Still I Rise By Maya Angelou Essay - 1649 Words

Julie A. McGuire ENGL102 Anne V. Powell June 23, 2015 Still I Rise Maya Angelou’s poem, â€Å"Still I Rise† shows a repetition of strength stanza after stanza. African Americans were faced with the challenges of oppression and slavery. African American women not only as a minority of African American race, but as a female, were faced with all those challenges, along with woman’s rights. It took 55 years after the abolishment of slavery for females to finally have the right to vote, under the 19th amendment. Maya Angelou’s poem expresses these challenges and overcoming them, in contrast. The 1st line of the 1st stanza recognizes history, â€Å"You may write me down in history†. This line itself holds extreme value. Emotion aside, there are years of history of oppression, slavery, suffrage, and women’s rights. History can be told from any person’s point of view. There is both emotion and fact in history, based off whose point of view you learn it from. If received from an African Americans point of view, there is a vision of slavery and suffrage. If an African American woman tells the story there is also a story of woman’s rights. That being said, anyone can tell the history of America. From Maya’s point of view, if someone tells the story with fault and evasive truth, â€Å"with your bitter twisted lies†, she knows the story of her life and of her ancestry. She knows that even with everything she faced, from being raped at 8 years old, which led her to become a mute for moreShow MoreRelatedMaya Angelou And Still I Rise897 Words   |  4 PagesIn â€Å"The Story of an Hour† and the poem â€Å"Still I Rise† Kate Chopin and Maya Angelou have explored the theme of oppression in a variety of different ways. â€Å"The Story of an Hour† is a short story based around how dramatically things can change within the space of an hour and how this can affect your life in the short period of time. Within the hour Mr Mallard is presumed dead in a railroad disaster, resulting in Mrs Mallard short lived ‘freedom’ after years of being oppressed, before soon learning thatRead Mor eStill I Rise By Maya Angelou1078 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"Still I Rise† by Maya Angelou is a poem of objection and satisfaction in which Maya states that she will raise regardless of any situation. In her poem, â€Å"Angelou also incorporates anaphora, similes and metaphors throughout the poem to illustrate the resilience of the speaker regardless of what befalls her† (Bouchard: â€Å"Literary Contexts in Poetry†). Using these methods, the reader is able to visualize the hardships the poet went through. â€Å"Still I Rise† by Maya Angelou offers ambition and inspirationRead MoreStill I Rise By Maya Angelou877 Words   |  4 Pagesfull shaped curves of her body, and the color of her skin . The poem â€Å"Still I Rise† by the well-known poet, Maya Angelou, specifically describes the reasons why she had so much confidence; even if she were to be judged by her appearances and mindset. This poem is about embracing females, but it mainly introduces similar life situations that many African American women have experienced. The symbols and point of view that Angelou specifically added in her poem made her readers realize that there areRead MoreStill I Rise By Maya Angelou2154 Words   |  9 Pagesdifferent religions and races is a theme that is explored throughout many texts like the ‘Still I Rise’ Poetry from Maya Angelou, ‘The Dollhouse’ short story by Katherine Mansfield, The movie ‘Gran Torino’ directed by Clint Eastwood, and the Documentary film ‘Born into Brothels’ by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. First Text: A poem that conveys the theme discrimination is Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou helps the reader see the struggle and feel what the black society had been treated likeRead MoreAnalysis Of Still I Rise By Maya Angelou1080 Words   |  5 Pagestougher and wiser. Still I rise is a poem written by Maya Angelou, an African American poet and a civil-rights activist. This poem was written around the civil rights movement, when people where being segregated by their race. Throughout this poem we are shown the thoughts and feelings people have displayed against her, but she will not let them get her down. Her dark past allows her to have strength and rise above the criticism where her ancestors fell to slavery. In poem Still I rise the main messageRead MoreAnalysis Of Still I Rise By Maya Angelou917 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Still I Rise† is an inspiring poem written by Maya Angelou, she delivers a powerful message from within to provide her African American ancestors an opportunity to rise above segregation and racism. Maya Angelou expresses her pride throughout the poem and describes different hardships in her past. Angelou incorporates her past experiences, powerful views, and over comings while also expressing the tone regarding her pride, feminist values, strong confidence, and close ties with African AmericanRead MoreAnalysis Of Still I Rise By Maya Angelou993 Words   |  4 Pagesdiscussed in class starting with Maya Angelou’s â€Å"Still I Rise.