Și tot mă ridic

Maya Angelou’s poems explore her life and its hard times. They deal with loss and the ways people face harsh, unjust rule. They also look at the many sides of life as a woman. Their strong rhythms draw on African American spoken forms.

The book has 32 poems in three parts. Two are among her best-known works: “Phenomenal Woman” and “Still I Rise.” And Still I Rise was her third book of poems. It came after three books about her own life and two books of verse. From the start of her career, she switched between memoir and verse. Diana Geacar put the English text into this edition’s language.

Angelou was an American poet who wrote plays and essays. She wrote memoirs, too, and fought for civil rights. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928. She also acted and made music. She was the first Black woman to direct in Hollywood. Her seven books about her own life brought her wide fame. The first was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

She worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X for civil rights. In 2010, Barack Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. No United States honor for civilians ranks above it. She received more than 50 honorary titles in her life. She died on May 28, 2014, at age 86.