The Rhetoric of Resilience: Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” As an Aristotelian Means of Persuasion

Poem Analysis.

Choose a poem and examine how Aristotle's definition of rhetoric (the faculty of observing, in each particular case, the available means of persuasion) is encapsulated within the poem. Analyze the structure and meaning of the poem. Include the poet's biographical information as well as the historical background of the poem. Be sure that for all quotes, you 1) introduce the quote 2) cite the quote 3) explain the quote. Follow in-text and block quotation guidelines as in the PURDUE OWL website. It's a little tricky for poetry, so research that! You can also look  HERE.  Remember to create a beautiful two-part title to your essay. 3-4 pages plus Works Cited in MLA format, use 2-3 in-text citations and 2-3 block quotations. You also need to include 2-3 outside sources (books or database articles). Include a copy of the poem with the lines numbered AFTER the Works Cited page. 

In Rhetoric, Aristotle describes rhetoric as being "the faculty of observing, in each particular case, the available means of persuasion." This definition elevates rhetoric from the narrow confines of speech and understands rhetoric as a kind of artful consciousness, which does strategic work in consciousness to make something happen in the world. Aristotelian philosophy is evident in Maya Angelou's poem 'Still I Rise' through the brilliant and inventive use of language, which cleverly instills empowerment and defiance. The anger or pridefulness is neutralized, and the individual and collective harm is transmuted into a universal transmission of fortitude. Through ethos (credibility), logos (reason), and pathos (emotion), she crafts a persuasive conversation between oppressor and oppressed. Therefore, this paper demonstrates how Aristotle's definition of rhetoric is applied to the tone and structure of power and dignity in the poem "Still I Rise" by Angelou, exploring the strength, dignity, and inevitability of liberation.

Establishing Ethos: Angelou's Life and Historical Authority

For one to understand the poem's persuasive force, there must be an ethos consideration rooted in Maya Angelou's life and the historical moment of work. Angelou (1928-2014) was not only a poet and memoirist but an activist in the civil rights movement who collaborated closely with such leaders as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Her work within the Civil Rights Movement, including her service as the coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference New York office and her efforts within the Cabaret for Freedom movement, have cemented her as an activist of resilience and empowerment. Angelou's life as a black woman who has worked to overcome oppressions of race and gender imbues her writing with moral and experiential authority (Alegre 27). Although at times she is working as the first and only woman to read The Arab Observer in Egypt when she is going about doing the job of covering the anti-colonial movements, she was already socially just (Alegre 27). These were the experiences that shaped her literary style in writing of loss of the individual and also of the human experience. Little Turtle envisioned herself as a profound, genuine, and brave writer with the appearance of her best-selling memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969) (Nadjat 3).

The moment Angelou declares in the first line that, "You may write me down in history/With your bitter, twisted lies" (Lines 1-2), she entirely challenges the historicity of fictions that have coalesced and siloed Black identity. They are not an attack; it is the expropriation of the writing of history itself. Through the dismantling of the lies of the oppressor, Angelou draws her own power of being a human being who has experienced social injustice as well as an individual who has not just survived, but conquered social injustice. This involves the discursive purpose of the poem not being that of the learned professional, but of the one who has experienced being part of the rhetoric which Aristotle himself thought to be a constituent element of persuasion. According to McPherson, Angelou is authoritative due to the porous boundary that is there between hurt that is personal and witnessing that is public (Line 45). And it is with this performed credibility that Angelou becomes one of resistance, and can consequently, emblematically represent resilience as a witness and fighter in the history of the narrative of Black survival and struggle to liberation in general.

Pathos and Defiant Structure

Angelou's most significant use of rhetoric in "Still I Rise" is her manipulation of pathos (emotional persuasion). Even the physical aspect of the poem itself, seven stalwart stanzas of it, in which accusation and the self-praising exultation are alternated with defiance, are parts of that project. Each stanza is an intermediate between helplessness and victory, as it is a musical one. Angelou begins her poem with the following lines:

"You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise" (Lines 21-24)

The passage is a climax between victimization and triumph, with a clear picture of violence and power. The metaphors of Angelou that shoot, cut, and kill with her words show that she is a victim of racism and misogyny, but she employs a metaphor of a free and invincible person when she states that she is like air. Such a collision of desperation and buoyancy is power, and causes one to wonder but not to pity. It is a pleasure to say to her that every time she despises you, she will be strong once more. Rhetorical questions, such as “Does my sassiness upset you?” (Line 5), invite trust to transition into persuasion. She brings back the ethos of sassiness and haughtiness, especially, Angelou reconstructs the definitions of power and dignity, and even turns self-confidence into an object of emotional and rhetorical defiance. Such kind of resistance is demonstrated through metaphorical imagery of abundance. Here, laughter is metaphorically used to signify inner wealth and joy. By likening her confidence to "gold mines," Angelou redefines systems of value, in which the real treasure lies not in material wealth but in self-respect. The reader can now vicariously experience emancipation through the exultation of her voice as it transitions into rhetorically powerful ground. Angelou converts the psychologically troubled baggage of racialized gender into the psychically profitable currency of pride. Thus, her laughter is performative, an emotional rejection of historic subordination.

