Matric no: 2012528543
Phone number: 019-4229716
E-mail: syamir_salvatore@yahoo.com
Prepared for: Dr. Lim Wai Fun
“Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou
Both poems, “Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman” by Maya Angelou discusses on how she managed to handle the after effects of slavery period which the black people in the United States have gone through including her grandparents. Through her poems Maya reflected on her attitudes and beliefs in which she must be confident with herself and never give up in her life no matter what comes in between her and her ambitions. Maya Angelou incorporates different themes, structures, and multiple types of figurative language such as repetition, metaphor, imagery, and simile to bring more impact towards the readers. She also portrays different subject-matters for each poem to make her works more diverse.
Maya Angelou is one of the most important orators of the twentieth century and African-American authors. Most of her …show more content…
In “Still I Rise”, Maya Angelou reveals her self-confidence and ability to survive as a black woman to the oppressor through the metaphors that can be found in lines, “I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide”. The metaphor “black ocean” which means a huge spread of sea, actually represents the massive amount of powerless African-American women including herself that have managed to break free and find a new life far throughout the world. In “Phenomenal Woman”, example of metaphor can be found in line, “It’s the fire in my eyes” (line 22, stanza 2). The word “fire” here signifies Maya’s great passion which enables her to attract a lot of people by focusing on her. Historically, black people had been oppressed and the only way to fight for justice was by dis-playing strong confidence which can give the power to them to voice their opinions and emotions for better