-Who is speaking?- Maya Angelou
-Why was/is the speech important to society?- "Still I Rise" was used for a campaign for the United Negro College Fund. It is "a poem about the survival of black women despite every kind of humiliation, deploys most of these forces, as it celebrates black women while simultaneously challenging the stereotypes to which America has subjected them since the days of slavery." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/And_Still_I_Rise) Now a days, I see this poem as an inspirational poem for anyone who has been knocked down, and need to be reminded to rise up to the challenges of the day, because so many people before you have come back from much worse.
-Why do you feel it is important or interesting?- I think it is always important to revisit the past, and to be grateful for how far we have come, but also to remind ourselves of what had to happen to get here. History is such an important learning tool for the future, and even though a lot of it repeats itself, some of the events, such as slavery, should never be revisited. It is interesting because of the way it was written and the sassiness surrounding it, and most importantly, the voice of Maya Angelou, who lived in the aftermath of slavery, and the truth she can put behind her own words.
-What is the emotion, mood, tone, personality, feeling of the speech?- This poem has so many emotions rolled up into it. It is sassy and confident, full of pride and bitterness. It is a woman addressing the people that have tried to put her down, and telling them that it will not work, that she is stronger than they think.
-What is intonation, emphasis, what is loud, stressed, or soft. Where are there pauses?- Maya Angelou does a wonderful job of speaking, and when listening to her, you know that every word she says has been thought out, the emphasis are there for a reason, and even the pauses have special meanings. In the first stanza, she uses emphasis on words like history, which is at the end of the first line, bitter twisted lies, which is at the end of the second line, and I Rise, which is the end of the first stanza. Angelou paused before she said I Rise, which put an extra emphasis on it. This pattern continues on through out the poem. She always puts the most emphasis on the phrase "I Rise" or "Still I Rise", because of the dramatic pause, and the loudness in her voice.
-What do you feel should be loud or soft, long pause or rushed?- I think some of the describing words she use should be the loudest, and slowest to pronounce. Where as some of the phrases she use, like "bitter twisted lies", and "waken by my soulful cries", should be said a bit more rapidly, because they already just roll of the tongue when you say them.
-Is there a call to action? When listening to it what are key/emphasized words?- There really is not a call to action, at least in the set of stanzas I am focusing on. It is more about a person telling another person about what they are already doing. Some key emphasized words are in order of when she speaks them- write, history, bitter, lies, trod, very dirt, but, dust, I Rise. Does, sassiness, upset, why, beset, gloom, walk, oil wells, pumping, suns, moons, certainty, tides, hope, still I rise. Want, broken, bowed, lowered, down, tear, weakened, soulful cries. sassiness upset, just 'cause I laugh, gold mines digging, shoot, words, cut, lies, kill, hatefulness, life, I Rise.
-How does it make you feel?- I think this is a very powerful poem, and personally it gives me motivation to push through whatever I am struggling with, and to eventually rise above it.
-How do you imagine that the audience felt?- I feel like it depends on when they heard it, what kind of problems they were facing at the time. The imagery in this is very powerful, and if people listened or read this around the time she wrote it, they were probably seeing very real images about the white people that had treated them like dirt.
-Could there be another interpretation of the speech?- I am sure you could skew her words and make a different interpretation, or maybe even focus on the negative symbolism of this poem and think it has a sad tone, but in my opinion, I think it has a pretty concrete meaning.
-Write/find a short bio of the person giving the speech- Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Dr. Angelou has served on two presidential committees, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, the Lincoln Medal in 2008, and has received 3 Grammy Awards. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Dr. Angelou's reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world. Dr. Angelou has received over 30 honorary degrees and is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University
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