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Sympathy And The Caged Bird

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In the 1900’s segregation sparked intense emotion within society. These feelings were captured in poems by scintillating poets. These poets embodied those feelings into an imaginary figure of a caged bird. Angelou’s, “Caged Bird”, and Dunbar’s, “Sympathy”, used the caged bird as a central symbol to reveal the theme of imprisonment, anger, and hope amongst the struggles of segregation. Angelou’s, “Caged Bird”, and Dunbar’s, “Sympathy”, used the caged bird’s hope and anger towards imprisonment to reveal the theme amongst the struggles of segregation.

In Maya Angelou’s, “Caged Bird”, the experiences of the free bird are compared to the caged bird. Angelou exhibits the caged bird’s anger by showing how it sees the “... bars of rage” through the lines, “But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can …show more content…

This was significant to the time period in which these poems were written and this helped establish a theme. Angelou’s, “Caged Bird”, showed that no matter what happens a change is going to come. “The caged bird sings with fearful trill of things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom” (Angelou, 15-22). The significance of the bird in Angelou’s poem represents the common African American man in the period of segregation. The significance allowed emotions of hope and anger to be felt because of the current events at the time. Dunbar’s poem showed the struggles of segregation, also using the symbol of the bird. The significance of the symbol in this poem was for the bird to represent persistence. “I know why the caged bird beats his wing When he beats his bars and his bosom sore- When he beats his bars and he would be free”(Dunbar, 15-17). The bird showed persistence by trying to break free no matter the pain. The significance of these poems were that, they were relatable at the time to the horrifying

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The bird also symbolizes how people go too far with the amount of power they have. The bird has clipped wings, is trapped in a cage, and its feet are tied up, which means that the bird has no escape. The bird has no freedom and has no way to escape, because it cannot walk or run. Since the bird is being abused and has no power, it is traumatized and explains how its life is like a nightmare. In the text, it states, “His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream/his wings are clipped and his feet are tied” (Angelou paragraph 5).

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The caged bird is trapped and cant get free from the bars. But with the free bird it is able to go anywhere it wants. The free bird could be considered as her and her brother because they were left as little kids at the train station to find their way to their destination. Sympathy inspired the other poem by talking about the caged bird and comparing it to the free bird. One example

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Maya Angelou recalls the first seventeen years of her life, discussing her unsettling childhood in her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Maya and Bailey were sent from California to the segregated South to live with their grandmother, Momma. At the age of eight, Maya went to stay with her mother in St. Louis, where she was sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Maya confronts these traumatic events of her childhood and explores the evolution of her own strong identity. Her individual and cultural feelings of displacement, caused by these incidents of sexual abuse, are mediated through her love for literature.

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…the caged bird beats his wing, till its blood is red on the cruel bars”. Using this imagery, of the caged bird, the poet expresses the ordeal of African-Americans. For ages, they have been oppressed and enslaved by the whites. The iron bars represent the systematic racism that has prevented them to live a normal life.

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”(11-13) This pressure won her, and countless other integrationists, their inherent rights to equality and, eventually, acceptance. Another instance that showcases the impact of freeing the oppressed can be found in the metaphors of the free and caged birds as described by Maya Angelou. Her portrayal of the caged bird against that of the free bird shows a stark contrast that can be eliminated once he is freed. She describes his present state, writing, “The free bird leaps/ on the back of the wind/ and floats downstream/ till the current ends/and dips his wings/ in the orange sun rays/ and dares to claim the sky.// But a bird that stalks/ down his narrow cage/ can seldom see through/ his

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Correspondingly, in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou’s short story shows symbolism through the surroundings of the protagonist. To clarify, “black-crepe-dress gloom… black-dressed usher… woolen black clothes worn,” the color and clothing of the guests show that there was a ceremony happening for a fallen loved one. The protagonist shows the color black as a symbol of death, oppression, and bleakness. Also, “it was impossible not to record their roles in the drama,” this sentence from the story is quite interesting because it shows that the protagonist was being oblivious with her words. To enumerate, this a symbolism of grief.

