Still I Rise

1
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
2

• You may write me down in historyWith your
  bitter, twisted lies,You may trod me in the very
  dirtBut 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
  wellsPumping 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
  minesDiggin' in my own back yard.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.

• Out of the huts of history's shameI riseUp from
  a past that's rooted in painI riseI'm a black
  ocean, leaping and wide,Welling and swelling I
  bear in the tide.Leaving behind nights of terror
  and fearI riseInto a daybreak that's wondrously
  clearI riseBringing the gifts that my ancestors
  gave,I am the dream and the hope of the slave.I
  riseI riseI rise.

3
Literary Devices

• Similies-A figure of speech involving the
  comparison of one thing with another thing of a
  different kind, (e.g., as brave as a lion).
• Uses "like" or "as".

4
Metaphors

• "Time is a dressmaker specializing in
  alterations."(Faith Baldwin, Face Toward the
  Spring, 1956)It is a figure of speech in which
  an implied comparison is made between two unlike
  things that actually have something in common

5
Personification

• It is a figure of speech that authors use to make
  inanimate objects have human qualities

6
Allusions

• An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a
  reference to, or representation of, people,
  places, events, literary work, myths, or works of
  art, either directly or by implication
• Example It has rained so long, it seems as
  though it has rained for 40 days and nights.
  (This is reference to Noah's Arc which is a
  well-known event.)
• Harriet Tubman was called the Moses of her time