Sympathy And Erudite Paul Laurence Dunbar's Caged Bird

In poems “Sympathy” and “Caged Bird” by the altruistic and erudite Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou, they constantly talk about the lives of a caged bird. This is due to the birds symbolizing a hardship. The meaning of the poems are to show how hard African-Americans had to fight for their rights because of how many limitations they we given. There are many things that make the two poems similar. The first quote that supports this is “... I know what the caged bird feels” (Sympathy, Stanza 2: Line 7). This is saying that the author can see what the bird is fighting for. This is valuable because it is showing that the bird desires freedom. Without this crave of freedom the U.S would still be segregated. The next quote to prove similarity is “When …show more content…
This is showing the poems different perspectives. This is valuable key because in “Caged Bird” it could be the view of a non-colored man or be the author. While on the other hand “Sympathy” is from Dunbar’s perspective on the struggle. Another difference is “But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams...” (Caged Bird, Stanza 4: Line 26). This is saying that it’s dreams are dead. This showing how they have the courage to keep fighting even with the whites crushing their dreams. This is only described in Maya’s poem. With these in mind, The last one is “But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings...” (Sympathy, Stanza 4: Line 19-20). This is saying that the bird needs help and may commit suicide. This is important because it says that they aren’t provincial and need help by god or by other non-colored people. They are also thinking of ending their suffering by quitting their rebellion or just kill themselves. These differences are very minuscule compared to their key similarities and points to get their