Yet she didn't forget the wide breadth of literature she'd taken in, which included works by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Emily Dickinson and William Shakespeare. But even when she wouldn't speak, Angelou studied and memorized poems, which gave her a unique understanding of language.Ī desire to express her love for poetry by speaking it aloud helped draw Angelou out of her mutism.
Following this trauma, Angelou sought refuge in mutism. At the age of seven, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend, who was killed (presumably by family members seeking retribution) after she reported the crime. Angelou herself commented on its appeal in a 2008 interview: "You know, if you're lonely you feel you've been done down, it's nice to have 'And Still I Rise.'" Poetry helped Angelou with her mutism as a childĪngelou grew up amid the degradations of the Jim Crow South. Years after it was published in 1978, the poem continues to reach readers and audiences, cutting across racial lines and national boundaries. Its message of liberation and survival was a consistent theme in Angelou's work. Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" is a powerful poem that draws on a range of influences, including her personal background and the African American experience in the United States.
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