BLM Essay

In the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou she uses rhetorical question, direct address, poetic comparisons, violent verbs and historical references. These techniques are used in Still I Rise to create the particular effect of the reader feeling like the poem is directed to them and to really make them think about it.

Maya Angelou uses rhetorical questions and direct address throughout the text. She uses rhetorical questions to make the reader think and question the text. Maya Angelou also uses direct address to really engage the reader and to make them feel like she is talking directly to them. ‘You may write me down in history’ is an example of this. She starts off the sentence by using a direct address to accuse the reader and make them feel targetted. She talks about her name being written down in history for standing against Jim Crow laws. 

‘You may shoot me with your words, 

you may cut me with your eyes, 

you may kill me with your hatefulness’. 

This part of the poem is started off by a direct address as well. She starts off each line by being very polite and then moves onto a repetition of very harsh and violent words (You may shoot me, cut me and kill me).

Maya Angelou uses poetic comparisons (similes, metaphors and juxtapositions) within the text. Poetic comparisons are used to create the effect of great achievement in the face of near-impossible odds. ‘You may trod me in the very dirt but still like dust I’ll rise’. There is a major difference between trod and rise. Maya Angelou is using juxtaposition to compare this. Trod is to crush, violently stand on and is a very harsh word used to put down to emphasise the fact that she has not been treated well in the past. She is saying that she can move above the bad things that have happened to her and that have put her down. ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in my living room.’ She uses a simile and hyperbole to show and exaggerate her wealth to the people around her. Maya Angelou refers to it being in her living room because it is a private part of her life (her home).

Maya Angelou uses violent verbs and historical references throughout the text. They are used to create the feeling of a harsh and difficult history/presence. ‘Shoulders falling down like teardrops.’ Maya Angelou is comparing her shoulders to teardrops. She has them in the same sentence to emphasize her sorrow and relate the shoulders back to something sad. During Jim Crow laws African Americans weren’t allowed to walk with their shoulds back and upright, they had to walk with their head down and shoulders slumped to show that they were inferior.                

‘You may shoot me,

you may cut me, 

you may kill me.’ 

These are all examples of violent verbs. They are things that the African American race has experienced over the past 4 centuries and is sadly still happening today. George Floyd’s death, BLM riots and protests that have been happening recently all relate to this.

In the poem “Still I Rise”, Maya Angelo uses different techniques to engage the reader and make them really think about the text. The techniques she uses are rhetorical questions, direct address, poetic comparisons (juxtaposition, similies and metaphors), violent verbs and historical references. In my opinion, Maya Angelou uses techniques skillfully throughout the poem, captures the reader’s attention and has really made me think about the things that African Americans have gone through in the past and sadly still today.