Maya angelou quotes still i rise
In 1977, Angelou appeared in a supporting role in the television mini-series Roots. She had written articles, short stories, TV scripts and documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry she produced plays and she was named a visiting professor of several colleges and universities.
She had written songs for Roberta Flack and had composed movie scores. The publication of And Still I Rise occurred during one of the most productive periods of Angelou's career. After her rape at the age of eight, as recounted in her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), she dealt with her trauma by memorizing and reciting great works of literature, including poetry, which helped bring her out of her self-imposed muteness. She studied and began writing poetry at a young age. "Phenomenal Woman" was one of Angelou's poems featured in the film Poetic Justice.Īnd Still I Rise is Maya Angelou's third volume of poetry. Two others, "Phenomenal Woman" and "Just For a Time", were previously published in Cosmopolitan. The collection's title poem, "Still I Rise", was the center of an advertising campaign for the United Negro College Fund. Like her previous volumes of poetry, the reviews of And Still I Rise were mixed. She speaks for her race and gender in many of the poems, and again emphasizes the strength and resiliency of her community. Two of her most well-known and popular poems, "Phenomenal Woman" and "Still I Rise", are found in this volume. The poems' themes focus on a hopeful determination to rise above difficulty and discouragement, and on many of the same topics as Angelou's autobiographies and previous volumes of poetry. She began, early in her writing career, alternating the publication of an autobiography and a volume of poetry.Īnd Still I Rise is made up of 32 short poems, divided into three parts. Angelou considered herself a poet and a playwright, but was best known for her seven autobiographies, especially her first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, although her poetry has also been successful. It was published during one of the most productive periods in Angelou's career she had written three autobiographies and published two other volumes of poetry up to that point. And Still I Rise is author Maya Angelou's third volume of poetry, published by Random House in 1978.