View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 7 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What words create a refrain in the final two stanzas of the poem?

2. How does the speaker characterize herself in line 4?

3. In line 17, what kind of a person is described by the word "haughtiness"?

4. Which is the best definition for "trod" in the context of line 3?

5. In the fourth stanza, what kind of person does the speaker ask if "you" want her to be?

Short Essay Questions

1. What oppressive actions does the speaker suggest "you" might take, and how does she say she will respond?

2. Describe how the final two stanzas of the poem differ from the first seven stazas.

3. What do all of the questions the speaker asks have in common?

4. Why is the poem titled "Still I Rise" and not just "I Rise"--what additional idea does the word "Still" convey?

5. What specific historical phenomenon does the speaker talk about rising above in the final two stanzas, and what allusion does she use to introduce the topic?

6. In the final stanza, what metaphor does the speaker use, and what does it signify?

7. Describe the pattern that stanzas 2, 4, 5, and 7 have in common.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Read Maya Angelou's poem "The Mothering Blackness" (available online). How does Angelou use repetition in this poem? How is it similar to and different from the way she uses repetition in "Still I Rise"? Consider the various forms of repetition in both poems as well as the purposes repetition serves. Write an essay in which you compare and contrast the use of repetition in "The Mothering Blackness" and "Still I Rise." Support your analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout both poems, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

How is water used symbolically in "Still I Rise"? What forms of water are mentioned? Do they all seem to function in the same way, or is water operating in more than one way in the poem? Which forms of water is the speaker herself compared to? What do these forms of water have in common? How is the idea of "rising" water in this poem contrasted with the "falling" water represented by the image of teardrops? How do common literary meanings of water figure into this poem's symbolism, if at all? Write an essay that takes and defends a position on the symbolic meaning of water in "Still I Rise." Support your analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

How does "Still I Rise" employ apostrophe to challenge not just an unnamed oppressor but the poem's reader, as well? How does the speaker establish that the poem is an apostrophe? What clues are there about whom the apostrophe is addressed to? Is it possible that the reader is the intended audience of this apostrophe? What choices Angelou makes indicate whether she wants the reader to identify with the speaker or with the unnamed oppressor? Write an essay in which you take and defend a position about whether the reader is a bystander to the poem's apostrophe or is, in fact, the oppressor being addressed. Support your analysis with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 916 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample