Angelou compares her hope to dust, air, the ocean -- anything that moves around, through, over an obstacle and is still essentially itself. Her hope is rooted in the history of the African-Americans who were enslaved, beaten and killed, but whose population and tenacity remains strong in the America that tried to defeat it. The last two stanzas are a change in tone from the challenge and rhetorical questions of the majority of the poem: they state what she will DO, no matter what judgement confronts her, no matter what challenges lie in her path. The repetition of "I rise" intensifies the mood as we approach the end, and you can imagine Angelou herself, her voice booming forth with emphasis on each syllable. It's not hard to see why this is one of the most common orally performed poems from contemporary literature -- a clear simile and an indelible image.
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