Comprehension Check: Still I 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.

The speaker's tone can best be described as…

• happy

• angry

• scared

• confident

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

The poem suggests the speaker is addressing…

• someone who doesn't want them to be successful

• someone who is a member of their family

• someone who wants the best for them

• someone who is trying to teach them

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.

The speaker has a positive outlook because…

• they will not allow anything to stop them from laughing

• they will not allow anything to hold them back

• they will not allow anyone to let them go

• they will not allow anyone to kill them

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 is suggesting that…

• the past has been embarrassing

• the past has been rewarding

• the past has been bearable

• the past has been difficult

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 will rise above...

• waves

• oceans

• the past

• the night sky

Which statement expresses a theme of the poem?

• The speaker can get through anything they face, because they are naturally gifted.

• The speaker can get through anything they face, because they have a lot of support.

• The speaker can get through anything they face, because their parents did the same.

• The speaker can get through anything they face, because they believe in themselves.

What can the reader infer about the speaker from their conversation with the audience?

• The speaker is amused by people who do not realize what their life is really like.

• The speaker is tired of having to explain why they act the way they do.

• The speaker has had many people try to shake their confidence.

• The speaker has tried to forget the past but knows they can't.

In the poem "Still I Rise," which statement best describes the structure of stanza 2 and stanza 5?

• The speaker asks questions and then describes all the valuables that he or she possesses

• The speaker asks questions and then reveals something powerful about the way he or she acts

• The speaker asks questions and then provides the answers that he or she wants to hear in response

• llustrate how rich the world's resources are

In the poem "Still I Rise," how does the repetition in stanza 6 contribute to the development of the poem's meaning?

• It helps emphasize how no matter what happens, the speaker will not be kept down.

• It helps reveal that no matter what the listener thinks of themselves, they are a murderer

• It helps demonstrate that even though the speaker is talking to one person, other people are listening.

• It helps illustrate that even though the speaker is talking to one person, they have many different enemies.

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

What is the meaning of the word "bear" as it is used in line 34?

• to carry

• to curve

• to endure

• to present