“Still I Rise” Introduction

• Read the full text of “Still I Rise”

“Still I Rise” Summary

“Still I Rise” Themes

• 

  Defiance in the Face of Oppression

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-4
  • Lines 5-6
  • Lines 7-8
  • Line 9
  • Lines 10-12
  • Lines 13-16
  • Lines 17-20
  • Lines 21-24
  • Lines 25-28
  • Lines 29-32
  • Line 40
• 

  The Power and Beauty of Blackness

  Where this theme appears in the poem:

  • Line 4
  • Line 5
  • Line 7
  • Line 8
  • Line 17
  • Lines 19-20
  • Lines 22-23
  • Line 25
  • Lines 27-28
  • Line 29
  • Line 31
  • Lines 33-34
  • Line 35
  • Lines 39-40

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Still I Rise”

• Lines 1-4

  You may write ...
  ... dust, I'll rise.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Does my sassiness ...
  ... my living room.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Just like moons ...
  ... Still I'll rise.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-16

  Did you want ...
  ... my soulful cries?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 17-20

  Does my haughtiness ...
  ... my own backyard.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-24

  You may shoot ...
  ... air, I’ll rise.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 25-28

  Does my sexiness ...
  ... of my thighs?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 29-34

  Out of the ...
  ... in the tide.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 35-40

  Leaving behind nights ...
  ... of the slave.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 41-43

  I rise ...
  ... I rise.

  

  

  

  

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“Still I Rise” Symbols

• 

  Valuable objects

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Lines 7-8: “I walk like I've got oil wells / Pumping in my living room”
  • Lines 19-20: “I laugh like I've got gold mines / Diggin’ in my own backyard”
  • Lines 27-28: “I dance like I've got diamonds / At the meeting of my thighs”
• 

  The Ocean

  Where this symbol appears in the poem:

  • Line 10: “the certainty of tides”
  • Lines 33-34: “I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.”

“Still I Rise” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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  Where metaphor appears in the poem:

  • Line 21: “You may shoot me with your words”
  • Line 22: “You may cut me with your eyes,”
  • Line 23: “You may kill me with your hatefulness”
  • Line 29: “the huts of history’s shame”
  • Line 33: “I'm a black ocean”
  • Line 40: “I am the dream and the hope of the slave”

• Simile

  

  

  

  

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  Where simile appears in the poem:

  • Line 4: “like dust, I'll rise”
  • Lines 7-8: “I walk like I've got oil wells / Pumping in my living room”
  • Line 9: “Just like moons and like suns”
  • Lines 11-12: “Just like hopes springing high, / Still I'll rise”
  • Lines 19-20: “I laugh like I've got gold mines / Diggin’ in my own backyard”
  • Line 24: “like air, I’ll rise”
  • Lines 27-28: “I dance like I've got diamonds / At the meeting of my thighs”

• Rhetorical Question

  

  

  

  

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  Where rhetorical question appears in the poem:

  • Lines 5-6: “Does my sassiness upset you? / Why are you beset with gloom?”
  • Lines 13-16: “Did you want to see me broken? / Bowed head and lowered eyes? / Shoulders falling down like teardrops, / Weakened by my soulful cries?”
  • Line 17: “Does my haughtiness offend you?”
  • Lines 25-28: “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?”

• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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  Where repetition appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “You may”
  • Line 3: “You may”
  • Line 4: “But still, like dust, I'll rise.”
  • Line 5: “Does my”
  • Line 7: “’Cause I”
  • Line 9: “Just like”
  • Line 11: “Just like”
  • Line 12: “Still I'll rise”
  • Line 17: “Does my”
  • Line 19: “’Cause I”
  • Line 21: “You may”
  • Line 22: “You may”
  • Line 23: “You may”
  • Line 24: “But still, like air, I’ll rise.”
  • Line 25: “Does my”
  • Line 30: “I rise”
  • Line 32: “I rise”
  • Line 36: “I rise”
  • Line 38: “I rise”
  • Lines 41-43: “I rise / I rise / I rise.”

• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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  Where caesura appears in the poem:

  • Line 2: “bitter, twisted”
  • Line 4: “still, like dust, I'll”
  • Line 24: “still, like air, I’ll”
  • Line 33: “ocean, leaping”

• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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  Where enjambment appears in the poem:

  • Lines 1-2: “history / With”
  • Lines 7-8: “wells / Pumping”
  • Lines 18-19: “hard / ’Cause”
  • Lines 19-20: “mines / Diggin’”
  • Lines 26-27: “surprise / That”
  • Lines 27-28: “diamonds / At”
  • Lines 29-30: “shame / I”
  • Lines 30-31: “rise / Up”
  • Lines 31-32: “pain / I”
  • Lines 35-36: “fear / I”
  • Lines 36-37: “rise / Into”
  • Lines 37-38: “clear / I”
  • Lines 38-39: “rise / Bringing”

