Both Maya Angelou and Lawrence Ferlinghetti explore the idea of inequality in their poems ‘Caged Bird’ and ‘Two Scavengers in a Truck Two beautiful people in a Mercedes’ respectively. Angelou explores the inequality between black and white people by comparing and contrasting a free bird to a ‘caged bird’ while Ferlinghetti describes inequality between the rich and poor by comparing a wealthy couple with a couple of garbage men.
‘Caged Bird’ is written in response to the civil rights act, with the theme of inequality, as she was a civil rights activist herself. This is represented by the comparison of a free and ‘caged bird’. The ‘caged bird’ presents an enslaved person, like black people over the years, whilst the free bird presents a free, …show more content…
Although both poems are about freedom and oppression, Angelou describes them by using two birds, one free and one caged, whereas Ferlinghetti uses the perspectives from different pairs to present the differences of the privileged and unprivileged. Both poems are written for the audience to feel pity on the oppressed. Angelou and Ferlinghetti both describe the aggrieved first; so that the audience would think that it is the norm before describing the oppressed which gives the audience to feel sorry towards them. The poets also describe the aggrieved as unnecessary to society or egotistical whilst describing the oppressed significant to …show more content…
The poet describes the increasing differences between the rich and poor. The poet insults the American Dream in the poem, which is an influence of the Beat Movement that Ferlinghetti contributed in. The poem describes the garbage men and the elegant couple in two different ways. The first stanza describes how the garbage men see themselves and the elegant couple, whereas in the second stanza describes the two parties the way the rest of the world sees them, like an illusion. This illusion can be identified by the way both parties are described as. In the first stanza, the ‘Scavengers’ are described as smart and happy people that are a necessity to life who looks down without a lot of respect to the elegant couple in a Mercedes. The beautiful couple is portrayed as a spoilt and not important to society, but in the second stanza, the scavengers are described as ‘gargoyle’ and ‘Quasimodo’ which gives an image of someone aged, deformed and hideous that stereotypically describes a person from a lower social status. The garbage men are described using colours such as “bright yellow” and “red” in the first stanza, whilst in the second; they are described using dark colours, such as “grungy”, “grey” and “gargoyle”. The beautiful people are described an “elegant couple” in the first stanza, whereas in the second stanza the rich couple is described as a “cool couple”. The last
‘Caged Bird’ is written in response to the civil rights act, with the theme of inequality, as she was a civil rights activist herself. This is represented by the comparison of a free and ‘caged bird’. The ‘caged bird’ presents an enslaved person, like black people over the years, whilst the free bird presents a free, …show more content…
Although both poems are about freedom and oppression, Angelou describes them by using two birds, one free and one caged, whereas Ferlinghetti uses the perspectives from different pairs to present the differences of the privileged and unprivileged. Both poems are written for the audience to feel pity on the oppressed. Angelou and Ferlinghetti both describe the aggrieved first; so that the audience would think that it is the norm before describing the oppressed which gives the audience to feel sorry towards them. The poets also describe the aggrieved as unnecessary to society or egotistical whilst describing the oppressed significant to …show more content…
The poet describes the increasing differences between the rich and poor. The poet insults the American Dream in the poem, which is an influence of the Beat Movement that Ferlinghetti contributed in. The poem describes the garbage men and the elegant couple in two different ways. The first stanza describes how the garbage men see themselves and the elegant couple, whereas in the second stanza describes the two parties the way the rest of the world sees them, like an illusion. This illusion can be identified by the way both parties are described as. In the first stanza, the ‘Scavengers’ are described as smart and happy people that are a necessity to life who looks down without a lot of respect to the elegant couple in a Mercedes. The beautiful couple is portrayed as a spoilt and not important to society, but in the second stanza, the scavengers are described as ‘gargoyle’ and ‘Quasimodo’ which gives an image of someone aged, deformed and hideous that stereotypically describes a person from a lower social status. The garbage men are described using colours such as “bright yellow” and “red” in the first stanza, whilst in the second; they are described using dark colours, such as “grungy”, “grey” and “gargoyle”. The beautiful people are described an “elegant couple” in the first stanza, whereas in the second stanza the rich couple is described as a “cool couple”. The last