‘STILL I RISE’ – KCSE English poetry questions with answers

​Read the following poem and respond to the questions appropriately.

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.
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.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainity of tides
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like tear drops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

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.

You m,ay shoot me with your word
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Out of the hurts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I raise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear
In the tide
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a day brake that is wondrously clear 
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my 
Ancestors game,
I am the dream and the
Hope of the slave
I rise
I rise
I rise
Adapted from: Maya Angelous’ STILL I RISE (1978)

QUESTIONS

• ​1. With support from the poem, briefly explain what the poem is about. (3 marks)
• 2. Identify three challenges that the speaker in the poem contends with. (3 marks)
• 3. What is the attitude of the speaker towards these challenges? (2 marks)
• 4. Identify and illustrate figures of speech from the poem above. Comment on their effectiveness. (4 marks)
• 5. Other than the style in (4) above, identify and illustrate other two stylistic devices employed by the poet. (4 marks)
• 6. Explain the meaning of the following phrases as they are used in poem. (3 marks)
  • a) ‘Cause I laugh I’ve got gold mines’
  • b) ‘But still, like dust, I’ll rise’.
  • c) I am Black Ocean, leaping and wide.
• 7. Supply the following sentence with the correct question tag. (1 mark)
  I am the dream and the hope of the slave.