Still I Rise

The fifth poem in our collection is "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. We talked about this poem in class on Thursday, October 21. KW requested that we read this poem, and KS, KW, and DW read the poem to our class.

Click here to read Ms. Angelou's biography on poets.org. You can visit the poem on poets.org by clicking on the title (below).

Still I Rise

by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you best with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries,

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

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?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

From And Still I Rise, by Maya Angelou. Copyright 1978 by Maya Angelou. Reprinted by permission of Random House, Inc.

We listened to Ben Harper's interpretation of Ms. Angelou's poem in class. His song, entitled "I'll Rise," is from his first album Welcome to the Cruel World. You can listen to the song by clicking play on the video (below).