Thursday, April 12, 2012

What does the third stanza of "Still I Rise" mean?

The third stanza of Angelou's "Still I Rise" is based upon a series of similes.  Throughout the poem, the narrator, an African-American female, is making the point that nothing that white people have done to African-Americans throughout hundreds of years will stop them from overcoming their obstacles and succeeding.  This stanza shows this with a comparison of the sun, the moon, the tides, and hope. The sun rises each day, as does the moon. The tide rises.  Hope, we all know, rises, too, no matter how bad things get. It is human to hope, even in the worst of times. So the narrator is telling the reader she is like all of these phenomena, and she will continue to rise, to triumph over the adversity that African-Americans have endured since they were brought forcibly to American shores.    

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