The Logos of Inevitable Nature

Whereas pathos was the thymus of the poem, logos is the argument of Angelou's argument, presented in its reasoned inevitability. Her strength lies not in rebellion, but in the natural law, in concord with the ancient rhythms of the universe. In the middle of the poem, she writes:

"Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still, I'll rise" (Lines 9-12).

A beautiful reflection of the analogy in itself, this passage is the perfect example of the way in which Angelou structures a simile that, in a logical sense, creates meaning for her audience, using images of nature, like the moon and sun and the high and low tides, to signify renewal and fulfilment, which is inevitable. Here's one of Aristotle's syllogisms: If nature always rises, and the speaker's resistance is equal to the rising of nature, then the rising of nature is equal to the rising of the speaker. Through connecting strength to natural law, Angelou suggests a logical and resilient strength of resistance. Her perfection of rhythmic repetitions makes allusions to the ebb and flow of the tide, and the sound becomes again a testimonial for logic. This triangulation of rhyme, logic, and passion is an ideal blend of logos and pathos, in Aristotle's terms, the perfect combination of both, making Angelou an extraordinary mixture of intelligence and humanity, and for that reason, both remarkable.

The Culmination of Rhetoric: Anaphora and Legacy

The final three stanzas of the poem are the rhetorical climax, as all three elements of logos, pathos, and ethos combine in a single sentence. Now Angelou is focusing on feeding a succession of generations, and having entered a realm of group consciousness, she is aware of the ancestors whose blood runs through the veins of those who preceded her. The crescendo is achieved through repetition and rhythm, and more specifically through anaphora: the repetition of "I rise." Angelou writes:

"Out of the huts of history's shame,

I rise,

Up from a past that's rooted in pain,

I rise,

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide,

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear;

I rise,

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear;

I rise-38

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise,

I rise,

I rise" (Lines 29-43).

The block quote can be seen as the rhetorical climax of the poem. "I rise" is both lyric and argumentative, a relentless drive of hooks that turns the act of surviving into an act of speaking. As it climbs, the structural rhythmic thrust rises, and with each rise, we find ourselves caught up in the battle between these irresistible ascending forces. Angelou also employs the collective memory, referring to "the gifts that my ancestors gave" and "the dream and the hope of the slave," which are outside of the self as she places her identity within the stream of black history.

This historical example pays tribute to the oppressed status of her people in the past, as well as how she managed to break the oppression that appears to be an expression of transcendence. The black ocean is infinite and powerful, which displays to us that the heroine's identity is compelling, as it has equally powerful roots. The sea is simultaneously some wound and a source of the thin-strand determination (Nurzalinda 391) of the set-up of the puppeteer who is an image of something that cannot be stopped. The last stanza, as several of its detractors have contended, brings together the separate personalities, histories, and laws of nature to create a moving and harmonious statement of freedom. Angelou has fulfilled every rhetorical appeal, as Aristotle described, in ethos, pathos, and logos, to persuade the reader that it was an ethical imperative and a divine command to rise.

Conclusion

"Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou is a parallel to the definitions of rhetoric as it is considered by Aristotle to be the art of ethical persuasion. Angelou also applies ethos to acquire credibility based on personal experience; he applies pathos to appeal to our national pride, and he applies logos to base our power on natural order. The poem is reinforced by these voices, together with the meter and melody, to present a compelling argument of perseverance and dignity. Angelou makes rhetorical resurrection: Her words fly above oppression in echo-liquid resistance and re-creation simultaneously. The refrain that repeats, I rise, turns, is not only a piece of poetry, but a word of sturdiness in the whole world. The art of my rhetoric, says Johnson, is more than a word; it is in the poetry that will make little Venezuelan boys free, it is in the poetry that may be able, really, to give, not only of life, but of death, A freedom to the many.

I rise-30

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain-31

I rise-32

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, -33

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. -34

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear-35

I rise-36

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear-37

I rise-38

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, -39

I am the dream and the hope of the slave. -40

I rise-41

I rise-42

I rise. -43