Caged Bird Analysis Essay

Segregation because of race has occurred throughout history. In particular, during the time of the civil rights movement the African- Americans lives were to endure inequalities, discrimination and limited opportunities; they were forced to submit to whites in the era of white supremacy. Maya Angelou encouraged those of her race to stand up and voice their rights and opinions through this poem. Caged bird, a poem written by Maya Angelou was first published in her book, "Shaker, Why Don 't You Sing?" in 1983. The poem is based on the African- American lack of freedom and rights during the civil rights era and compares to those of white people. The entire poem is a metaphor, while she expresses her feelings and opinions in the time of racial …show more content…
Alliteration is used in stanza 5, line 2 “his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream” The ‘s’ sound slows the poem down to emphasise the darkness of the poem and the distress of the caged bird. Rhyme is also evident throughout the poem an example of this is the 3rd and 6th stanza, “trill,” “still,” and “hill” Maya Angelou has used this rhyme to her advantage, placed in the ‘chorus’ of the poem. The word "trill" helps the audience to imagine and understand the pain that the caged bird has to suffer from. But the next line changes to the feeling of absence as the bird sings of its true aspiration in “still", "hill.” The bird was singing about freedom even though it 's in a situation of being tortured and has to suffer from the pain. Even though the three words rhyme, they give the reader different feelings. This rhyme is used to help the reader better understand the poem and know its true meaning. This being the African-Americans lack of rights and freedom during the civil rights era compared to those of white supremacy. The stanzas that are about the caged bird rhyme because it is putting an emphasis that the caged bird does not have any freedom and lives a controlled and sheltered life. The use of the technique is used to demonstrate the differences between the ‘free’ and ‘caged’ bird. Repetition of the 3rd stanza which can be seen as the chorus of the poem is repeated to emphasise what the caged bird really represents. This being the oppressed African Americans in a time of slavery, the caged bird is singing for freedom although it doesn’t know what freedom really is. The caged bird sings for freedom but has never experienced it. It knows what it is singing for because it hears and sees the free bird, exploring and being free. This positions the audience in a position feeling helpless but wanting to do something about