# data[].attributes.headline
Another Explanation of Phenomenal Woman - Source 2 

# data[].attributes.subject
Another Explanation of Phenomenal Woman - Source 2 

# data[].attributes.body
"Phenomenal Woman" takes up more specific, personal issues of great contemporary concern -the issues of appearance, pride, insecurity and self-worth.

Angelou introduces these issues with the opening lines. The speaker immediately sets up an opposition between herself and the "pretty women" who wonder where her "secret lies."

# data[].attributes.headline
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.subject
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.body
As one critic has noted, "The wisdom, rue and humor of her storytelling are borne on a lilting rhythm completely her own, the product of a born writer's sense nourished on black church singing and preaching, soft mother talk and salty street talk, and on literature."

# data[].attributes.headline
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.subject
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.body
her life has had its share of tragedy—she was raped by her mother's boyfriend when she was eight, was an unwed mother, and flirted briefly with drugs on the street—her work is full of a joyful strength and a delightful self-mockery that is grounded in her everyday experience.

# data[].attributes.headline
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.subject
Extra Info from Phenomenal Woman Explanation essay 

# data[].attributes.body
Survival led her to diverse occupations—Creole cook, cocktail waitress, prostitute and streetcar conductor—until she became a successful actress and songwriter, penning songs for the stage. Throughout her chronicles and her poems, Angelou seldom strays from the vital speech-rhythms of the street and the delights of vernacular speech, as well as forging powerful images that have the ability to render concrete a particular place and time.

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Still I Rise Background Info

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Still I Rise Background Info

# data[].attributes.body
She hit the streets with a saucy boldness, risking destruction through drugs and escaping romantic entanglements with addicts, and she eventually rose to stardom as a performer and writer. Her autobiographical writings catalogue her strategies of survival, her triumph over sexual abuse—she was raped by her uncle as a child—and, remarkably, the sense of innocence which was not destroyed.

# data[].attributes.body
With her dynamic love of personal freedom, Angelou rejected traditional employment avenues for impoverished black women—she refused to hustle, assume a housemaid's duties, or become dependent upon welfare.

# data[].attributes.body
The speaker contrasts two birds, a free one and one that has been put in a cage. The free one is free to do as it pleases while the caged bird is tied up and his wings have been clipped. Despite the fact that the caged bird is tied up, he sings a tune of freedom.

# data[].attributes.body
The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.
The speaker repeated this stanza again to emphasize the fact that the caged bird wishes to live the life of the free bird.

# data[].attributes.body
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams

his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream

his wings are clipped and his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing
This stanza repeats the  last lines of the second stanza to emphasize the negative image the speaker is giving.

# data[].attributes.body
The free bird thinks of another breeze

and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees

and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn

and he names the sky his own.

The speaker uses a description of "fat worms" and "sighing trees" to give the reader an idea of the how good life is for the free bird.

# data[].attributes.body
The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.
This stanza also shows the sadness the caged bird goes through.

# data[].attributes.body
But a bird that stalks

down his narrow cage

can seldom see through

his bars of rage

his wings are clipped and

his feet are tied

so he opens his throat to sing.
The speaker uses contrast in this tanza compared to the first, using verbs and adjectives with an negative connotation such as "stalks, narrow, clipped, tied, and bars of rage."

# data[].attributes.body
A free bird leaps

on the back of the wind

and floats downstream

till the current ends

and dips his wing

in the orange sun rays

and dares to claim the sky.
The speaker uses verbs like "dips, leaps, and floats," to show the freedom of the bird.

# data[].attributes.body
The speaker use the word "still" to show how many times she has to fight for her rights as a black woman.

# data[].attributes.headline
MY OVERALL ANALYSIS OF PHENOMENAL WOMAN 

# data[].attributes.subject
MY OVERALL ANALYSIS OF PHENOMENAL WOMAN 

# data[].attributes.body
The speaker wants the world to know she is different- she is different from the stereotypical girls, despite this- she is phenomenal, beautiful and graceful.

