The poem "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is a story about a woman who has to face prejudice and racism against her black status and culture. She is clearly a resilient person and fights back against the pain the judging people bring. She rises above them illustrates her resilient character and pride of her culture and heritage. She is definitely not ashamed of her culture and is a stronger and better person then the people who judge her. This is evident through the repeated phrase, "Still I Rise".

Throughout this poem, the message is to fight back and be a resilient person, in particular against racism. The persona does not allow people to judge her for her gender or heritage and shows that she is the higher person by rising from the prejudice. The poet may have written this poem to give advice to people facing racism and show her pride in her African-American culture. This is evident again, through her repetition of "Still I Rise" which is also used for the title. "Cause I walk like I've got oil wells, pumping in my living room" also conveys the message of pride as by walking around acting as though you own money making oil wells explains that the persona is confident with themselves, or in this case, their image and race. This simile vividly conveys the purpose and represents how the persona feels with their image.

The predominant mood felt throughout the poem is resilience and pride of culture. In the sixth stanza, the persona says the people may hurt her, "But still like air, I'll rise." The emotions felt and mentioned support the purpose.

This free verse, nine stanza poem uses no enjambment however uses rhyme throughout [a,b,c,b] to enhance and reinforce the meaning and purpose to the poem by creating a good reading rhythm and highlighting those particular lines to support the purpose of the poem.

The language used is very precise and appropriate to the poem and theme - eg. "I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide...". This quote is symbolic for black people and effectively describes and conveys the message of racism. In addition, the poet is African-American which gives some indication that the poem is about black people and racism towards them. She also mentions words like "history", "ancestors", "huts" which contribute to the meaning of the poem.

There is a very good use of simile and metaphor throughout this poem to describe her resilience against racism and her pride of her culture. The quote - "Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines, digging in my own backyard" conveys the message of pride and confidence. The person clearly shows that she is the better of the two through her strength. It relates back to the poet's purpose and theme.

The pace is kept regular throughout until towards the end stanza, the "I Rise" x 3 is said more slowly to let the effect and meaning sink in and enhance the poem's effect. The pace is slowed due to the short sentences which are repeated. Repetition is another effective technique used throughout as it increases and emphasises the meaning on the words (eg. rise). Rhyme also exists in the structure a,b,c,b which keeps a steady rhythm and reinforces the purpose.

In summary, this poem by Maya Angelou successfully conveys its message of anti-racism by using various techniques of repetition, similes and comparison, rhyme and effective word choice.