The poems' themes focus on a hopeful determination to rise above difficulty and discouragement, and on many of the same topics as Angelou's autobiographies and previous volumes of poetry.

[1] After her rape at the age of eight, as recounted in her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), she dealt with her trauma by memorizing and reciting great works of literature, including poetry, which helped bring her out of her self-imposed muteness.

She had written articles, short stories, television scripts and documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry; she produced plays; and she was named a visiting professor of several colleges and universities.

[4] Although Angelou considered herself a playwright and poet when her editor Robert Loomis challenged her to write Caged Bird,[5] she was best known for her autobiographies.

[6] Many of Angelou's readers identify her as a poet first and an autobiographer second,[6] but like Lynn Z. Bloom, many critics consider her autobiographies more important than her poetry.

Bloom calls her performances "characteristically dynamic"[7] and says that Angelou "moves exuberantly, vigorously to reinforce the rhythms of the lines, the tone of the words.

Neubauer says, "These poems are inspired and spoken by a confident voice of strength that recognizes its own power and will no longer be pushed into passivity".

[13] Angelou focuses on the same themes as her previous volumes, including love, loneliness, and Southern racism, but with the added twist of the nature of women and the importance of family.

They cover a wider range of topics, including springtime, aging, sexual awakening, drug addiction, and Christian salvation.

[17] Critic Robert B. Stepto says that the poem "One More Round" is heavily influenced by the work and protest songs of the past.

[20] In Angelou's favorite poem, "Still I Rise", which shares its title with a play she wrote in 1976, she refers to the indomitable spirit of Black people, using repetition and the categorization of injustices against them.

Neubauer compares the poem to "Phenomenal Woman", both of which share the same strong rhyme scheme, forceful rhythms, and theme of women's vitality.

[17] Mary Silva Cosgrave, in her review in Horn Book Magazine, praises Angelou for finding rhythm in everyday life and is impressed with the poems in And Still I Rise, especially "Phenomenal Woman"; Cosgrave states, "To her third collection of poems the author has brought a life full of zest and style that is phenomenally her own".

[23] Harold Bloom states that although "Phenomenal Woman" has received few reviews, it is one of the most popular and powerful poems Angelou recites in her public appearances.

He states that her poetry serves as explanatory texts for her prose works, which he calls "more adeptly rendered self-portraits".

[16] The first part, entitled "Touch Me, Life, Not Softly", has been called "joyful"[17] and affirms the poet's strength as a woman and as a lover.

Part Two, "Traveling", focus on the hardships, such as drug addiction, child abuse, inner-city life, and conditions in the Old South, that the author and others have experienced.

[17] The volume is dedicated to Jessica Mitford, Gerard W. Purcell, and Jay Allen, whom Angelou calls "a few of the Good Guys".