In this excerpt from the poem "learning to read" by frances ellen watkins harper, what is the meaning of the word rising? and said there is no use trying, oh! chloe, you're too late; but as i was rising sixty, i had no time to wait. advancing approaching increasing elevating succeeding

I believe the correct answer is: approaching.

     In this excerpt from the poem "Learning to Read" written by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, the meaning of the word rising is approaching. The subject of this poem is Aunt Chloe, representing all elderly former slaves in order to convey the value of literacy to blacks during and after slavery as a key to freedom. Aunt Chloe wants to learn to read in order to read the Bible, and as she was approaching sixty years, she had to “hurry”. To achieve that:

"So I got a pair of glasses,

 And straight to work I went,

 And never stopped till I could read

 The hymns and Testament.

 Then I got a little cabin

 A place to call my own—

 And I felt independent

 As the queen upon her throne."