The poem 'Africa' and 'Still I Rise' were both composed by poet Maya Angelou. The poem Africa is generally about the history and culture of Africa, and describes in detail the hardships faced by the African people during the times of the enslavement. In the other poem 'Still I Rise' Angelou tries to convey her feelings about the discrimination against the African-American people. Both of the poems have many differences but they also have some similarities. Angelou has a very flamboyant style of composing poems, this would be very obvious to any reader who might read both of these poems by her. The way she has used the repetitions in the poems are quite similar, although she uses a variety of literary features, imagery and personification are the most significant in both of the poems.
Africa's theme is primarily about the history of the continent and the diction used in this poem is related to the theme in a very important aspect.
English: Maya Angelou reciting her poem, "On the P...
Maya Angelou with Bloomberg and Nadler
President Barack Obama presenting Maya Angelou wit...There are also many facts in the poem about the history of Africa which are relevant to the theme. Angelou creates a very serious atmosphere in Africa while she describes the horrific scenes in her poem. She changes the atmosphere of the poem a couple of times to express her feelings better. In the other poem 'Still I Rise' Angelou creates a vivid atmosphere for the reader and a bold attitude towards the person she appears to be conversing to in the poem. The mood in this poem is not exactly raging but kind of aggressive. The tone remains the same almost all the time in the poem: arrogant and overconfident.
Angelou has used the same kind of literary features in both the poems. She uses imagery frequently in Africa to...