Use the annotation chart on the back to look for ...



First, underline the words Dr. Angelou uses to portray of hopelessness, then circle the words she uses to support the idea of rising above adversity. Use the annotation chart on the back to look for personification, metaphor, simile, and allusion. Discuss how these devices help the reader understand and enjoy the theme and the speaker's tone. As you search for search for similes, metaphors, personification, and allusions, place them in the annotation boxes.

|Still I Rise by: Maya Angelou |

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|  |  |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. |

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| | |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. |

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| | |Just like moons and like suns, |

| | |With the certainty of tides, |

| | |Just like hopes springing high, |

| | |Still I'll rise. |

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| | |Did you want to see me broken? |

| | |Bowed head and lowered eyes? |

| | |Shoulders falling down like teardrops, |

| | |Weakened by my soulful cries? |

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| | |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. |

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| | |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. |

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| | |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? |

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| | |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. |

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| | |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. |

Annotation Chart

|similes |metaphors |personification |allusions |

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Study Questions for Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise:"

1. What is the overall tone of the poem?  Give examples from the text of the poem.  What do you think Angelou is trying to accomplish with her poem?

2. Who is “you” in the poem; that is, “who” is the poet addressing?  Why is she addressing this “you”?

3. To what does Angelou compare her hope?  Draw some conclusions from this comparison.

4. What are he “huts of history?”  Why must the poet “rise” out of these “huts?”

5. The poet mentions that she’s got (at least) three things that she considers very valuable—things, not character or personality traits.  What are they; what are their significance and meaning?

6. Why is the poet like “air”?

7. Do you find her sexuality surprising, offensive, threatening, and/or appealing—how do you interpret her sexuality that she exhibits in the poem?

8. Notice the parallelism between the lines of stanza six (“you”, “you”, “you”) and stanza nine (“I”, “I”, “I”)—what is the significance of the parallelism and juxtaposition of “you” and “I” in this poem?

9. What is the meaning of her first line: “You may write me down in history/with your bitter, twisted lies”?

10. This is a poem of many powerful metaphors— you listed some in your chart-- explain some of them within the context of the poem.

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