Maya Angelou Literary Devices

Ariana Stradling

Mrs. Ruiz

Written Communication

May 9, 2023

Defiance is Key

Have you ever been unfairly judged by others before for something that you cannot change, like gender or race? Did you rise above the pain and come out unscathed, or did you fall short and were pushed down? Maya Angelou was a black woman born in 1928 in Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a challenging childhood. Her parents divorced when she was extremely young; she and her brother moved to Arkansas with their father’s mother after the split. While in Arkansas, Angelou experienced extreme discrimination. When she was seven, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. After the traumatizing event, she became a traumatic mute for over five years. She became a civil rights

Metaphors are helpful when trying to emphasize a line. One of my favorite metaphors in this poem is, “You may trod me in the very dirt/But still, like dust, I'll rise”(Angelou, lines 3-4). The metaphor of treading someone in the dirt talks about how when people look down on someone, they will push them down and leave their spirits as low as the ground. The simile afterward tells about rising up like dust rises as you walk. Dust refuses to stay still as motion happens around it, and just like dust, Angelou refuses to be pushed or stay

Angelou uses symbolism throughout the poem to show how defiant she feels. In stanza 3, Angelou says, “Just like moons and like suns,/With the certainty of tides,/Just like hopes springing high,/Still I'll rise.” I interpret that as the author saying that she is constantly defying her adversaries and she is unwavering in her position. We can count on the moon coming out every night, even if it is a new moon and we cannot see it; We trust that the sun will shine every morning through evening. And just like the moon and sun, Angelou is just as constant to rise above adversity. The usage of the phrase rising hope can be seen as another way the author hints at the phrase, still I rise, but I see it differently. This poem is about facing discrimination and rising above it. When I noticed the phrase of rising hopes, I saw it symbolizing the author’s wish for the disappearance of discrimination, the hope of rising high enough above it that no one will ever face it