The narrator in the poem "Sympathy" by Paul Laurence Dunbar reveals the narrator as well as the caged bird are suffering agony, grief and sorrow. The bird is confined to his cage and is comparing himself to being confined himself, possibly in his own life. The bird craves to soar from its home when it is introduced to the smell of fresh flowers and warm sunlight which welcomes a new summer season. The bird's wings bleed because he is fluttering them so hard against the bars of its cage. The narrator is also longing to be free when another new spring season begins to flourish. He may feel like a prisoner in his own life because he may be tired of his promises, commitments and responsibilities to other people in his life. He may be so tired
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It is astonishing that she exhibits the encounter to be no more terrifying than entertaining a man. In the second stanza, the carriage travels at a very slow speed indicating that death may be forthcoming, but possibly due to a sickness. Death is in the future, but there may be some suffering to overcome beforehand. The following stanza can relate to Dickinson's periods in her lifetime beginning with her childhood "We passed the School, where Children strove" (Dickinson 566) and leading up to death "We passed the Setting Sun" (Dickinson 566). This reminds me of our lecture notes where we can visualize the face of a clock being that of childhood, marriage and eventually death. A wedding signifies something new and a death suggests a funeral which can symbolize an end. The general theme of this poem appears to be that people should not be afraid to die because it is a normal role of the constant progression of life. Her assessment of dying might display her character and spiritual views. As a single woman, she could have been rather isolated and absorbed, pondering her loneliness and dying or she could have been a Christian who turned to the Bible and was positive about her final destiny and seemed to see mortality as a
It is astonishing that she exhibits the encounter to be no more terrifying than entertaining a man. In the second stanza, the carriage travels at a very slow speed indicating that death may be forthcoming, but possibly due to a sickness. Death is in the future, but there may be some suffering to overcome beforehand. The following stanza can relate to Dickinson's periods in her lifetime beginning with her childhood "We passed the School, where Children strove" (Dickinson 566) and leading up to death "We passed the Setting Sun" (Dickinson 566). This reminds me of our lecture notes where we can visualize the face of a clock being that of childhood, marriage and eventually death. A wedding signifies something new and a death suggests a funeral which can symbolize an end. The general theme of this poem appears to be that people should not be afraid to die because it is a normal role of the constant progression of life. Her assessment of dying might display her character and spiritual views. As a single woman, she could have been rather isolated and absorbed, pondering her loneliness and dying or she could have been a Christian who turned to the Bible and was positive about her final destiny and seemed to see mortality as a