Among the themes of Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise " are oppression and resilience in the face of said oppression. The poem is the speaker's reaction to both racial and sexual discrimination. It is her written response to those who persecute her. She is oppressed because she...
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is Black and because she is a woman. The empowering poem illustrates the speaker's indomitable spirit and determination to persevere in spite of the injustices she suffers.
Angelou communicates the theme of racial oppression by referencing the suffering of Black people. She comes from a culture and past that is "rooted in pain." She is proud of her heritage and determined to succeed and live happily in spite of those who oppress her and her people:
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
She honors her ancestors and makes them proud with her resilient defiance of the racists and bigots who oppress her.
The language used by Angelou in the first, fourth, and sixth stanzas is particularly powerful in communicating the poem's theme of oppression. She speaks of her persecutors misrepresenting her with "bitter, twisted lies" and "trod[ding her] in the very dirt." She says that her oppressors long to see her defeated and "broken" with a "bowed head" and "lowered eyes." They want her shoulders to fall "like teardrops." This descriptive language and use of teardrops, often associated with sadness, as a simile for fallen shoulders calls to mind images of defeat and dejection. Her persecutors want to weaken her and reduce her to "soulful cries." They "shoot [her] with [their] words," "cut [her] with [their] eyes," and "kill [her] with [their] hatefulness." Although the theme of oppression is present throughout the poem, it is best illustrated by the language and devices used in these three stanzas.
Angelou communicates the theme of sexual oppression in the seventh stanza:
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?
By suggesting that the person she is speaking to is bothered by her sexuality and attractiveness, the poem's speaker is confirming that she is not only oppressed because of her race but also because of her sex and because of the ways these identities intersect. She alludes to the conflict experienced by her male oppressors who are attracted to her while hating her. Just as she condemns those who discriminate against her racially, she also speaks out against those who discriminate against her sexually.