Maya Angelou uses a tone of self-confident assertiveness in her poem “Still I Rise.” Her air of angry confidence is peppered with sarcastic humor.
She addresses the poem to her audience of oppressors by beginning with the word, “You.”
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies
There is anger in Angelou's tone, but she overrides the anger with her air of self-confidence by asking questions such as:
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
Angelou wants to know if her attitude causes the reader discomfort about the cruelty her race has endured, especially black women. There is sense of false concern for her oppressors. She inserts sarcastic humor into the poem to offset her anger. Again, she uses questions as a literary element to express her self-assuredness through sarcasm.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Angelou's repeated use of the words “I’ll rise,” and “I rise,” shows her tone of confidence. Not only will Angelou endure, she will prosper; her spirit will not be broken.
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