Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist and civil rights activist. She became a writer after a series of odd jobs she took in her young adulthood. The journey wasn’t through a smooth sailing route, it was a time when Black Americans faced segregation and The Civil Rights Movement was beginning to usher. Maya worked alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, and her poetry reflects the ideals which she championed for.
Her criticism of Vietnam War, the depictions of Black Beauty, the strength of women and, of the human spirit are some of the themes of her works. Apart from poetry, her autobiographies are widely praised. Her first autobiography titled I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which tells of her life from childhood till early adulthood brought her international acclaim and recognition.
Still I Rise is a poem of self-confidence, of believing in yourself, and standing up even when situations or people pull you down. I hope you find your voice in this poem, I hope you still rise…
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 backyard.
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.
