Commentaire sur le poème je m'élève encore de Maya Angelou

Introduction

This poem, entitled, “Still I Rise”, was written by a black woman: Maya Angelou in 1978. It is composed of 8 stanzas, and each mostly with 4 verses. How Maya Angelou associate the violence endured by black people to the strength of their hopes? First, we will talk about the exposition of the violence in this poem, later, the richness of the black culture evocated and finally, we will deal with the idea of movement suggested in the poem.

1) The violence endured by black people during the segregation is represented.

The poem evocates the history with the expression “you may write me down in history” (verse 1). Indeed, this expression focuses on the fact that white people considered that black people were inferior to them during the segregation, in the 19th century in United States. Indeed, this period was marked by the separation of black and white people. There were signs to separate the whites from the blacks. The expression “trod me” (verse 3) enhances the same idea.

The history is considered by Maya Angelou as lies at the verse 2 where the text reads: “bitter, twisted lies”. The history is considered like that because white people minimize this historical period which is unbearable for black people.

The expressions “history’s shame” (verse 29) and “from a past that’s rooted in pain” (verse 31) enhance that the segregation wasn’t glorious but shameful and horrible. Maya Angelou underline the fact that white people would feel pain, shame but not indifference or worse, pride.

The slavery is also criticized with terms like “broken” (verse 13), “bowed head” (verse 14) and “lowered eyes” which describe the miserable life conditions of the Afro-Americans who were slaved. These terms show the violence endured by black people during the slavery.

Nevertheless, the violence is particularly on the verses 21 to 23: there are metaphors “you may shoot me with your words / You may cut me with your eyes / You may kill me with your hatefulness”. Here, the word “words” represents the Jim Crow Laws, which decided that blacks and whites can’t live totally together. It says that the blacks and the whites had to be “separate but equal”. Black people weren’t considered as real American citizens. Therefore, these sentences are very hard, violent. Even if they are metaphorical, we can understand easily what she wants to say.

2) The richness of black culture is shown, even if there is this idea of violence.

Even if they weren’t considered as real citizens, black people are part of nature like white people as Maya Angelou says. Indeed, there is the semantic field of the nature with words like “suns” (verse 9), “moons” (verse 9), and “ocean” (verse 33), “tide” (verse 34) or “air” (verse 24).

Moreover, black people have a rich culture which is not accepted by the American white society. White people are stiff contrary to black people who have a kind of sassiness. Black people are more connected with the body than white people. The richness is suggested with the semantic field of light and preciousness. We can also notice similes like “just like moons and like suns” (verse 9).

The expression “awful yard” (verse 18) is a metaphor implies richness inside of a person that isn’t possible

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