Paul Laurence Dunbar Sympathy Essay

262 Words2 Pages
“I know what the caged bird feels. . .” (Dunbar 1) declares the speaker of “Sympathy.” “Sympathy” is a lyric poem written by the son of ex-slaves, Paul Laurence Dunbar. Finding common ground is the first step to gaining an understanding. In Dunbar’s poem, the speaker sympathizes with a caged bird, saying that they know what he feels, why he beats his wing, and why he sings. “Sympathy” is a poem about a lack of freedom, illustrated to us by the author using both the speaker, and the caged bird. Three things that contribute to the poem’s theme is the setting, the implied metaphor that compares the bird to an oppressed human, and the speaker’s compassion for the bird. There are two contrasting settings in “Sympathy.” The bird is isolated in