# data[].attributes.body
At the end she compares herself to the swelling ocean in her powerful rhythmic incantations—"I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, / Welling and swelling I bear in the tide." But as the ocean-swells indicate, she does not abandon the symbolic power of motherhood. She becomes something of an earth-goddess, a totemic figure that is linked to her African American heritage: "I rise / Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, / I am the dream and the hope of the slave."

# data[].attributes.body
She rejects powerfully on stage the gestures of the defeated and obedient black woman, modeled on the slave's inability to look the white slave owner in the eye: "Did you want to see me broken? / Bowed head and lowered eyes? / Shoulders falling down like teardrops, / Weakened by my soulful cries?"

# data[].attributes.body
As a dancer, Angelou was highly conscious of her disciplined body—she could indeed dance as if she had "diamonds / At the meeting of [her] thighs." She draws upon her charisma as a performer: these song-like lyrics are enlivened by her rhythmic dance and strut, with the rhythm of her body's movement establishing a counterpoint to the easy rhythm of her lines.

# data[].attributes.body
She flaunts her sexuality and her power in a direct affront to the white patriarchal structure, who presumably would be threatened by her open displays of resistance, her "sassiness": "Why are you beset with gloom? / 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells / Pumping in my living room."

# data[].attributes.body
Like a blues singer, Angelou's "Still I Rise" sings of the suffering of black women and their indomitable spirit. She transcends the limitations of her self and assumes the voice of her race and gender; her initial stanza asserts that despite the dominant culture's neglect—and even slander—of blacks in history, she will triumph, just as the temple of Israel will be rebuilt from its ruins, as she echoes Biblical language: "You may write me down in history / With your bitter, twisted lies, / You may trod me in the very dirt / But still, like dust, I'll rise." Angelou will reap the whirlwind—the dust she evokes is the whirling dervish of a sandstorm blowing from African deserts.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 9 (final)

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 9 (final)

# data[].attributes.body
"Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise."
The speaker describes herself as everything her ancestors wanted to be, she leaves behind the pain to rise above.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise- My Explanation - Stanza 8 

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise- My Explanation - Stanza 8 

# data[].attributes.body
"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."
The speaker rises above the oppression of her race in the past, she describes herself as a "black ocean" - referring to her skin color, that always is bearing the tide - taking in everything.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 7

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 7

# data[].attributes.body
"Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?"
The speaker knows her worth and how beautiful she is.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 6

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise - My Explanation - Stanza 6

# data[].attributes.body
"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."
Personification: "Kill me with your hatefulness, Shoot me with your words, cut me with your eyes"
You may say awful things about me but I will still rise above it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise - My Explanation- Stanza 5 

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise - My Explanation- Stanza 5 

# data[].attributes.body
"Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard."
She laughs as if she has everything she has ever needed.

# data[].attributes.body
"Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?"
The speaker i asking a rhetorical question, she wonders if others want to see her broken and sad.

# data[].attributes.headline
Still I Rise- My Explanation - Stanza 3 

# data[].attributes.subject
Still I Rise- My Explanation - Stanza 3 

# data[].attributes.body
"Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise."
Tides are guaranteed to rise, so the speaker says she is certainly going to rise like a tide.

# data[].attributes.body
"Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room."
The speaker describes her own tone as "sassiness." She also says she walks like shes filthy rich.

# data[].attributes.body
"You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise."
Simile: "Like dust, I'll rise"
The Speaker says that she know the history books are full of lies and she will not be brought down by bitter lies, even if she gets put in the dirt- she will rise above it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Fourth Stanza

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Fourth Stanza

# data[].attributes.body
"Her final stanza asserts what elsewhere she has called her "sassiness." She refuses all postures associated with servitude, whether vestiges of slavery or chains forged by patriarchy: "Now you understand / Just why my head's not bowed. / I don't shout or jump about / Or have to talk real loud." Thus she can also carry herself with an elegant, understated poise when she is not burning with elemental passion. Her spirit remains unbroken."

