Maya Angelou Identity

Have you ever been bullied or oppressed in any shape, form, or fashion? While the oppressor tried to keep you down, did you keep your head up and smile? That is what Maya Angelou writes about in her poem, “Still I Rise.” A motif that is evident in this poem, and many of her other poems, is identity. Maya Angelou conveys the motif of identity through her use of tone, repetition, and imagery. Tone plays a big role in the development of identity in the poem. In the beginning of the poem, the tone is critical and accusatory. Angelou starts the poem with: “You may write me down in history/ With your bitter twisted lies…” (lines 1-2). When she says, “You may write me down in history” (line 1), this allows the reader to know that the speaker is referring to some historical event letting the reader know that the speakers ancestors have faced some sort of oppression in the past. The use of “you” in the poem helps add to that accusatory tone and makes the poem more personal to the reader. Most of the poem uses that same accusatory tone, but an argument could be …show more content…
In the second stanza, the speaker says, “’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells/ Pumping in my living room.” (lines 7-8). She uses this imagery to help the reader picture her walking around proud like she does not have a care in the world. Then in the fifth stanza, imagery is used again stating, “’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines/ Diggin’ in my own backyard.” (lines 19-20). The speaker uses this to help you imagine her laughing like she was rich and did not have to worry about anything and everything in her life was perfect. However, the best imagery comes in the seventh stanza when she asks, “Does it come as a surprise/ That I dance like I’ve got diamonds/ At the meeting of my thighs?” (26-28). The use of the diamonds imagery associates her sexuality as something valuable which would anger her