And still I Rise
The third volume poem by Angelou Maya, Still I Rise is about the ability to rise from difficulty and discouragement. Maya incorporates several themes in his poem to achieve its primary goal. The theme of pride, confidence, and self-respect tend to dominate the work of Angelou Maya. The confusion between what should be termed as pride and not confidence still comes out in the poem with readers giving different interpretations of the poem. Some readers are confident that the poem is dominated by the theme of pride, whereas others feel that the dominating theme is that of self-respect and confidence.
The theme of pride comes out clearly in several lines of the poem. The speaker specifies the pride in her identity and healthy self-esteem in expressing the different messages she wants to pass across. For example, she says, “I walk like I’ve got oil wells…pumping in my living room…,” Maya, (Stanza 2). The declaration that her walking style reveals her class is pure pride and goes through the entire poem. The speaker acknowledges that her class does not allow her to walk in shame or discouragement and the definition means that she walks in an upright posture without any fear. In addition to being proud, the speaker is confident and full of self-respect.
The speaker displays a significant bit of confidence and self-respect in the way she argues her points. Confidence is seen in the way the speakers defines her place in society. For example, she does not hold back her praise, and she is confident that her audience will go down well with her praise. The bit of self-respect is seen in the way the speaker does not allow shame to define her. The speaker shows that she is not ready to be weight down by anything. She promises to get up to any occasion and that even her skin cannot stop her from achieving her dreams. The theme of self-respect is affirmed by the way the speaker keeps on loving while making the statements about her confidence. On top of the themes used by the speaker, a combination of several poetic devices including allusion helps the speaker to pass her message effectively.
The use of allusion is employed in the greater part of the poem and plays a significant role in passing the message intended by the speaker. The poem is based on the ability of the speaker to allude the character of a wealthy individual and effectively copying the way of life of a wealthy person. Stanza five of the poem affirms the use of allusion where the speaker says, “Because I laughed like I got gold mines digging in my backyard…,” Maya, (5). The author does not literary refer to material wealth but brightly uses symbolism to ensure that the intended message is well passed to the audience. The different styles used in the poem affirm the speaker’s character of pride, and she does not care about the people who are critical about her character.
In sum, the poem “And still I Rise” is based entirely on the theme of pride, presented well to built confidence and self-respect. The use o poetic devices help in affirming the message intended by the speaker.