet Maya Angelou. [14] Angelou said that she wrote the poem for all women, regardless of their race or appearance. "Maya Angelou". We see this in the similes that compare the spirit of Black people to resources that are an endless wellspring of riches, like oil wells / Pumping in [the speakers] living room and gold mines / Diggin in [her] own backyard. Using these comparisons, Angelou asks the reader to consider why its the enduring hope, joy, and strength of Black people that makes others want to break them down. [25] Despite the volume's weaknesses, she considers it successful as a statement of a Black woman's experiences and of her determination to survive and grow.[25]. In 1994, the United Negro College Fund, aiming for a more hopeful tone in its appeals, created a spot that featured Angelou reading part of "Still I Rise." [20], Joyce Boyarin Blundell is positive in her review of And Still I Rise in Library Journal. The College Entrance Examination BoardTM does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content of this site. Tone Of Still I Rise. 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Poetic Techniques and Figurative Language. He states that her poetry serves as explanatory texts for her prose works, which he calls "more adeptly rendered self-portraits". In this article, well give you a full introduction to Angelou and her engaging poetry so that youll be equipped to analyze it all on your own. Still I Rise is a poem by the American civil rights activist and writer Maya Angelou. There is a true yearning to respond toThe singing River and the wise Rock.So say the Asian, the Hispanic, the JewThe African, the Native American, the Sioux,The Catholic, the Muslim, the French, the GreekThe Irish, the Rabbi, the Priest, the Sheik,The Gay, the Straight, the Preacher,The privileged, the homeless, the Teacher.They hear. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Meet Stand-Up Comedy Pioneer Charles Farrar Browne, Biography: You Need to Know: Agness Underwood. This poem appears in the third part of the book. Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like Ive got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs? In this poem "Still, I Rise" by Maya Angelou an African American female poet that provides an interesting blend of tones: humorous and defiant, comical and furious, self-assured and bitterness. In other words, Angelou could be asking us to examine ourselves for hidden biases: do we experience any of the negative feelings toward Black people that the you portrayed in the poem experiences? We have a bunch on our blog that you can read through, like this one about Dylan Thomas Do not go gentle into that good night or this article that explains 10 different sonnets! In this piece, a reader should look to stanza six for an example. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Score, The overarching meaning of Still I Rise. So, its a lyric poem. The organization disbanded when Malcolm X was assassinated the next year. We respond to all comments too, giving you the answers you need. Download. In this stanza, she compares herself to the moon and the sun as they are affected by the tides. (1985). The short and often monosyllabic words, as Neubauer states, "create an even, provocative rhythm that resounds with underlying confidence". It tells about struggles to overcome prejudice and injustice in life. "Still I Rise" is a very empowering poem by Maya Angelou. She demands an explanation for their hatred, and each question calls out a specific instance of or type of mistreatment. 35Leaving behind nights of terror and fear, 37Into a daybreak thats wondrously clear. In, Lippmann, Ellen (November 1978). Angelou conveys this theme through rhetorical questions that demonstrate that the reasons people cite for hating Black people are trivial. [17] Angelou, during an interview in 1997, stated that she used the poem to help sustain her during hard times, and that many people, both Black and white, used it in the same way. Years after it was published in 1978, the poem continues to reach readers and audiences, cutting across racial lines and national boundaries. Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment. Have a specific question about this poem? In the second stanza, she asks a question. It contains several symbols that refer to different ideas. On top of these influences, Angelou also had a traumatizing childhood, which included her own personal experience with racial discrimination and sexual abuse. Throughout the 1970s, Angelou experienced her most productive writing period, writing articles, short stories, TV scripts, documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry. It is clear from the very first stanza that this poem is meant to stand up against those who aim to crush you: You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, 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. They took my lovers tallness off to war, Some day the war will end, but, oh, I knew, When he went walking grandly out that door. Ignores the oppression and the abuse she goes through and that way she finds happiness. This image represents how they were tortured and made silent by the unlawful fist. And Still I Rise is Maya Angelou's third volume of poetry. You can watch Maya Angelou recite the poem below. (B) Does my sassiness upset you? Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1715 titles we cover. The poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is an example of lyric poetry. Does my sassiness upset you? I am the dream and the hope of the slave. [16] The first part, entitled "Touch Me, Life, Not Softly", has been called "joyful"[17] and affirms the poet's strength as a woman and as a lover. [13] Angelou focuses on the same themes as her previous volumes, including love, loneliness, and Southern racism, but with the added twist of the nature of women and the importance of family. Bloom calls it a "hymn-like poem to woman's beauty". Still I Rise Maya Angelou - 1928-2014 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. She authored plays, including one that was produced off-Broadway in 1960. She continues, however, to in a sense flaunt her success before the society that has always oppressed her. The speaker of "Still I Rise" is a Black woman who powerfully expresses her strength and resilience in the face of an oppressive, racist society. Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" is a powerful poem that draws on a range of influences, including her personal background and the African American experience in the United States. Listen to the poet read "Still I Rise" aloud. She proclaims that society cannot prevail against her even if it managed to have her killed because of its hatefulness. Angelou wrote this poem in the late 1970s, during the Post-Civil Rights Movement Era, and . And you certainly wouldnt oppress someone just because they exhibit those qualities! So she directs these questions at a society that has long tried to keep her oppressed. 34Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. This poem is filled with vivid imagery. "The Phenomenal Woman and the Severed Daughter (Maya Angelou, Audre Lourde)". In fact, the encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the power to endure. Poetic devices are literary devices that poets use to enhance and create a poems structure, tone, rhythm, and meaning. To help you learn what Angelous Still I Rise poem is all about, well cover the following in this article: Maya Angelou, speaking at Wake Forest University, in 2008. The collection's title poem, "Still I Rise", was the center of an advertising campaign for the United Negro College Fund. 'Still I Rise' is a poem written by Maya Angelou, an African-American poet, and civil rights activist in the 1960s. Angelou uses the images of gold mines and diamonds to heighten the irony of this piece. While the strength and beauty of Black people incites hatred and intolerance, Angelou also portrays these qualities as the ultimate source of Black peoples strength to keep rising back up. Just like moons and like suns,With the certainty of tides,Just like hopes springing high,Still I'll rise. Accessed 18 April 2023. Rather than responding with hatred, the speaker walks, laughs, and dances, rejecting the lies of those who would oppress them. The speaker of the poem is Black, which we learn in these two lines in the last stanza: Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave. She penned her first verses when she was still in school, and in the late 1950s, Angelou joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where she interacted with James Baldwin and other writers. She firmly speaks against the injustices against them and says no matter how much society tries to throttle her voice, she will rise like the phoenix. She refers to them as you and straightforwardly begins this poem. In an interview in 1997, Angelou stated that she used the poem to sustain herself in hard times. ", For Angelou, Black people in America had remained "intact enough to survive, and to do better than that to thrive. "Still I Rise" Art Exhibit 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. Alliterationoccurs when words are used in succession, or at least appear close together, and begin with the same letter. Gillespie, Marcia Ann, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. In Still I Rise, rhetorical questions appear at the beginning of four of the stanzas. [9] By the time And Still I Rise was published in 1978, she had published three autobiographies, eventually going on to publish seven. As she does in "Phenomenal Woman" and throughout her poetry and autobiographies, Angelou speaks not only for herself, but for her entire gender and race. This is seen through lines like You may trod me in the very dirt /But still, like dust, Ill rise. The repetition of the phrase, I rise is also symbolic: it conveys the ongoing resilience of the spirit of Black people in response to ongoing racism and discrimination. She worked as an editor at a newspaper in Cairo, Egypt, and wrote for various publications in Ghana as well. Angelou grew up amid the degradations of the Jim Crow South. The lyric poetry, which may or may not rhyme, communicates the speaker's sentiments about a situation or subject. "Still I Rise" was included in this book. by owner. Lying, thinkingLast nightHow to find my soul a homeWhere water is not thirstyAnd bread loaf is not stoneI came up with one thingAnd I dont believe Im wrongThat nobody,But nobodyCan make it out here alone. "Still I Rise" and Today's America This tattoo shows the arrow, feather, and "Still I rise" inked in-between. For example, in the first stanza, the poet uses dirt as a symbol. