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What Is The Tone Of I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings

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“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” was one of the most successful poems written by Maya Angelou. She was also wrote an autobiography with the same title, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” Obviously, this title had a great significance to Angelou. At that time, being a black poet was not easy for her. Even though there were equal rights for Black Americans, there were still many restrictions on them in the society, so that they did not feel free at all. In this poem, Angelou talked about the racial segregation between White Americans and Black Americans. She used the “free bird” and the “caged bird” as a metaphor to express her own emotions about the freedom and isolation. The poem reveals her deep feelings of racism and discrimination. “I …show more content…

Her description of the way the bird “dip his wing” helps the readers to acknowledge the “free bird” in his habitat and to feel his enjoyment of freedom. The second stanza was in a stark contrast with the first one. By using the word “but” to begin this stanza, she contrast the “free bird” to a “caged bird”. The tone and the mood are drastically changed from peaceful and satisfaction to dark and even frustrating. While the “free bird” was enjoying freedom, the “caged bird” was helpless in the cage. There are two words that rhyme with each other: cage and rage. Additionally, the lines, “his wings are clipped and his feet are tied. So he opens his throat to sing” will be repeated in the fifth stanza. The repetition emphasizes and reveals the poet’s feeling of restrictions and her will of seeking for freedom. The third stanza has the most ending rhymes, which are trill, still, and hill. It was also described how the caged bird sang and how early it longed for freedom. In the fourth stanza, Angelou reverts to the “free bird”. Here, she used more rhymes, such as “breeze”, “trees”, “dawn-bright”, and “lawn”. There was also

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