† Angelou starts off her poem stating, â€Å"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.(Lines 1-4)† From these lines, Angelou speaks on the strength that African-American have each day. Blacks have been seen in history as an abomination, and their names have been dragged through the mud just because of their skin color. But Angelou tells people that none of thisRead MoreStill I Rise - Maya Angelou (Reading Log)885 Words   |  4 PagesStill I Rise Maya Angelou The poem ‘Still I Rise’ written by American author Maya Angelou is written from the perspective of Maya herself. She is speaking to her audience of oppressors about how she has overcome racism, criticism, sexism, and personal obstacles in her life with pride and grace. It describes her personal struggle through life and how she managed to pull through and how she will continue on her life journey. This poem is historically rooted with mentions of slavery, a â€Å"past of pain†Read MoreEssay of Poem Still I Rise by Maya Angelou621 Words   |  3 Pagesunderstand life and their situations. The purpose of this writing is to discuss a literary work through a personal experience. The poem that will be discussed in this essay will be â€Å"Still I Rise† by Maya Angelou. This is her famous poem ever known. This author is a very good writer, I am reading her poems for the first time and I liked her poems so much. This poem suggests that we can overcome difficulties in life, despite rejections and injustice. It also discusses racism and all the problems black peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Still I Rise By Maya Angelou1959 Words   |  8 PagesMaya Angelou was a highly respected spokesperson for African Americans as well as for women of the twentieth century. She spoke on the behalf of all enslaved African Americans who suffered during the civil war. Most of her works are considered autobiographical because they contain many of her own experiences. She is a natural narrative writer that uses a lot of imagery and repetition in her poems.She has a great influence in the field of literature as a woman’s activist. She has received numerous

How to Always Smile at Problems Coursework Example

Essays on How to Always Smile at Problems Coursework The paper "How to Always Smile At Problems" is an outstanding example of coursework on philosophy. There are many different philosophies that people believe in to get through life. My biggest philosophy in life is this: â€Å"always smile at problems†. I have three values that guide this philosophy. Value 1: smiling at problems helps you look at a problem from a brighter angle. Like the famous saying a blessing in disguise or seeing the glass half full and not half empty. Life is full of stresses and it is too short to keep on brooding over our daily problems, that is why you need to smile at your problems and move on.Value 2: smiling at problems relieves stress by uplifting our moods. Holding on to our problems can sometimes drag us into depression. But if we could just smile and remind ourselves that there is no gain without pain, then we can be relieved of our problems very easily. This is because we would try to forget we have problems since other solve even bigger problems and they are not crying everywhere.Value 3: smiling at our problems makes us beautiful. Stress and depression can often be seen by other people by our skin, facial expression, and our grooming. A stressed-out person is badly groomed since their problems overshadow every aspect of their lives. It is consol ing to remember that smiling reduces aging. If only we can smile knowing that our problems keep us alive since only dead people have no drama in their lives.Smile at your problems and remember that without problems you would never know your true friends. Moreover, problems give you stories to tell not to mention the experience we gain from those problems. Finally smiling leads to laughter which is the cure for all diseases and uplifts spirits. You sleep soundly when you smile and it makes you fresh and bright in the morning.