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Third Stanza

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Third Stanza

# data[].attributes.body
Despite this power, she maintains an aura of mystery, of a irreducible aspect that eludes all qualification. Patriarchal terms cannot encompass her being: "They try so much / But they can't touch / My inner mystery."

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Second stanza

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman- Second stanza

# data[].attributes.body
"In the second stanza she becomes an elemental force, a fire goddess and a queen bee surrounded by drones: "The fellows stand or / Fall down on their knees. / Then they swarm around me, / A hive of honey bees."

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza pt.2 

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza pt.2 

# data[].attributes.body
"Her tone is a comic act of defiance of patriarchal standards, and with the verve of a Broadway show-tune she sings her own body-electric: "It's in the reach of my arms, / The span of my hips, / The stride of my step, / The curl of my lips." And like a popular tune—with its easy rhymes and lilting rhythm—Angelou's lyric includes a chorus that has the feel of a feminist anthem, much like Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman" or a song by Carol King: "I'm a woman / Phenomenally. / Phenomenal woman, / That's me."

# data[].attributes.headline
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman-  First Stanza

# data[].attributes.subject
Explanation of Phenomenal Woman-  First Stanza

# data[].attributes.body
Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman" is a raucous celebration of her power as a woman. Though not conforming to society's image of beauty—she is "not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size"—she possesses a raw, seductive power that casts spells upon men.

# data[].attributes.headline
Background of Maya Angelou - Explanation of Phenomenal Woman

# data[].attributes.subject
Background of Maya Angelou - Explanation of Phenomenal Woman

# data[].attributes.body
"Throughout her chronicles and her poems, Angelou seldom strays from the vital speech-rhythms of the street and the delights of vernacular speech, as well as forging powerful images that have the ability to render concrete a particular place and time."

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Fourth Stanza 

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Fourth Stanza 

# data[].attributes.body
"Now you understand Just why my head’s not bowed. I don’t shout or jump about Or have to talk real loud. When you see me passing, It ought to make you proud. I say, It’s in the click of my heels, The bend of my hair, the palm of my hand, The need for my care. ’Cause I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, That’s me."

The speaker uses this stanza clarify what she discussed in the three previous stanzas. She is proud of who she is and others should be proud too.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Third Stanza

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Third Stanza

# data[].attributes.body
"Men themselves have wondered / What they see in me./ They try so much /But they can’t touch/ My inner mystery./ When I try to show them, /They say they still can’t see./ I say, /It’s in the arch of my back,/ The sun of my smile, /The ride of my breasts/, The grace of my style."
Men wonder what the see in her. The mystery is within her, it is on the inside rather than the outside.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis of the last four lines of every stanza of Phenomenal Woman 

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis of the last four lines of every stanza of Phenomenal Woman 

# data[].attributes.body
"I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me."
These lines are repeated at the end of every stanza, making it an epistrophe. The speaker continues to repeat this because she wants everyone to know that she is great even if she doesn't fit into society's standards (such as having a models size or being cute)

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis - Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza, Lines 3-9 Part 2

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis - Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza, Lines 3-9 Part 2

# data[].attributes.body
"But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips."
Angelou to say that the pretty women think she's lying. Angelou says that what makes her beautiful/phenomenal are things that people don't usually find attractive.

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Second Stanza, Lines 14-25

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis- Phenomenal Woman, Second Stanza, Lines 14-25

# data[].attributes.body
"I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth, The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet."
Angelou uses a metaphor (The men & the bees) to show how desired she is, like a queen bee. She also uses personification, "joy in my feet."

# data[].attributes.headline
My Analysis - Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza, Lines 1-2

# data[].attributes.subject
My Analysis - Phenomenal Woman - First Stanza, Lines 1-2

# data[].attributes.body
"Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size"
Angelou talks about how pretty women wonder what makes Angelou beautiful because she isn't cute or a model's size.