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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  Where alliteration appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “may,” “me”
  • Line 3: “may,” “me,” “dirt”
  • Line 4: “dust”
  • Line 5: “sassiness upset”
  • Line 6: “beset,” “gloom”
  • Line 7: “walk,” “got,” “wells”
  • Line 9: “suns”
  • Line 10: “certainty”
  • Line 11: “hopes,” “springing,” “high”
  • Line 12: “Still”
  • Line 13: “broken”
  • Line 14: “Bowed”
  • Line 17: “Does”
  • Line 18: “Don't”
  • Line 19: “laugh like,” “got gold”
  • Line 20: “Diggin”
  • Line 21: “You,” “may,” “me,” “with,” “your,” “words”
  • Line 22: “You,” “may,” “cut,” “me,” “your”
  • Line 23: “You,” “may,” “kill,” “me,” “your”
  • Line 25: “Does,” “sexiness”
  • Line 26: “Does,” “surprise”
  • Line 27: “dance,” “diamonds”
  • Line 29: “huts,” “history’s”
  • Line 31: “past,” “pain”
  • Line 33: “wide”
  • Line 34: “Welling”
  • Line 39: “gifts,” “gave”

• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where consonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1
  • Line 2
  • Line 3
  • Line 4
  • Line 5
  • Line 6
  • Line 7
  • Line 8
  • Line 9
  • Line 10
  • Line 11
  • Line 12
  • Line 13
  • Line 14
  • Line 15
  • Line 17
  • Line 18
  • Line 19
  • Line 20
  • Line 21
  • Line 22
  • Line 23
  • Line 24
  • Line 25
  • Line 26
  • Line 27
  • Line 28
  • Line 29
  • Line 31
  • Line 32
  • Lines 33-34
  • Line 34
  • Line 35
  • Line 36
  • Line 37
  • Line 38
  • Line 39
  • Line 40
  • Line 41
  • Line 42
  • Line 43

• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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  Where assonance appears in the poem:

  • Line 1: “me,” “history”
  • Line 2: “With,” “bitter,” “twisted,” “lies”
  • Lines 4-4: “But still, / dust, I'll ”
  • Line 4: “like,” “rise”
  • Line 5: “upset,” “you”
  • Line 6: “Why,” “you,” “beset,” “gloom”
  • Line 7: “I,” “walk,” “like,” “I've,” “got”
  • Line 8: “Pumping,” “in,” “my,” “living,” “room”
  • Line 9: “like,” “like”
  • Line 10: “tides”
  • Line 11: “like,” “high”
  • Lines 11-12: “springing / , / Still I'll ”
  • Line 12: “rise”
  • Line 13: “see,” “me”
  • Line 14: “Bowed,” “lowered ,” “eyes”
  • Line 15: “Shoulders,” “down”
  • Lines 15-16: “teardrops, / Weakened by my ”
  • Line 16: “soulful,” “cries”
  • Line 18: “hard”
  • Line 19: “I,” “like,” “I've,” “mines”
  • Line 20: “my,” “backyard”
  • Line 21: “You,” “shoot”
  • Line 22: “You,” “eyes”
  • Line 23: “You”
  • Line 24: “like,” “I’ll ,” “rise”
  • Line 25: “sexiness upset”
  • Line 26: “surprise”
  • Line 27: “I,” “like ,” “I've,” “diamonds”
  • Line 28: “thighs”
  • Line 29: “huts,” “shame”
  • Line 30: “I rise”
  • Line 31: “Up,” “past that’s,” “pain”
  • Line 32: “I rise”
  • Line 33: “I'm,” “wide”
  • Line 34: “Welling,” “swelling,” “I ,” “tide”
  • Line 35: “behind,” “nights,” “fear”
  • Line 36: “I rise”
  • Line 37: “wondrously,” “clear”
  • Line 38: “I rise”
  • Line 39: “Bringing,” “gifts,” “my,” “gave”
  • Line 40: “I,” “slave”
  • Lines 41-43: “I rise / I rise / I rise”

“Still I Rise” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Trod
• Beset
• Gloom
• Oil wells
• Springing
• Soulful
• Huts
• Rooted
• Welling
• Bear

• (Location in poem: Line 3: “trod”)

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Still I Rise”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Still I Rise” Speaker

“Still I Rise” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Still I Rise”

More “Still I Rise” Resources

• External Resources

  • "Still I Rise" and Today's America — Read about the relevance and meaning of "Still I Rise" to America today. 

  • The Political Power of "Still I Rise" — Learn how the poem has remained relevant for contemporary political figures and celebrities. 

  • "Still I Rise" Art Exhibit — Learn how other artists have been inspired by and responded to Angelou's poem.

  • Maya Angelou Recites "Still I Rise" — Listen to the poet read "Still I Rise" aloud.

  • "Still I Rise" Music Video — Watch a video that creatively integrates Angelou's recitation of the poem with relevant images.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Maya Angelou

  • Caged Bird

  • Country Lover

  • Harlem Hopscotch

  • Life Doesn't Frighten Me

  • On Aging

  • On the Pulse of Morning

  • Phenomenal Woman

  • Refusal

  • Remembrance

  • When Great Trees Fall

  • Woman Work