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Emily Rack
March 16, 2014

Racism and Rhyme
Racism is a popular milieu of African American poetry, especially in the time generation
of Maya Angelou. Because she grew up in the time of inequality and segregation, she was able
to view the controversies from the eyes of a growing young woman (Angelou). By the time she
started writing published poetry such as Still I Rise and Harlem Hopscotch, she was able to
put her observations into reality and communicate the way that things were, thusly becoming
an exceptionally embraced writer. Through use of rhythm, diction, and figurative language,
Maya Angelou is able to portray the hardships followed by the reconstruction of African
American communities due to her milieu of racism.
////////In her poem, Harlem Hopscotch, Angelou puts the reader in the midst of a group of
African American children in Harlem, their game of hopscotch a metaphor to the struggles of
survival. The vocabulary in the poem tells the story while the imagery comes with *the+
rhythm that echoes the game of hopscotch and the sound of the feet (Thursby). Another
poem of Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise uses a strong rhythm to a different purpose. The rhythm
gives off a jazzy, march-like tempo, which fits well with the theme of the poem. And Still I Rise
is a poem about Mayas strength and determination, which carry out her African American and
feminine pride. African American pride is a theme that encompasses the struggles, the
courage, the culture, and the contributions of African Americans in the face of many difficulties.
It is a celebration of recognition of the victories of overcoming prejudice, winning the fight for
equal rights, and glorifying the intrinsic qualities and strengths that make the race invaluable as
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a complement to all peoples(Still I Rise). Also in Still I Rise, Angelou describes a weakening
force as her soulful cries African American culture is marked as soulful and outspoken.
////////The milieu behind Angelous poems comes from struggling to grow up in the midst of
racial inequality. She pulls this into her poetry and makes the reader thoroughly aware of her
determination, pride, and strength as well as the hardships of which she is truly knowledgeable.
In order to include African American pride in her poetry, Maya Angelou manipulates her diction
by using cultural vernacular. In And Still I Rise, for example, she writes, Don't you take it awful
hard, (line 28), and (Still I Rise) using the common and well-known Southern African
American vernacular. Also, the vernacular makes an appearance in Harlem Hopscotch when
Angelou chooses to use, everybody for hisself(line 4), and (Harlem Hopscotch). This term
has become a distinctly African American/Southern vernacular especially because the narrator
in this poem is the group of children singing their hopscotch chant.
////////Much of Angelous figurative language appears in her poem, And Still I Rise, as she uses
it to imply sassiness as well as many references to her ancestors and historical events, racial
controversies, as well as references to the color of the race itself. For example, Cause I dance
like Ive got oil wells Pumping in my living room,(line 7-8), makes a reference to both her
sassiness of a rich woman as well as the color of her skin. Also, Angelou writes, Im a black
ocean, leaping and wide,(line 33) again referencing her skin color as well as the determination
and feminine strength that she hold within her. Angelou uses metaphors to describe the way
she will rise from the oppression such as like dust, Ill rise and like air, Ill rise(line 4, 15).
Harlem Hopscotch calls for a more straightforward interpretation of its descriptions. The way
that she references hardships are very literal, but they call on memories of history class and
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movies about civil rights, putting images and events to her general words.
////////Maya Angelou was affected from a young age by the racial oppression and injustices,
which sparked her devotion toward the civil rights movement as a young woman and adult.
She puts all of her soul, culture, femininity, and strength into making her take on African
American pride known in her poetry and other pieces. The way that she uses African American
cultural signatures such as slang and vernacular make her poems real and special, taking the
reader into the moment and making the reader feel her emotions on a stronger level. Even the
way that she rhymes and sets up her rhythm provokes the feeling of being one of the African
American children in Harlem Hopscotch: Angelous use of African-American pronunciation
draws the reader into a specific world view that is both ironic and complete within
itself(Harlem Hopscotch). The techniques and devices that Angelou uses portray her milieu
to both those who have dealt with the same hardships as well as those who are learning of
them from her writings.






Works Cited
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Angelou, Dr. Maya. Maya Angelou- The Official Website. Hart + Vine, 2014.Web. 27 Feb
2014.
Angelou, Maya. Harlem Hopscotch. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New
York: Random House, 1994. Print.
Angelou, Maya Still I Rise. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York:
Random House, 1994. Print.
"Harlem Hopscotch." Poetry for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 2.
Detroit: Gale, 1998. 92-101. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
"Still I Rise." Poetry for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. Vol. 38. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 218-236.
Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 21 Feb. 2014.
Thursby, Jacqueline S. ""Harlem Hopscotch"." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 21
Feb. 2014.
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Harlem Hopscotch
Maya Angelou

One foot down, then hop! Its hot.
Good things for the ones thats got.
Another jump, now to the left.
Everybody for hisself.

In the air, now both feet down.
Since you black, dont stick around.
Food is gone, the rent is due,
Curse and cry and then jump two.

All the people out of work,
Hold for three, then twist and jerk.
Cross the line, they count you out.
Thats what hoppings all about.

Both feet flat, the game is done.
They think I lost. I think I won.




























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Still I Rise -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 beset 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 backyard.

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 that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise I rise I rise
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