Stereotypes?

Still I Rise by: Maya Angelou  This is a youtube link to Maya reading her poem. I think her reading it is far more compelling the you reading it from print yourself. Maya has several poems on youtube for you to experience, I highly recommend you spend time listening to her. I listened to many of them and I feel certain I will be back to listen to them again. She is a very talented speaker, with some very powerful, thought provoking, not so politically correct, and creative things to share. She has and will continue to be a great source of inspiration to many people, both young and old. Her ideas while rooted in her culture, calling for social change can be applied to many different kinds of injustices. They seem to have a purpose driving the meaning in one direction, but have a certain timeless meaning that can relate to many other issues. I am reminded of an earlier poem we read in class in which the speaker said that all poems were to be about birds and flowers, beautiful things, and then took you in an airport toilet, no beauty in that, and yet by the end of the poem you could see the many beautiful things in meanings and ideas. Maya is a master craftsman the way she not only puts the words sequentially on the page but how she animates them in her voice, and in our minds. The art of being a poet, great story teller, is the ability to translate words into emotion and stirring thoughts. Sometimes these thoughts are sadness, joy, hope, fear, freedom, shame, anger, happiness, or quickly recalling experiences of the past that relate directly to the passage. Maya wants us to revel in her rising, "I Rise." To experience her pride, "I Rise." To understand despite all that was, she made it to the goal, carrying the hopes of all that strive to or dare to dream about that same goal, "I Rise." It serves to teach us about the enduring human spirit, "We Rise." The parts about this poem that I like the best were lines 9-11, these lines speak to things that are as sure as day and night. They are about forces that no human can control. Just like the spirit inside each of us that no one else can control. Maya points this out in lines 33-34 where she references the tides again, "welling and swelling." Just like the tides and just like the human spirit, she says, "I Rise." This is a powerful statement that speaks volumes about the tenacity of a determined spirit, "I Rise." Chase your dreams to the end and never give up, it will be worth it. When the day breaks, " I Rise."