Sympathy By Paul Laurence Dunbar Essay

The poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar “Sympathy” is an glorious gateway toward a man’s mind during the time of the oppressed. Where they were free, but not free at the same time. Whether he was a literary writer, poet, or an activist, his poems spoke out against the tyrannizing race and brought hope to the intimidated.As an African American in the late 1800’s Dunbar faced many obstacles, starting with racisim. He was forced into many jobs that gave him time to work on his poems. His hardships gave him a lot of incentive on constructing his balladry. Using his struggles, he wrote literary art that pertained to not only himself, but other individuals who suffered the consequences of being African Americans. He changed the way many people see slavery. Born in Dayton, Ohio June 27,1892 ,he is a slave who absconded the clutches of captivity by escaping through the Underground Railroad. Not shortly after that he was legally free after the Civil war. Born into an unequal country it was hard to …show more content…
The cage is,obviously, a reference to the formal social and personal persecution that African-Americans endured during the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century.The bird's plea’s represents the longing to be free from the restraints that are holding him back from accomplishing his goals. The bird itself was meant to fly but there's always an obstacle in its way. This time the obstacle is a cage.Being held against his own will,it tries so hard to fight for what was already his and what he was born to do. The caged bird represents a figure in society who rebelled against the upper hand, but still having restraints it's not completely free. So instead it fights for his freedom and what's rightfully