Justin Do
Ms. Dunlap
English 102
9 October 2017
“Sympathy” Poetry Analysis Essay In the world today, we often forget about the history of our nation and how people were treated differently just because of their race. Back then, African Americans were oppressed and enslaved by the whites. Even after the Civil War, African Americans still faced racism segregation from others. Still, African Americans were not allowed to have the same freedoms as white people. Today, we might take our freedom for granted, but those who do not have freedom, long and pray for it, even if they know it is not possible. In “Sympathy”, poet Paul Laurence Dunbar discusses and sympathizes with the treatment and the feelings of the racial inequality at the time, through the use of symbolism, tone/mood, and rhyme to convey his theme of racism and its effects on the human soul.
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For example, in the poem, Dunbar uses the caged bird as a symbol of African American people that are being denied their freedoms and are trying desperately to be free. In “Sympathy,” Dunbar writes, “I know why the caged bird beats his wing / Till its blood is red on the cruel bars; / I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,” (8-9,15)
1 I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
2 When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
3 When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
4 And the river flows like a stream of glass;
5 When the first bird sings and the first bud opes,
6 And the faint perfume from its chalice steals ---
7 I know what the caged bird feels!
8 I know why the caged bird beats his wing
9 Till its blood is red on the cruel bars;
10 For he must fly back to his perch and