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The human connection to birds is a fascinating thing that is often depicted in stories. Humans want to be free like birds and fly away from the troubles that are present in their life. Birds reflect the image of freedom in life, so it’s no wonder that the Bald Eagle is the emblem of the United States; a country built on the principles of freedom and equality. Two famous poets by the names of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Maya Angelou used the image of the bird to describe how they felt in their own life. Even though Dunbar wrote in the Reconstruction Era and Angelou wrote around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, their ideas were almost identical.

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Walton incorporates quotes from a variety of sources, sheet music, poetry and photographs of life in America in the 1930’s and 1940’s in order to illuminate the extensive outlooks on historical events. The juxtaposition of the different genres is a tool to outline the multiple aspects of American history that must be considered before one can form a new historical memory and take appropriate action from there. For instance, on page 196, Walton chooses to include a poem, Sympathy, by Paul Laurence Dunbar. Dunbar writes, “I know what the caged bird feels” (196), using the caged bird as a metaphor for himself, and for oppressed African Americans. He then describes the caged bird beating his wings and and returning to its perch in defeat, evoking sympathy as this was the way oppressed African Americans had felt--like the caged bird who was locked away with no freedom.

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Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Tom ran for it even though he knew there were high risks of him being killed, which shows how the caged bird in the poem “Caged Bird” is much like him. In the poem “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, the caged bird is compared and contrasted to a free bird and by examining the circumstances of Tom Robinson’s life, I say that he is very much like the caged bird. For instance, in stanza two it’s stated “His wings are clipped and/ His feet are tied/ So he opens his throat to sing.”

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“I know why the caged bird beats its wings (8) Til its blood is red on the cruel bars (9)”, symbolize the protest that African Americans put forth to be treated equally. All over the world protest are being held and movements are being created all in hopes of their cries possibly fall on listening ears that understand. Al African Americans want is equality in a world where equality was never an option for brown

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“Sympathy” what i think about it and how it is relevant to the world today is about slavery and the people are hurt from it and the person sees the slave suffering but does not doing anything to help the slave the person just watches it get hurt and is tired and the slave has scars on its body and that's how it is relevant to the world because that's what happens now in the world and what i think about it is that it's sad and it isn't right for a person should be treated like that and that the slaves should not live like that Thoughts on “i know why the caged bird sings” and how it relates to the world right now is that the bird is scared and is asking for help by singing and the bird is scared because someone is watching it and the bird

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The oppression is binding the bird to its cage while the bird hopes and prays that someone will hear him so that he can leave this maiming tyranny. In addition in “Caged Bird” the bird is singing with mighty voice that was conceived by the rage that the bird felt toward the oppression that was trapping it. The tune that the bird sings is described as, “The caged bird sings,/ with a fearful trill,/ of things unknown”(Angelou, 30-32). The bird is illustrating the anger that it felt, by fighting the tyranny that he is facing. The tyranny is holding him down and the rage that the bird feels from this pain is what the bird symbolizes.

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Caged Bird both share a very common theme; segregation, slavery, and imprisonment. According to the poem Sympathy, “Till its blood is red on the cruel bar… I know why he beats his wings.” And from the poem Caged Bird, “…His bars of rage…so he opens his throat to sing.” These quotes show that both birds are treated like slaves. The bird from Sympathy was shipped until the back is full of blood and the bird from Caged Bird was held in a dungeon where it will die.

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“Caged Bird” written by Maya Angelou in 1968 announces to the world her frustration of racial inequality and the longing for freedom. She seeks to create sentiment in the reader toward the caged bird plight, and draw compassion for the imprisoned creature. (Davis) Angelou was born as “Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St Louis, Missouri”. “Caged Bird” was first published in the collection Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? 1983.

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In the poems “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou, both portray captive birds that sing. However in “Sympathy”, the bird pleads with god for freedom, whereas in “Caged Bird” the captive bird calls for help from a free bird. In “Sympathy” the bird knows what freedom feels like since there was a time where the bird was once free, but now is trapped. In the first stanza the use of imagery revealed how freedom felt before the bird was caged.

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