Essay on Schools and Student Wellbeing

Question: WritetheEssay on Schools and Student Wellbeing. Answer: Introduction: It can be said, without much fear of being contradicted, that a child is the best gift parents ever get during their life time. Many parents get excited and start planning and thinking about what the child should become after it grows up. In this atmosphere of excitement the process of growing up continues and by the time parents learn what is good for a six month old baby the child has become eight months old. This phenomenon goes on till the child is able to think for itself and knows what it wants(Green et al., 2001). Truancy is defined as the willful abstaining from attending school or any compulsory instruction session. Truancy is not to be mistaken as simply being absent from school, even the child may go missing during a class. Any absence from attending classes without sufficient reasons for more than thirty minutes three times in a year renders the child to be classified as truant. Factors leading to Truancy are many and these are spread across the family conditions, economic issues faced, learning atmosphere in the school and the condition (both physical and psychological condition of the child. While all factors are responsible, the school certainly plays a big role in whether the child becomes a truant. Key Issues: This assignment is an attempt to collect the thoughts and expose the various aspect of a growing child together with suggesting what steps can be triggered at the school to ensure that the child grows up into a healthy adult. This paper will focus on the key activities to be initiated by the school authorities for ensuring that the growth of the child goes on without any hindrances. Discussion: The growing child is sent to school quite early in life. At school it is not in touch with its parents and thus is exposed to a different environment. It may take a liking for the school where there are other toddlers of its age or there may be instances where it may start disliking the school which may be due to a large variety of causes. The child may be habitually lonely and thus avoids the company of same age children or it may be that it is suffering from some ailments which prevent it from participating in play school activities(Downey, 2007). Improving School culture to prevent truancy is a fundamental necessity. The teachers and staff members have to keep the development of the child uppermost in their minds. The teachers have to ensure that a congenial and friendly culture is evolved and implemented which would make attending school a very exciting and welcome experience for the child. This paper, which is based on the writings of eminent authors on the subject, right in the beginning assumes that it is the duty of the school authorities to pinpoint the cause driving the child to abstain from attending school or become a truant. The tendency to stay away from school during a normal school session is the focus of attention. Literature Survey: As per literature available the process of child care has been split into various subjects like health care, psychological support, trauma care and various other aspects. Some authors find that such aberrant behavior on the part of the child is traceable to some traumatic experience which the child must have undergone earlier. In their paper titled How Schools Can Help Students Recover from Traumatic Experiences authors Lisa H. Jaycox, Lindsey K. Morse, Terri Tanielian, Bradley D. Stein trace such behavior to some natural disasters. While on this a child may not need always a storm or flood to experience trauma. A simple flare up between the parents can cause trauma to the child. While the traumatic experience during such natural disasters are much more intense the effect of the parents always and incessantly quarreling and bickering can also make the child which is very intelligent to feel ignored, unwanted and lonely. The duty of the teacher who supervises the child in school is to understand and appreciate the reasons for the adverse effect which has taken place in the child. The staff of the school must take every care to ensure that the confidence level of the child is built up with due support and encouragement(Jaycox et al., 2006). In their article titled Evaluating the health promoting school: a case study approach authors Jo Inchley, Candice Currie and Ian Young have pointed out a very important aspect of such Health Promotion Schemes taken up in schools. The initial and basic intention of such schemes is to integrate three factor i.e. formal health education, informal school ethos and linkage with parents and guardians. With the growing public opinion there have been question raised on how effectively the health promotion schemes were being implemented. This has thrown up three areas of concern viz. does it reach the target group of children and are they effective in improving the health of the child and finally what needs to be done to make it more effective(Candice Young, 2000). Critical Analysis: There may also be another set of school avoiding children who are having health issues. Such children are very easy to identify since they would be desperately avoiding doing things which they know are not meant for them. Such activities include getting involved or participating in outdoor activities or avoiding any physical work or even taking part in indoor group activities. While there is no denial of the basic fact that they get reprimanded at home if they indulge in any physical activities