Still She Rises, Phenomenally

Juie Gune
TYBA 
2020-21

Maya Angelou was one of the most evocative writers of our century. Between “Phenomenal Woman” which makes me stand a little taller and “Still I Rise” which makes me tear up every time I read it; she became my favourite poet. Only recently, I discovered that her poetry is what I like to call a representation of feminist theory in its purest form. So, here I am, trying to unravel her personal brand of feminist poetry. I hope I do her justice.

Patriarchal mindsets “naturalize inequality as a pre-ordained condition of biology itself.” (Nayar, 2007, 125). In her powerful poem, “Phenomenal Woman”, Angelou uses these very biological features associated with feminine identity such as hips and breasts and ascribes them a second, more profound and subjective quality, transforming them into symbols of power for women- women that make men “stand or fall down on their knees”, not because men are chivalrous, but because women radiate a sense of confidence and power. By representing the woman as having a distinct agency, Angelou tips the scales of strength and influence towards the woman.

 

“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.”

 

    She doesn’t have to “talk real loud” or “shout and jump about” because she doesn’t crave men’s attention when she walks into a room. Traditionally, women are supposed to “‘look good’ so that men find them acceptable despite their ‘lack’.” (Nayar, 2007, 147) But, Angelou doesn’t concern herself with dolling herself up for someone else. The secret of her beauty lies in “the fire in her eyes”, a symbol of her determination and resilience. It lies in the “swing in her waist” which, though traditionally viewed as a symbol of women’s delicacy, she uses as a symbol of her grace in this poem.

 

“Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can’t touch

My inner mystery.”

When Angelou talks about her “inner mystery”, she doesn’t mean the kind of “mystification of women” that Simone de Beauvoir says was “instrumental in creating patriarchy”. The mystery she is referring to is not ascribed by society, but personal to the woman. It is a secret only she knows about. Angelou may be alluding to her own trials and tribulations as an African-American woman. She has managed to overcome these sources of trauma and is proud of herself for doing so.

 

“I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.”

 

 The refrain in the poem, “I’m a woman, phenomenally” represents that, according to Angelou, being a woman is no less than a miracle of a kind. She is proud of her identity. By drawing our attention to how her “head’s not bowed”, how she doesn’t “lower her shoulders”, she defies the performative “expressions” that society expects of women. She refuses to bow to masculine authority. What is interesting, however, is that this doesn’t stop her from making reference to her other feminine features such as the “ride of her breasts”, the “span of her hips” and the “click of her heels”, which, to her, are a source of pride.

Angelou’s tone in the poem is one of happiness. She writes about “the sun of her smile” and “the joy in her feet”. She is far from being the “Mule of the World”, an image used widely in black feminism. Angela Walker, in her poem, “Mules and Women”, talks about “the harness of horror” in the hands of the man. Angelou herself talks about how the “caged bird (a metaphor for oppressed women) sings of freedom”. But in this poem, she doesn’t allude to the burden on her back. Instead, she seems free, as if she has found the freedom she longs for in her poem “Caged Bird”.

She makes subtle references to her race by saying “Pretty women wonder where my secret lies”, setting herself apart from these “pretty women”. She also explicitly states that she is not “built to suit a fashion model’s size”. But that doesn’t make her any less desirable. She challenges Gilbert and Gubar’s stereotype of “dangerous-woman-as-monster”. They say that if a woman in a literary work has an individual, distinct identity and poses a threat to male authority, she is represented as a low-life creature, a madwoman-in-the-attic of sorts. By representing the woman as a mix of both, a dangerous opponent to male authority and desired by men in spite of it, Maya Angelou breaks this stereotype (2020).

“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.”

 

In her poem, “Still I Rise” she uses the second person pronoun, “you”, to draw the attention of all those who have written history “with their bitter, twisted lies”.  History is written by men and about them. Traditionally, women are “measured by the standard of men and found inferior” (Nayar, 2007, 125). In that sense, women have often been “trod in the dirt”. But this is where Angelou’s representation of women’s resilience comes in. She uses the image of the phoenix from Egyptian Mythology to tell us that in spite of her sufferings, she’ll rise. She even compares her resilience to the “moon”, the “suns”, “the certainty of tides”, using these natural events to represent the inevitability of women’s emancipation.

“’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room…

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard…

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?”

 

She says that she acts “like she’s got oil wells pumping in her living room” or “gold mines diggin’ in her backyard”. She used natural resources to reflect the power she wields, making a reference to the politics of power, where oil and gold sway the scales in the favour of countries rich in resources.

 

“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.”

 

She depicts the history of atrocities against women by using phrases like “the huts of history’s shame” and “a past that is rooted in pain”. She asks the writers of history (men) if her “sassiness”, “haughtiness”, “sexiness” offends them, directly questioning the so-called feminine virtues of obedience, docility and chastity. She represents herself as the “hope of the slave”, drawing special attention to her racial identity along with her gender identity.

These poems could be considered as epitomes of “ecriture feminine” which seeks to capture “the fluidity of women's bodies” (Nayar, 2007, 138). In fact, in “Still I Rise”, Angelou even refers to herself as a “black ocean, leaping and wide”, quite literally talking about her physical fluidity as a symbol of her reach and influence. She has the power to overwhelm.

What I find most interesting about these poems is how Maya Angelou uses the very symbols of women’s inferiority and otherness as symbols of their power and desirability. While there is something deeply personal about these poems, they also embody an emotion universal to women. It is not hard to tell that behind her voice lies the experience of generations of women before her. It is true, as Virginia Woolf says, that “masterpieces are not single and solitary births; they are the outcome of many years of thinking in common”.

 

This is the first part of the three part series - Frappé With Extra Femme!

References

Angelou, M. (n.d.). Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman

Angelou, M. (n.d.). Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise

Gilbert, S. M., & Gubar, S. (2020). The madwoman in the attic: The woman writer and the nineteenth-century literary imagination. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Jackson, A. (n.d.). Mules and Women by Angela Jackson. Retrieved July 24, 2020, from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56155/mules-and-women

Nayar, P. K. (2017). Feminisms. In Contemporary literary and cultural theory: From structuralism to ecocriticism (pp. 116-167). Uttar Pradesh, India: Pearson India Education Services Pvt.

Image references

And Still I Rise. (n.d.). Retrieved August 04, 2020, from https://books.google.co.in/books?id=TFwOdscWzKEC