Poem Analysis Of Cry By Dunba Dunbar

The main idea conveyed in the first stanza is being desperate for freedom. In the poem, the speaker implies that the bird is desperate because it is able to see the beauty and nature of the outside world, but the bird is unable to experience it. The speaker describes the "wind [stirring] soft" and the river flowing "like a stream of glass." These images that the speaker creates makes it for the reader to believe that the bird is desperate to soar through the beauty the world has to offer and not be stuck inside a cage. (The idea of being desperate for freedom is mentioned in stanza three as well. The line “a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core” because it is able to convey the message that the bird sings its song as a sign of desperation to be free.) …show more content…
While the bird was trapped inside the cage, Dunbar and other African Americans were trapped within racial barriers. They were unable to experience the majority of the wonders in the world because of how oppressed they were. It is notable that he is able to relate to the bird when he wrote, "I know what the caged bird feels!"

The main ideas and the description of the bird in the poem may relate to African-Americans who lived during that time because African-Americans were most likely desperate to attain their own freedom in the world. They most likely did not want to be trapped within racial barriers, and they might have wanted to have the same amount of rights that "white" people