The Poem Still I Rise - Essay Example

Angelou was born during a time of devastating tragedy when slavery had not yet been completely vanquished and through her poem, she portrays the blossoming into the reality of the dream her ancestors fought for – the slave as a free person that is bold, strong, and fearless. The poem is intended as a symbol of hope and encouragement, not only to her people but to every reader, inspiring each person to seek strength within them to rise from the bonds of whatever external force oppresses them. Angelou was a brave woman, ahead of her time and she wrote this poem to inspire and encourage her former slave brethren and to convey the message that they were to rise and continue the fight so that the dream of their ancestors would surely bear fruit.

Angelou skillfully uses repetition as a sound device throughout the poem, however, this is particularly evident towards the end, where she repeatedly stresses the words “I rise” to symbolize the emergence of the freedom of spirit of a formerly oppressed people - like a phoenix, from the ashes of slavery. She also uses line breaks after the words “I rise” to produce an added effect. Other techniques she uses in the poem are allusions (to slavery), metaphors, similes, and personification. For example, she imbues inanimate objects with the qualities of persons - in the dust rising (4), hopes to spring eternal like a tide that cannot be held back(10,11), or the lightness of spirit that allows ascension like the air (24), all of which personify the slave, who is breaking away from the bonds of oppression to rise upwards as a free person.

There are several allusions to slavery throughout the poem and it becomes very clear that in describing the power of the spirit to uplift itself, Angelou is describing the freedom from the shackles of slavery and the joy that goes with it. The “black ocean” is a clear reference to the vast number of African-American slaves and they are “trod into the dust”, “shot with words” “cut with eyes” and “killed by hatefulness”, all of which symbolizes the oppression of slavery and the treatment meted out to them by the white people. She also uses similes to describe slavery, such as “history’s shame”(29) and a past that’s “rooted in pain”(30) through the inability of the black people to speak in their voice because the history books have been distorted in their perception of the slave race through the eyes of the white man. However, the power of the indomitable spirit of the former slave is also revealed through several similes that portray the joy of a free person, such as the light rising of “the dust” or the surging of “the tide”.
She also makes use of metaphors in the poem. For example, “oil wells pumping in my living room”(7,8) is a metaphor that presents the slave as a wealthy person, this is also the impression conveyed through the “gold mines digging in my backyard” (19,20) which demonstrates the former slave’s new power of ownership. The pain that symbolizes the persistence of prejudice against free slaves is shown in the metaphor of dancing with diamonds at the meeting of the poet’s thighs. Read More