Rhetorical analysis of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings “I was really white and because a cruel fairy stepmother, who was understandably jealous of my beauty, had turned me into a too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil” (Angelou 19). Maya Angelou was only a little girl when she realized that she was different than all the other little girls; racism had already affected her life significantly. The times she grew up in and the way society changed around her were some of the reasons she wrote the book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In this book, Angelou talks about how adventures, romance, and adversity changed her through the eyes of her young self.
In these past weeks we been learning about Transcendentalist which is a vast word with a straight forward meaning. Where people feel empowered and their surrounding surpass their five senses intuition, imagination, overpower, logic, and reason. The source I used to explain transcendentalist was Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. It had a lot of meaning to me and connect to me too. Overall it talked about how she overcomes everyone's hatred toward her, every hateful word and faces every complication thrown at her and uses it to get stronger physically and successed.
When thinking of a historical figure, many imagine a president, king, or general that lead a country to greatness, but never realized some could be the ones who influence the minds of society. Although not thought of as anything, writers and poets hold the key to shaping the society’s mindset without even knowing it. Being a civil rights activist, social activist, and role model for women makes Maya Angelou a historical figure who has made a huge impact in American society and in American history. Born poor and black, she was a childhood victim of rape, shamed into silence. She was a young single mother who had to work at strip clubs for a living.
Maya Angelou was a strong African-American women who made an influential impact on the Civil Rights Movement, in bother her actions, and her literature. Her life experiences and courage helped others, and made her work influential. During Maya’s early life, she experienced many hardships that shaped her into the person many remember her as. Born on April 4, 1928, she only lived in St. Louis, MO for three years before her parents got divorced, and Maya, along with her mother and brother, moved in with her grandparents in Arkansas. At the age of eight, raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Maya learned the power that words possess.
The inequality and disparity of the racist society is seen in these events, as well as in the dentist’s incident and the insult of the “powhitetrash girls”. Maya Angelou in her work tried to show the struggles the Black men, women and children faced and how they survived. Such experiences are not told only to show the history of the black people, but also to find how Angelou’s inner world was created and how she evolved. There are social, psychological and geographic occasions that helped Maya in the process of personal development.
Maya Angelou, an award winning poet once said, ”We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” She out of all people would be the one to know that. People would try and put her down because of her race, but she didn’t let them stop her. With a little determination and a whole lot of hard work, she was, and still is, one of the most famous poets ever.
She wrote this to share with the world her attitude towards slavery. The power in Still I Rise belongs to Maya Angelou. She holds the power to stand up to the people who treat her like nothing. The last few lines in the first stanza “you may tread me in the very dirt” immediately set up the attitudes of the rest of the poem. Maya Angelou is referring to herself as nothing more than dirt on the ground.
Maya Angelou worked as a professor at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1991 to 2014. As an African American women, one whose life was full of racial discrimination and gender inequality, she had plenty of experience and wisdom to share with her students. During her time working at the university, she taught a variety of humanities courses such as “World Poetry in Dramatic Performance,” “Race, Politics and Literature,” “African Culture and Impact on U.S.,” and “Race in the Southern Experience” (Wake Forest University,
Context/Purpose/Audience Still I Rise, written in 1978 by African American poet and civil-rights activist Maya Angelou, is a resoundingly courageous and unearthing poem with an inspiring invited reading directly related to the time period it was written in: during the declaration for Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The poem discusses an African American woman’s struggles against racism and hatred from the society. It consists of nine-stanzas, offering words of inspiration to those who have been oppressed. It sends a message of hope that even in the midst of adversity it is possible to overcome obstacles and find the inner strength and confidence to rise above them. This poem is very straightforward making the message more meaningful and affective.
Still I Rise Ever heard the cliché saying “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”. First thing that comes to my mind is how Maya Angelou portrayed this through Imagery in her poem Still I Rise. She states “You may shoot me with your words/ You may cut me with your eyes/ You may kill me with your hatefulness,” (Lines 21-23). She very carefully chooses her words here to articulate what the pain feels like to be oppressed to her readers.
The poem that I can relate to the most is " still I rise " by Maya Angelou. The overall meaning and message of the poem is whats relatable, to not only me but I feel the general public. This poem is being told from the point of view of Maya Angelou, so itis giving her perspective and experiences. I can relate to her self-pride in her accomplishments and the person she became because life is a journey and I'm changing every day
Throughout the poem Maya Angelou shows her growth when facing the trials that are thrown at her. She becomes both stronger and more confident in herself. She does not rely on society to tell her who she is based on her looks. Instead she realizes that it is more important to focus on her appearance on the inside opposed to the outside. Society no longer defines her, she has found strength in herself instead of allowing the world to label
‘Still I Rise’ by the American, Maya Angelou presents the character of a black woman who is oppressed in the 1970s but refuses to accept this. ‘Disabled’ by Wilfred Owen, however, is concerned with a character who is ‘broken’ after the disabilities he suffers in the First World War at the beginning of the twentieth century. The poem ‘Still I Rise’ is about a woman who discloses that she will overcome anything due to her self-confidence. The line ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’ is a metaphor that expresses that she will not be downtrodden by others.
" She is accepting her psychical appearance and is putting it in a positive standpoint. This bold poem of Maya Angelou show great struggle
However, the central and most important message that this poem provides is the narrator’s strength to retaliate against discrimination of races and gender, which gives hope to others who suffer from the same or similar complications. Maya Angelou’s main point in the poem is to show that people’s discrimination and judgement against others who are physically different, rather it be because of color of their skin or their gender, cannot tear her down. The narrator attempts to point a positive light on the subject with Maya’s sarcasm. Throughout the poem, with a strongminded and prideful manner, she expresses her strength at
