Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise Analysis Essay

The Real Soul Survivor

A woman is considered to be Gods greatest gift to mankind. She has beauty, brains and ambition. Her hands were created to fix things as well as nurture children. She was created to bring children into the world and raise them to be abiding citizens in the community. Many young girls often look up to their mother as their role model, hoping to become just like the woman that they admire. In the poems Phenomenal Woman and Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, the true definition of a fighter and the true definition of the term woman is defined throughout both poems. Not based on her looks or her dress size, but it is defined how she discovers her inner beauty. The theme for these poems would be confidence. Many women struggle with confidence in todays society, which is generally caused by what technology; media and fashion portray the term beauty to be. Many poetic devices are used throughout both poems. Imagery, tone, repetition and hyperboles are just a few devices that both Maya Angelou and Luke Easter use to creatively write their poetry.

Phenomenal Woman is written in a first-person perspective. The narrator can be seen as a confident woman who is highlighting her key elements to what she claims true beauty is. She states that, Pretty women wonder where my secret lies, Im not cute or built to suit a fashion models size. Many women go to drastic measures to become what society calls beautiful. Some try breast implants, botox, tummy tucks- the list goes on. But the narrator tells the audience that, When I start to tell them, they think I am telling lies. The pretty women realize that its not the face-lifts or the tummy tucks that men find attractive towards the narrator, but rather how she flaunts her assets. An asset such as the confidence that she has that causes men to fall down on their knees and swarm around like a hive of honey bees. At first, the reader may believe that the speaker is talking about herself bus as the reader continues throughout the poem, the speaker is not only talking about herself, rather she is speaking out on every woman to consider herself to be phenomenal. Repetition is vital in this poem because the word phenomenal woman is constantly being stressed throughout the poem.

In the poem Still I Rise, the poem is written in first-person perspective. The speaker comes across being a confident woman. She stands firmly in what she believes in.