A review by pumastredia
And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

3.0

Weird to rate a collection of poems. I liked her book “letters to my daughter” much more, and in this one most of the poems were too literal and simple in language for my liking. But that’s also in part an author’s choice — to make them more accessible, and easier to connect with for those people they were written for. They were written as an encouragement for people of colour, and especially women. And the fact I am not able to connect to this experience fully means that some of it is just not for me, and that’s okay. I, however, have also greatly loved the rhythm and the vivid life in a few of them, especially towards the end. They felt like an invitation to dance, and to sing, and to love — beautiful. So, that is how it usually goes with a poetry collection, where some strike you a lot, and others don’t. Angelou is a great and important poet. But I wasn’t mesmerized this time.