by Maya Angelou
1You 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.
2Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
3Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
4Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
5Does 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.
6You 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.
7Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
8Out 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.
9Leaving 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.
The message within the poem. The questions below are aimed at helping you get the MEANING of this poem.
repetition '' i rise ''
rhyme '' lies and rise gloom and room eyes and crys heart and back yard suprise _gave-slave,,,,,,
symbolism : diamnonds " stand for her p==== '' wealth ,
imagery '' gold minds ''
hyperbole '' words killing her ,
''metaphore : she is a black ocean ' she is the dream hope
question ; does my sexiness upset youu.
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