Caged Bird
In Caged Bird, Maya Angelou’s use of metaphor compares the aspirations and the lack of liberties of a caged bird to the lives of African American peoples during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Angelou opens his poem with the image of “[a] free bird leap[ing]” who “dares to claim the sky”(I.1,7). This image of a bird soaring, able to enjoy doing what it was made to do, represents people who were free to express themselves, had opportunities to be successful and had the privilege live however they desired. The free bird is a direct foil for the caged bird who represents African Americans living in the hostile and racist America. The caged bird has had “his wings...clipped and/his feet...tied” and lives in a “narrow cage” (II. …show more content…
She describes the caged bird as having “his feet...tied” which parallels the bondage that African Americans were living in and unable to run and escape from(I. 13). Angelou describes a trapped animal, unable to go where they wish, live the way they like, sleep without the fear and enjoy what they were born to do which is likened to the state that African Americans were in prior to the major movement towards equality. The hopes and dreams of people fighting for freedom during the Civil Rights Movement seemed destroyed and almost as if they were fighting for a lost cause represented by the powerful image of “a caged bird stand[ing] on the grave of dreams”(I.27). With their freedoms taken from them and no way to escape their horrible situation, a people tired of unjust and terrible treatment have no other options but to “open [their] throat[s] to sing”, much like the caged bird (I.30). The caged bird uses the only thing it has left, its voice, to sing about “things unknown/but longed for still” as “the caged bird/sings for freedom”(II.33,34,36,37). Even though they were restricted, trapped and some felt that the dream they were fighting for was dead, African American’s used their last and most powerful gift; they were able to use their voice to sing of freedom, hoping that someone would hear
In Caged Bird, Maya Angelou’s use of metaphor compares the aspirations and the lack of liberties of a caged bird to the lives of African American peoples during and prior to the Civil Rights Movement. Angelou opens his poem with the image of “[a] free bird leap[ing]” who “dares to claim the sky”(I.1,7). This image of a bird soaring, able to enjoy doing what it was made to do, represents people who were free to express themselves, had opportunities to be successful and had the privilege live however they desired. The free bird is a direct foil for the caged bird who represents African Americans living in the hostile and racist America. The caged bird has had “his wings...clipped and/his feet...tied” and lives in a “narrow cage” (II. …show more content…
She describes the caged bird as having “his feet...tied” which parallels the bondage that African Americans were living in and unable to run and escape from(I. 13). Angelou describes a trapped animal, unable to go where they wish, live the way they like, sleep without the fear and enjoy what they were born to do which is likened to the state that African Americans were in prior to the major movement towards equality. The hopes and dreams of people fighting for freedom during the Civil Rights Movement seemed destroyed and almost as if they were fighting for a lost cause represented by the powerful image of “a caged bird stand[ing] on the grave of dreams”(I.27). With their freedoms taken from them and no way to escape their horrible situation, a people tired of unjust and terrible treatment have no other options but to “open [their] throat[s] to sing”, much like the caged bird (I.30). The caged bird uses the only thing it has left, its voice, to sing about “things unknown/but longed for still” as “the caged bird/sings for freedom”(II.33,34,36,37). Even though they were restricted, trapped and some felt that the dream they were fighting for was dead, African American’s used their last and most powerful gift; they were able to use their voice to sing of freedom, hoping that someone would hear