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Maya Angelou (4 April 1928)
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 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.
Read poems about / on: history, dance, ocean, dream, fear, hope, pain, rose, spring
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Maya Angelou
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A beautiful poem. I love how the feelings are strongly expressed into the purpose of the poem :)
You are a very strong Woman i like that about you! ! i love you i still hope to see you in person your amazing to me! ! !
Your poems stand out all of them! ! you're very talented and intelligent Woman i ever saw! ! i would nice time meeting you and i always wanted to since 10 yrs old
I liked it..it raise the hope to rise..chalanging and truth lies in it..not to drop but to rise and rise what eva be the matter..nice one
I like the first stanza, but I feel like it's overlong. She repeats the same idea without adding or elaborating on it. There are also a number of cliches like shoot me with your words and cut me with your eyes. There is also the line You may kill me with your hatefulness which I think isn't a very good line and could have easily have been removed while still retaining the central idea.
To be honest I'm not sure why so many people like it. The rhymes are a bit forced, there are no good images or interesting word choices.
I love it. Good poem, nice and strong, powerful.
A great & powerful poem.
This poem is great and speaks to the soul if our hearts are willing.
This poem is my favorite. she teaches me to stand in minority. no matter how people around you are kicking you down. but, i have to rise up for the hope is real.
thanks Dr Maya Angelou, for teaching us an equality.
in the 5th stanza the second line should have contain an interrogation sign (?) and she uses or misuses 'eyes ' more than needed...thanks