1) First instinct when we look at the title of the author would be.... what...? Still I Rise, a title that speaks of independence, endurance and resistance towards a form of repression by a female author... Hmm. By the first glance, may be seen as a poetry by a feminism activist, struggling to rise to the social ceiling. Well, that is a misunderstanding. Lets take a look at a brief autobiography of Dr. Maya Angelou.
2) Brief autobiography of the author
Significance: background of the author has a lot to the meaning and interpretation of the poem.
Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential female Civil Rights Activists. Having been raised in Arkansas, Angelou experienced brutality of racial discrimination but also absorbed the traditional values of African American family, community and culture. After the 60s, Angelou met Malcolm X in Ghana, returned to American to build his organization of American Unity. After his death, Angelou also has worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to be part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
3) Well so... What About voice?
Although Dr. Angelou’s poetry is written in first person --repetition of “I”s -- the voice that represent the I is greater than a single person. The voice that can be heard from this poetry represents the young and old, male and female African Americans who have experienced the physical and psychological racial discrimination. The speaker in this poem are the suffering African Americans, who boldly state that they are proud of their colored heritage.
4) Use of literary tools
Mary Angelou having been a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Incorporates her writing talents to her political statement she has to make.
use of rhythm, rhyme, repetition
there is attitude, use of slang
obvious comparison with simile
simple and direct, straight forward words as expression
no convoluted words
5) Reading poetry
*slideshow of photos
*poetry-slam like video
Self Evaluation
1. Analysis -- what specifically does the person do well in analyzing?
I think I did well focusing on one topic of voice. Doing a background research beforehand and introducing those information before any of my other analysis was something I feel like I did well. The little background aided in making my point how influential she is and the her purpose of the poetry.
2. Analysis -- if the person had to do this again, what would you recommend in analysis?
After watching few of my classmates video, I felt like I could have done little bit more analysis with convention, specifically on word choice of the poet. I was so narrow-minded creating this video I feel like I left out on little details.
3. What is something you found surprising? or amusing?
While I was doing research on Mary Angelou I was surprised this poetry was written for African Americans of the Civil Rights Movement. Because we read "Phenomenal Women" previously, I assumed the poetry to be about feminism. It's surprising how influential and powerful message she was able to send across to everybody, being a 'minority' of a minority -- female African American. Like I added on the video, the video makes it even more powerful because the message can also be delivered to different people of all races.
5. Comment on the visual portion of this video.
I worked hard to make my presentation visually attractive because we had the advantage to use video as a tool. It took a while to make the slides pleasing and suitable to the theme of my poem.
The process: My video turned out to be a little different in terms of organization than I had planned. Because the rubric mentioned to read the poetry in the end, I kept it that way in the beginning. However, I felt it would be more effective if I read the poetry in between my analysis so that people have an overview of what I am talking about, since I talk primarily on general voice and overall meaning of the poem. It was very time consuming having to make the entire slideshow, filming on photobooth for extra-special effects. Id give myself a B+ or A- or so. Though I admit it wasn't done through a long period of time, it took a long time to make the video itself. However, knowing what I was going to say and having a visual image of what my project would look like made my project making smoother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EU0jYGHGPAs
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
- possible music: Stand up
1) First instinct when we look at the title of the author would be.... what...? Still I Rise, a title that speaks of independence, endurance and resistance towards a form of repression by a female author... Hmm. By the first glance, may be seen as a poetry by a feminism activist, struggling to rise to the social ceiling. Well, that is a misunderstanding. Lets take a look at a brief autobiography of Dr. Maya Angelou.2) Brief autobiography of the author
Significance: background of the author has a lot to the meaning and interpretation of the poem.
Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential female Civil Rights Activists. Having been raised in Arkansas, Angelou experienced brutality of racial discrimination but also absorbed the traditional values of African American family, community and culture. After the 60s, Angelou met Malcolm X in Ghana, returned to American to build his organization of American Unity. After his death, Angelou also has worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr to be part of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
3) Well so... What About voice?
Although Dr. Angelou’s poetry is written in first person --repetition of “I”s -- the voice that represent the I is greater than a single person. The voice that can be heard from this poetry represents the young and old, male and female African Americans who have experienced the physical and psychological racial discrimination. The speaker in this poem are the suffering African Americans, who boldly state that they are proud of their colored heritage.
4) Use of literary tools
Mary Angelou having been a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Incorporates her writing talents to her political statement she has to make.
use of rhythm, rhyme, repetition
there is attitude, use of slang
obvious comparison with simile
simple and direct, straight forward words as expression
no convoluted words
5) Reading poetry
*slideshow of photos
*poetry-slam like video
Self Evaluation
1. Analysis -- what specifically does the person do well in analyzing?
I think I did well focusing on one topic of voice. Doing a background research beforehand and introducing those information before any of my other analysis was something I feel like I did well. The little background aided in making my point how influential she is and the her purpose of the poetry.
2. Analysis -- if the person had to do this again, what would you recommend in analysis?
After watching few of my classmates video, I felt like I could have done little bit more analysis with convention, specifically on word choice of the poet. I was so narrow-minded creating this video I feel like I left out on little details.
3. What is something you found surprising? or amusing?
While I was doing research on Mary Angelou I was surprised this poetry was written for African Americans of the Civil Rights Movement. Because we read "Phenomenal Women" previously, I assumed the poetry to be about feminism. It's surprising how influential and powerful message she was able to send across to everybody, being a 'minority' of a minority -- female African American. Like I added on the video, the video makes it even more powerful because the message can also be delivered to different people of all races.
5. Comment on the visual portion of this video.
I worked hard to make my presentation visually attractive because we had the advantage to use video as a tool. It took a while to make the slides pleasing and suitable to the theme of my poem.
The process: My video turned out to be a little different in terms of organization than I had planned. Because the rubric mentioned to read the poetry in the end, I kept it that way in the beginning. However, I felt it would be more effective if I read the poetry in between my analysis so that people have an overview of what I am talking about, since I talk primarily on general voice and overall meaning of the poem. It was very time consuming having to make the entire slideshow, filming on photobooth for extra-special effects. Id give myself a B+ or A- or so. Though I admit it wasn't done through a long period of time, it took a long time to make the video itself. However, knowing what I was going to say and having a visual image of what my project would look like made my project making smoother.