Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou is part of the fabric of modern America. She has told her story of
being a key part of the civil rights movement through poetry, novels and film.
She is best known for her six autobiographies, most notably ‘I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings’. In 1993, President Bill Clinton asked her to recite one of her
poems at his inauguration.
Angelou was born in Missouri in 1928 into a deeply segregated society. Her
parent’s divorce meant she was sent back and forth between her mother and
grandmother. Her mother’s boyfriend raped her when she was eight. His later
murder left Angelou mute for five years. She studied drama and literature at
school, and three weeks after graduating, gave birth to her son.
Angelou struggled to survive for many years. She experienced poverty, crime,
prostitution and her son being kidnapped. She won a scholarship to study dance.
Her career as a singer and dancer took off. She moved to New York and acted in
Broadway plays. She also met Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and became
active in the civil rights movement.
Angelou became, and is to this day, a prolific writer. She also toured the USA
giving lectures, appeared in TV series and wrote songs. Her screenplay, ‘Georgia,
Georgia’ was the first written by a black woman to be made into a movie.
Angelou has been highly honored for her significant cultural contributions and
has over 30 honorary degrees. She is an American legend.
Questions for the poem :
1. Read the poem on p2. Check the vocabulary.
2. Read the poem again and watch Mrs Angelou reciting it:
[Link]
3. Identify the different similes/ metaphors/personifications.
4. What do you think Angelou might mean in the opening lines when she
says that history tells lies about her?
5. In the closing lines, who is Maya Angelou referring to as her 'ancestors'
and why is this important?
6. What impression of herself does Maya Angelou definitely not want to
convey in the fourth verse?
7. What impression does Maya Angelou leave us with at the end of the
poem?
8. What makes the person in the poem powerful? Why is the poet persecuted by
others? How does she resist those that try and put her down? What inner
qualities does she possess?
9. How can you connect this to how students that are being bullied can find
strength to resist the persecution in school. How can students "walk like they've
got oil wells pumping in their living rooms"?
10. What are your sources of strength? What helps you to rise above those that
would make fun of you? What inner qualities help you rise (creativity, humor,
passion for a hobby)?
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
Maya Angelou