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Still I Rise by Maya Angelou   
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  Still I Rise

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(1409 votes)



  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 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.

Maya Angelou


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Read poems about / on: history, dance, ocean, dream, fear, hope, pain, rose, spring

 
  Comments about this poem (Still I Rise by Maya Angelou )
Click here to write your comments about this poem (Still I Rise by Maya Angelou )
 
  TAMARA HANARING  (6/17/2009 1:45:00 AM)

A powerful and a very welled writing..that beauty when you are proud of what you have..that feeling of the majic in your internal self..which shines on other..the beauty which born from a suffer...that wonderful feeling while you rise and rise..a life, a future which built by painful words since birth, that girl wanted to rise when she watched the men under her windows while they pass..filled by femininity, the gentleness, the strength of manhood she was. enjoying a majic of a woman power while she rise and rise I adore this eding...

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.




AND WOW FOR THESE LINESSSSSSSSSSSSS

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.
  Lillian Said  (6/3/2009 6:55:00 AM)

I first heard this poem at the inauguration of our former president, Nelson Mandela and it made perfect sense. Even though he is not female, I am made aware that there exists a male inside a female, Adam lives in a madam, Eve lives in a Steve…

Maya Angelou is a wordsmith there is simply no other word to describe her. All her writing is saturated in wisdom and experience and the reader becomes humbly aware of it. She has earned my respect not just for her ability to write, but her willingness to share herself with others.

This is a powerhouse of a poem!

Lillian Said
  Kerisa Mendez  (5/31/2009 8:51:00 PM)

This poem is lovely, i enjoyed the entire poem, but this poem is basically about a persona whose not afraid to rise and even about the things that would cause people to fall...... The persona is obviously a leader and is defintely not afraid to speak out.
  Kamal Awwaad  (5/26/2009 5:11:00 AM)

'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? '

I am gonna give my two cents about the conflict the readers are going through because of those lines. Understanding the time were Maya came from. Maya is not a rapper she is not going to speak about her privet area. She is simply referring to her LAP.

If you read the poem again with that thought in your mind, it makes perfect sense “That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs“ she is dancing caring free regardless of the circumstances, like a person who have a whole bunch of diamonds sitting right there in her lap and feeling how fortune she is.
Respect.
  Connie Leigh Lindsay  (5/23/2009 8:55:00 PM)

It's a great poem.Maya has a way of saying things that most couldn't begin to describe.
  Ejaz Khan  (5/19/2009 5:26:00 AM)

Most of all I liked your confidence, a real warrior that refuses to give in. Bravo!
  Silence Dogood  (5/18/2009 8:21:00 PM)

'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.'

My favourite part of the poem.
She deffinetly is a poet.
I love it
  Lorraine Margueritte Gasrel Black  (5/9/2009 11:15:00 AM)

Every time I read this poem I think of the human spirit to overcome adversity with tempered pride.
  Shahzad Sarwar  (5/1/2009 7:15:00 AM)

Beautifull.......One of the best of all that i have seen in english poetry.......

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