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Tasks: Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

A photo of a flock of birds, flying in the red evening sky.
Govva: Caucas / CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Research:

  1. Search for information about Maya Angelou's life and family background. Do you find any resemblance between her life and the life of the narrator of the poem?

  2. Maya Angelou left us with many inspirational quotes. What do the quotes below tell us about Angelou as a person? Do any of them fit with the message of the poem you just read?

Wise words from Maya Angelou

All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

Without courage we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.

Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.

If you're always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be.

Analyse

Group work

Divide the following topics between the groups. Discuss the questions and prepare your answers, before you share your work with the rest of the class.

Group 1. Narrator

  1. Who is narrator in the poem? And who does this person address?

  2. Describe the tone of the poem. What is the attitude of the speaker?

  3. How does the narrator describe herself? What is your impression of the narrator?

  4. The narrator compares her behaviour to material riches like oil wells etc. Why does she choose this comparison, do you think? What does it tell us about the people she is addressing?

Group 2. Theme and message

  1. What theme(s) do you find in the poem?

  2. How does the use of repetition help emphasise the theme(s)?

  3. Consider the poem's title, 'Still I Rise'. How does it relate to the theme(s)?

  4. What is Maya Angelou trying to tell us in this poem? What is her message?

  5. Is this a typical poem only about African Americans or could it also describe other peoples that have been oppressed? Why / why not?

Group 3. Literary devices 1

Look for the following literary devices:

  • similes

  • metaphors

  • imagery

  • allusion

What is achieved by using these literary devices?

You can find out more about literary devices if you follow this link:

Link to literary devices

Group 4. Literary devices 2

Look for the following literary devices:

  • rhetorical questions

  • assonance

  • consonance

  • anaphora

What is achieved by using these literary devices?

You can find out more about literary devices if you follow this link:

Link to literary devices

Group 5. Rhythm and rhyme

Study the use of rhythm and rhyme in the poem.

  1. Describe the rhyme pattern in the poem. Is Angelou’s use of rhyme effective? What impact does it have on the poem overall?

  2. Where in the poem does the rhythm change? Why is this change significant?

Write:

  1. Write a literary analysis of the poem 'Still I Rise', where you focus on the most important literary devices. You should also comment on its message and tone.

  2. How do people rise above the struggles that they encounter? Write a text where you discuss this question. Give examples of people who have gone through a lot but have managed to overcome their difficulties.

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Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou (1928 - 2014) was not only a poet; she also wrote autobiographies, essays, plays and movie scripts.