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Sympathy By Paul Laurence Dunbar

791 Words4 Pages

Slavery was, and still is one of humanity’s largest issues to date. Oppression is far from overcome, and discrimination because of one’s race is something that most believe will never truly disappear. The poem “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar is a piece of work that highlights the tactics which were used against slaves at the time, yet in a subtle manner. The poem itself is a conceit; one long, extended metaphor, comparing slaves with a caged bird that is unable to fly and be free. The poem utilizes many different literary devices and types of figurative language, such as symbolism, simile, alliteration, imagery, and other sound devices to convey to the readers the true horrors of slavery and what it did to the African Americans.

Initially, the title does not give away much to the mind; …show more content…

The repetition of “I know why/what” helps enunciate that further. The bird fights day and night against the bars of his cage, until “its blood is red on the cruel bars”, meaning that it beat his wings against the cage so relentlessly, without stop, that they are all bruised and bloody because of it. Yet, the bird perseveres and does not quit in the end. “And they pulse again with a keener sting--/I know why he beats his wing!” (Dunbar 13-14) shows that despite the pain, injustice and discrimination the bird has gone through, it will not stop until it breaks free. Yet, after tirelessly fighting with the cage surrounding it, instead of giving up, it calls for help. Dunbar states in the last stanza, lines eighteen through twenty: “It is not a carol of joy or glee, /But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core, /But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings—” which insinuates that he wishes for freedom elsewhere now, in Heaven. He prays to the Gods to let him go, to let him be free so he can be a true bird, and

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