Still I Rise

Still I Rise

What is the poem about?
The poem “Still I Rise” is about how natives, blacks and people from different cultures have been quiet and letting whatever the whites want to do to them slide for too long and it is time for a change.

Maya Angelou wrote the poem to make a statement about what is going on and what has gone on for a long time, an example being, ‘you may trod me in the dirt but still I rise like dust I rise.’ This explains that she and her race/ family has been pushed down but now she is rising.

In the final stanza Angelou repeats “I rise” five time. The effect of this reaction is to outline this is the point she is trying to make.