I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Harlem was written in 1951, by Langston Hughes, an African American poet. Similarly, Sympathy was written by an African American poet named Paul Dunbar, in 1899. Sympathy is about a caged bird, and its hatred for the bars enclosing it. In Sympathy, Dunbar is relating the bird to his own life, showing how he is like the bird, without freedom. Dunbar speaks to the readers in first person, personalizing the poem. Conversely, Harlem speaks openly, asking questions without offering answers. Dunbar’s…

were caged and unable to achieve your goal? To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a historical fiction novel told in the eyes of a young girl named Scout as her father, Atticus Finch , a lawyer in the 1950’s in Alabama, is burdened with the task of defending a black man, Tom Robinson, of harming a white girl, Mayella Ewell. “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou is a poem that compares and contrasts a free bird to a caged bird. “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a poem that explores a caged bird…

The time period of the book’s setting is in a time of discrimination in the U.S. between blacks and whites. Maya Angelou, the author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings gives examples of “name calling,” both good and bad. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou shows the reader how powerful and impacting names can be. One example of this would be when, Maya Angelou writes about how the used to be sheriff calls the Ku Klux Klan the “Good ole boys”(17). As if the man who used to have…

The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Dunbar is a short and interesting poem about a bird trapped in a cage yearning to get out and enjoy being free as birds should be. In this poem tackles many different themes for example freedom, Man v.s. Nature, slavery/oppression, and suffering. I will be comparing and contrasting “Sympathy” by Dunbar to “The Windhover” written by Gerald Hopskin. Although the poem have different themes the two poems are just as similair as they are different; they both share a…

of freedom and restriction in the Caged Bird, the freedom from social expectations in Harlem Hopscotch, and the resilience against discrimination in Still I Rise illuminates the need for a progressive society in which anti- Black racism is no longer dividing people. The Caged…

meaning and figurative language which also allows poets to exaggerate or alter specific linguistic points of interest. The three poems that I shall be looking at for this discourse is I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou, Let America be America again with Langston Hughes and where the mind is without freedom by Rabindranath. I know why the caged bird sings…

put on paper. Poetry contains their interpretation of strong feelings that are expressed artistically for everyone to see. I strongly agree with Wordsworth’s explanation of poetry because his notion is found many pieces of literature especially poems. His statement can be proven through Woodsworth’s history, and other poems such as Maya Angelou’s, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s, “Alone.” William Wordsworth was an English Romantic poet who helped the start the…

of that. In Huckleberry Finn, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and Catcher in the Rye, various authors use character development and unique writing/plot devices to demonstrate that people change, especially as they grow and mature. Although it is the sixth-most frequently banned book in the United States, Huckleberry Finn gives an admirable message to all…

representation of the life of a slave. Throughout the poem, Dunbar uses very colorful language, and a wishful tone that paints the imagination of the captive. The reiteration of the “I know why the caged bird…” at the start of each stanza, forces the reader to place themselves in the shoes of the author, himself. The “caged bird” is indeed the metaphorical slave and “singing” is the unheeded cry, yet unanimous prayer that is sent up by African American’s that are aching for freedom. The poem…

Angelou felt responsible for his death and became mute for 5 years. It was during this period of time that she developed a love for language, and a love for poetry. Written in 1983, but set within the civil rights movement in the 60s, I know why the caged bird sings common outlook to show the perception of the black Americans who were prejudiced against and consequently oppressed by the rest of society. Angelou promotes the change for equal rights for black and white Americans and condones…