the school authorities are now implementing health promotion schemes for improving the health of the toddlers. This is a very vital aspect since if the child grows up with a self concept of being sick and unable to participate in normal life then going will be very difficult during the middle and high school levels. The child has to be impressed that while the health promotion campaigns are in place to take care of all its health issues, it also has to step forward and cooperate with the schoo l authorities for making him fit for normal life. Now the biggest issue in the implementing of the health promotion schemes at the toddlers level is that each child is different. The health promotion should not become a process of adoption of One size fits all and then go about treating all the children in a similar manner. The health support process for each child must be dovetailed to suit the child individually(Maton, 2000). This is the background against which the teachers are pitted and they have to reorient their very basic concept of their jobs. They are not just imparting information and knowledge to the children. They have a much bigger and more vital role to play within the school. The teachers along with other members of the non teaching staff have a very difficult situation to handle. They have to understand and appreciate the each child is an individual and therefore individualized attention needs to be given to each and every child. The toddler may wail out for no apparent reason or may behave differently and such situations have to be handled with utmost care. The teacher must always be alert to read the signals sent out by the child. The child may create lot of noise just to draw attention of the teacher. If the teacher reacts very harshly which is quite common the child feels deprived of the love and affection that it seeks from the adults around it. The child gets into a care-giving rela tionship with the adults at home. So long they continue to receive love and affection from the adults around them they are assured of the support and come to consider themselves to be objects of love. They think of themselves as basically lovable and would thus interact with their surrounding with love, concern and care. The parents and elders at home do just this. The mother is ever present to attend to the child whenever it feels threatened. It is therefore the prime responsibility of the teachers to play the role of parents within the school environment. Whenever the child does anything good it has to be made known to it that his efforts have been very well appreciated. Again, if the child is out to do something wrong then it has to be patiently explained the problems that its actions have created for other people? When it hits anyone the child has to be explained that hitting anybody would hurt the person and he must not indulge in such activities(Dubois, 2001). Some children are chronically sick and the teacher has to be very attentive to the needs of such children. Every detail about a child has to be documented in detail so that the progress it makes can be quantified at a later date. Thus the real implication is that the teachers and staff of schools must work with a new vision and orientation for generating confidence and comfort in the child. Health Promotion in School and AASW practices are supposed to proceed in tandem which means that one should complement the other. The school based social worker is supposed to help and guide the faithful implementation of the Health Programs and the Health Program people will enrich their knowledge base of the health related issued leading to truancy. Thus they are not replacements of one another but these two are helping to improve one another. While the health programs focus on the health aspects the AASW encompass a much wider perspective. Conclusion: It is easy to suggest that teachers must do this and do that. The first thing is to consider the teacher to student ratio prevalent in the societies. While in the economically advanced countries it may be possible to place five to six students under the care of one teacher but in the emerging and developing economies the ratio could be as high as thirty or forty students to a teacher. Here onward it becomes an economical issue. Whether there are sufficient money to employ larger number of teachers and more number of qualified non teaching staff is a very difficult question to handle. However, the fact remains that the progress made by any child has to be documented more closely so that the future teachers are aware of their identities and can handle them with the care and concern due to it. References: Candice, I. Young, I., 2000. Evaluating the health promoting school: a case study approach. Health Education, 100(5), pp.200-06. [Accessed October 2016]. Downey, L., 2007. Understanding the experience of the abused and neglected child assists us to develop compassion, patience and empathy. It is a key intervention in itself. Melbourne: Child Safety Commissioner. Dubois, N., 2001. Introduction to Health Promotion Program Planning. Toronto: THCU. Green, R. et al., 2001. A survey of the health of Victorian primary school principals. The International Journal of Educational Management , 15(01), pp.23-30. Jaycox, L., Morse, L., Tanielian, T. Stein, B., 2006. How Schools Can Help Students Recover from Traumatic Experiences. Virgina: Rand. Maton, K.I., 2000. Making a Difference: The Social Ecology of Social Transformation. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28(1), pp.25-56.