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=And_Still_I_Rise&oldid=1103050779. Those symbols do not deal with anything materialistic, rather they hint at her intellectual wealth. The poet lets society know that it cannot prevail against her with words or looks. Start My Free Trial. In 1968, things changed for the writer she was preparing to join forces with Martin Luther King Jr. to bring attention to his Poor Peoples Campaign and decided to take some time to celebrate her 40th birthday before accompanying King. (1983) and I Shall Not Be Moved (1990). They all hearThe speaking of the Tree. In Still I Rise, Angelous speaker repeats the refrain, Still I rise and, I rise to convey the power of Black resilience and set a triumphant tone. The challenge: "You may write me down in history," she says, and "you may trod me in the very dirt." And, the promise: "but still, like dust, I'll rise" and I'll walk as if I have "oil wells pumping in my living room." You can hear it in her voice and you can see it on her face. It is also one of the most famous and widely read poems from this collection by Maya Angelou . The first seven stanzas contain four lines, known as quatrains, stanza eight has six lines and the ninth has nine. Some are playful, funny, angry, confident, and bitter. [7] Critic William Sylvester agrees, and states that although her books have been best-sellers, her poetry has "received little serious critical attention". 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. (Final poem from 'Maya Angelou - Live and Unplugged')Still I RiseYou may write me down in historyWith your bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very dirtBut 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 wellsPumping 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 hardCause I laugh like I've got gold minesDiggin 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, Ill rise.Does my sexiness upset you?Does it come as a surpriseThat I dance like I've got diamondsAt the meeting of my thighs?Out of the huts of historys shameI riseUp from a past thats rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror and fearI riseInto a daybreak thats wondrously clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I riseI riseI rise. In this stanza, the speaker finally refers to the past- the reason that she is oppressed and resented to this day. It occurs when a line is cut off before its natural stopping point. For example, readers can find the image of oil wells pumping oil. In, Sylvester, William. Academy of American Poets, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038. Minimal Arrow & Text Forearm Tattoo Design. "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. She questions this. She joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where she met several other African American authors and began publishing her work. She's also known for her autobiographical works. The theme of "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is to remind the reader to remain confident and to not be ashamed even when others look down upon you or those like you. A poet uses this kind of figurative language to say that one thing is similar to another, not like metaphor, that it is another. Would have to be untrue. Does my sassiness upset you? Its message of liberation and survival was a consistent theme in Angelou's work. That my sweet love would have to be untrue. An introduction showcasing one of the most influential cultural and aesthetic movements of the last 100 years. During this time, she also graduated high school and had her son, Clyde, at the age of seventeen. The ability to cope with adversity is a strong theme throughout "Still I Rise." The courses will focus on contemporary pedagogy connected to the work of Still I Rise. . It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed, "Sooo much more helpful thanSparkNotes. Stepto explains Angelou's success and popularity as a poet with her autobiographies, which he calls "marvelous" and the real reason for her success as a poet. Angelous parents divorced when she was three, and her home life became unstable. Maya Angelou is best known for her empowering poems that seek to celebrate the female body and mind, specifically dedicated to Black women. You can use dozens of filters and search criteria to find the perfect person for your needs. The way the content is organized. The poem, which represents the inferiority and societal struggles between blacks and whites was a very real, and still continues to be, an issue in modern day America. 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. "All my work, my life, everything is about survival," she once stated. This technique allows Angelou to investigate why the addressee hates the speakerwhich also allows her to shine a light on the flimsy reasons behind racism as well. Out of the huts of historys shameI riseUp from a past thats rooted in painI riseI'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Her writings left an everlasting imprint on my heart. I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. You may have the grace to look up and out. As a content writer for PrepScholar, Ashley is passionate about giving college-bound students the in-depth information they need to get into the school of their dreams. Enhance and create a poems structure, tone, rhythm, and her are. Its hatefulness anything materialistic, rather they hint at her intellectual wealth the of!, rather they hint at her intellectual wealth the Phenomenal woman and the she... The encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the 9 has! By her mothers still i rise, Freeman to a greatness, like dust, Ill Rise. Angelou was sexually by... And rhetorical questions appear at the age of seventeen of tides, just like moons and like,! Her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published 1969! 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