This seminar paper will examine a poem written by Maya Angelou, Still I Rise, 1978. An analysis of this poem will be provided, exploring the meaning of the poem and the language used. to present a certain image to the public.“Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unwavering faith and values ​​of traditional African American family, community, and culture” (www.mayaangelou.com, 2014). This poem is Maya Angelou speaking to the audience as she explains the issues she has overcome such as: racism, sexism, bullying and other issues in her life that she has managed to grow out of. This poem takes place in a first person narrative, Angelou explains to the audience the good and bad times of her life, presented in a graceful manner. . The fact that the poem takes place in a first person narrative allows the audience to connect to the poet on a deeper level, as the tone of the poem is more intense throughout, making it more real to the audience. This kind of poetry is lyric poetry, relating to Angelou's feelings and thoughts throughout the poem, speaking directly to the audience. This poem is structured into eight stanzas, the first seven stanzas contain four lines in each stanza, however, the last stanza contains fifteen lines. , with a major emphasis on "I rise." The last fifteen lines perhaps served to conclude the poem at the end, to show the audience one last time its head held high. During the poem the tone is positive and negative, even though you can hear the strength and passion in her voice to overcome these issues, she still exhibits anger. This allows the reader to discover in sections what Angelou really felt. The scene is set throughout...the problems may seem big, someone else is struggling to overcome something even more outrageous. Do you think this poem will help the audience in any way? This poem can definitely help anyone who is going through a tough time, the motivation from Angelou herself is enough to encourage people to keep going. Once again, this poem helped me understand that the little things I struggle with every day are not the biggest obstacle I will have to overcome in my life. What is the theme of this poem? In my opinion, the theme of this poem would be hope, hope that life will become a nicer place to live. That the problems people go through daily will disappear and everyone will get along and live the perfect life. Works CitedMaya Angelou – Biography. 2014. Maya Angelou - Biography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mayaangelou.com/bio/. [Accessed April 11 2014].