Similar to stanzas one and three, the first three lines lead up to the fourth line in this stanza. In the first three lines of this stanza, Angelou uses physical actions to describe non-physical nouns in the context of the poem. The physical action in the first line mirrors what non-physical thing the reader may “shoot” at Angelou, “words.” Likewise, the physical action expressed in the second line shows a metaphor to express that the reader may “cut” with, “eyes.” The physical action in the third line expresses what non-physical noun that the audience wants to “kill” with, “hatefulness.” Maya, in the last line, uses the analogy of “air” to show that she will “rise” no matter how many times she gets knocked down.
