Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise," addresses attempts to oppress and suppress African Americans. Therefore, the words, "I rise" is repeated throughout the poem in different contexts to show that she will succeed despite all efforts to erase her history, silence her voice, and bring her down with hate. Though she uses the personal pronoun, “I,” it is likely that the speaker intends to represent all African Americans.
Throughout the poem, the speaker addresses all of the ways in which society tries to oppress African Americans. With the first stanza, she mentions the lies that have been told about her people:
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.
Angelou, or the speaker, will not let a misrepresentation of history keep her from acknowledging the past of her people. She uses “I’ll rise” to show that she will make her voice heard and speak the truth and her mind. She won’t allow anyone to keep her from expressing her “sassiness” (5) “haughtiness” (17), or her “sexiness” (25) just because it makes them uncomfortable. Therefore, she is determined to “rise” above it and be who she is.
She continues with examples of ways that she refuses to let anyone bring her down. In the last two stanzas, her repetition of “I rise” becomes more frequent to show the intensity of her determination to not let anyone determine the outcome of her life. The final three lines consist only of the words “I rise” to place further emphasis on this determination.
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