Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, a writer and civil rights activist. Angelou describes different types of tones in her poems, but in her poem “Still I Rise,” Angelou uses a tone of loss in this poem as she rose from the pain she felt and the hurt she suffered after being raped. Then Angelou remained silent for several years until the day after her murder. It was because of her love for poetry that she started speaking again. This poem also shows how Angelou shows how she poses in front of the public and heritage. In this poem, it seemed like Angelou was trying to show all the difficult obstacles she had gone through all these years. Angelou experienced so much more, but she also wrote poems, books, traveled the world, and used her experiences to help others live better lives. “Still I Rise” is a poem that focuses on courage, survival, and self-pride. The poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou explains loss in the stanza of the first word of the poem “You” is I Rise. I get up. I get up. It seems like she went through the maze of losing the ability to breathe and having that freedom. The poem "Still I Rise" means that there is no way to stop Angelou from saying how she feels because she has the power within herself to when I fall, I will still rise to the summit. People will talk behind your back and spread rumors, but will that stop you from standing up. Angelou turned “I will rise” into “I rise” where it shows that she has moved forward. Angelou went from wanting to rise up to rising up and showing readers to do the same. Angelou has a difficult past like many other African Americans where she quotes "I am the slave's dream and hope", where Angelou illustrated the strength of her culture and inspired her to be an Afro poet -strong American and to stand up against oppression