Compare and Contrast Essay: Still I Rise by Maya Angelou and Disabled by Wilfred Owen

Both poems explore a range of emotions felt by the persona depicted in the poem. Throughout Angelou's poem ‘Still I Rise’ she explores confidence, empowerment, and determination. In the poem she depicts how she will overcome anything with her self-esteem and inspires people to do the same. She addresses the white community and conveys the idea of fighting for injustice and racism. The author herself was born in 1928 and has gone through many oppressions and inequalities in her life, as she has been discriminated against as a black Afro-American woman. On the other hand, Owen depicts an after war life of a traumatized and physically inquired young veteran. The poet depicts despair, loneliness, and bitterness felt by the soldier throughout the poem. The author himself was a war veteran, hence the emotions portrayed are fairly realistic and touching.  Both poets effectively convey the strong emotions felt and enable the reader to connect with the depicted persona in the poem.

In ‘Disabled’ Wilfred Owen explores effectively the emotions of despair and loneliness using similes, adjectives and alliteration. In the first stanza he uses a simile to identify the life before and after the war of the soldier. He says ‘ voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn, ‘voices of play and pleasures after the day’, this connotation of boys happily playing, contrasts with the melancholy tone underlining man's depression and despair. Persuading further the fact of how his life was taken away from him and now it’s impossible for him to      find joy in everyday life. Moreover, the powerful use of the adjective ‘saddening’, enables the reader to feel sympathy for the soldier and further conveys the reader of the loneliness and despair he lives in now. The melancholy tone adds up and forces the reader to reflect on the situation the soldier is in and how he can’t see anything positive. This contrast could also suggest how he is detached from life almost like a ghost. The reader is able to obtain the emotion of the persona, as the tone is fairly ghostly, almost detached from life. Wilfred Owen uses an alliteration ‘ghastly suits of grey’, this brings ghostly imagery, as it could be considered a metaphor of his life- it is all ‘grey’. This emphasizes the sad reality he is going through as if his life lost all the colours. The word ‘ghastly’ is a harsh word which strongly conveys the reader of how he was robbed of his life and his depressed state of mind. It also links to his representation in society currently. He is like a ghost, with no life and what reflects on soldiers' strong feelings of loneliness and lifelessness. 

Wilfred Owen portrays an idea of how the soldier regrets his naivety and how he is consumed with bitterness regarding his past choices of joining world war 1, effectively portraying a sense of regret. Moreover, the use of the phrasal verb ‘threw away’ gives a bitter tone suggesting it was not worth the sacrifices. The word ‘threw’ exemplifies even more the loss he has incurred. The metaphor ‘He’s lost his colour’ is utilised to emphasize the effects of war, leaving the men with ‘half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race’, successfully conveying the reader, even more, he lost his life. The metaphor ‘Hot race’ enables the reader to understand soldiers' expectation of the war to be an exciting action. This portrays how naive he was and how wasteful his act was. The ‘-’ emphasizes even more how the character even himself reflects on his stupidity and easiness the decision came to him with. ‘He thought he’d better join’, the short sentence reflects on his vigorous and impulsive act. The traumatizing event and his miserable life now made the soldier realize the decision he made was stupid. What’s even more interesting is that at the beginning of the poem Owen never specified the person behind the character, ‘he’ is all we know. This could suggest this was a well known scenario that many soldiers suffered from, as a result of propaganda and their idea of becoming a war hero. This idea could be continued furthermore in stanza 6. This stanza has 3 lines and reflects on the idea of a short-lived glory. They all wanted this imagined life so badly that many never lived to that day, reflecting on the emptiness of war, they imagined being a ‘hot race’. The poet takes this feeling of regret further through the poem even in rhyming, which overlaps in stanzas, which illustrates how the soldier reflects on his previous actions. Overall, the writer adequately conveyed the suffering from the war, and the bitterness regarding the past choices of the soldier and his miserable life.

In ‘Still I Rise’ Maya Angelou shows her determination and empowerment using verbs and repetition. The poem's title is ‘Still I Rise’, where we first encounter the personas’ determination. The word ‘still’ suggests that no matter how bad she was ever brought down she always rises to the top. We can see that in Angelou’s personal life too. The author has lived through loads, she has been sexually abused, raped and many were racist to her, due to her skin colour. Despite challenges, she always rises to the top and further conveys the reader of her resilience just in the title. The opening of the poem further conveys this idea. The title is being repeated numerous times, as if it would be her hymn and a motivation that keeps on reminding her it is all worth it and not to have doubts. ‘I’ll rise’, ‘Still I’ll rise’ and ‘I rise. The word ‘rise’ is a powerful verb that brings a sense of unity and determination to her persona and is almost like a slogan that makes the reader and people of colour to fight for her, with her, and support her. This technique is effective since the writer creates respect and sympathy for the persona of the poem. The powerful use of similes linked to nature conveys the self-empowerment in the second stanza. She uses a description of ‘moons’, ‘suns’, ‘tides’, these similes portray how she is a force of nature that in other words, is unstoppable. The author ends the stanza with her characteristic line ‘Still I’ll rise’, where she exemplifies the determination and power, conveying the reader of the resilience and power the persona depicted in the poem holds, and inspires the reader to do the same, addressing the issue of racism and injustice. 

Angelou effectively portrays her confidence. The author uses direct address and metaphor to achieve a strong emotion. In the first line of the poem she uses a direct address ‘You may’, the word ‘you’ suggests the confrontational tone. This technique exemplifies the confident and brave address to her oppressor. Further use of the modal verb ‘may’ suggests that the oppressor is powerful, meaning you would expect her to be scared of him, in a way a student is scared of their head teacher, an employee of their boss etc. However, she addresses him directly showing she is confident in herself. The line that exemplifies is ‘I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide’, the author uses a metaphor of ‘black ocean’, to show that she is proud of herself for what she achieved and gives a celebratory tone. The use of ‘black’ references to her skin colour and ‘ocean’ is a metaphor exemplifying that she is wild and strong, which conveys the reader of her power and confidence. Before Angelou used similes to express herself, now we can see the character development in the poem and in rhyming. In the final two stanzas there is a shift, the rhyme scheme goes from ABCB to ABABCC to ABABCCAAA, in a way that depicts the climax and reflects on refusal to give up. Moreover, the words ‘leaping and wide’ are both vigorous and vast, therefore convey the reader of her widening, growing confidence the persona in the poem is gaining. If we look further back we can see Angelou used past tense ‘I’ll’, now she says ‘I’m’, highlighting the fact she is over and says ‘I rise’, conveying that she is rising to reach the top. She became a powerful and confident black woman. 

Both poems, authors successfully conveyed the emotions depicted by the persona in the poem. Wilfred Owen deliberately showed despair, bitterness and loneliness using adjectives, alliteration and metaphor.  On the other hand, Maya Angelou portrayed confidence, determination, and empowerment in her poem, using direct address, repetition, and similes. Both authors used different techniques, however, they both achieved very detailed and amazing poems.