Reference no: EM132398692

1. In ‘Still I Rise" the tone of assertiveness has been used all throughout the poem. You can tell that the author is critical about the things that has occurred and maybe even annoyed. The author presents her dislike for what she has been through in an eloquent manner, and seeks to rise above the occasion. The mood in the poem further gives off hope and inspiration. She is hard, yet modest and optimistic. As the end of the poem approaches, the tone of the author becomes even more assertive and impassioned. She is confident and wants to make her audience aware of how confident she is.

2. Still I Rise is a poem with generally a confident tone. A strong sense of confidence is shown when she says "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?" In the beginning it starts off calm and closer to the end you can hear how the emotions arise when her tone changes. Maya Angelou discusses slavery and how she can't be kept down, because no matter what, still she will rise. This is a very inspirational poem and I learned about it since I was in high school. My favorite part is "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". These are lines that I always would look back on whenever people try to bring me down.